Collaboraid

Research project, Design Academy Eindhoven. [2015]. Civic health in Athens: When a healthcare system as we know it is in crisis or goes through a change, how do we as civilians react and adapt? We care about trust, privacy and result, but are we willing to adapt for our health? In such circumstances do we still rely on professionals to take care of us, or do we take the responsibility back into our own hands? To what extent are we willing to be responsible for our own health? Do we just want to focus on lifestyle habits and prevention, or maybe we trust ourselves to go as far as finding our own source of specialised health knowledge outside of the system? If so what kind of knowledge is this, and from which source does it come? Do we see non-governmental organisations popping up? We went to Athens with these questions in mind…

Design probe: Back in the Netherlands, we wondered how we could use the Greek insights in a completely different context, where public healthcare is more efficient for now. Based on a few key notions such as transparency, collaboration and trust, we developed a concept of a street medication vending machine. People can buy common medication for a set price of 5€, whether the product is actually worth less (like Paracetamol) or more (like a pregnancy test). It would create a jackpot, the extra money collected serving to finance the expensive medication.

We expect a whole new range of behaviour linked to this machine. Perhaps people in need would wait around to make sure they get an expensive product, others may want to be seen donating, some may be shy to buy their medicine in public and others may simply not trust such a system…