(Courtesy of ALYN) In honor of Women’s History Month, ALYN Hospital, Israel’s only pediatric rehabilitation center, hosted a Women’s Hack-A-Thon on March 29 to create personalized solutions for teenage girls with disabilities.

Five creative teams were presented with a challenge from a real patient at ALYN and, in a few short hours, came up with designs and rough prototypes of a possible solution, which were then presented to government officials and Israeli celebrities.

The challenges for this Hack-A-Thon included:

– Building a portable snack kiosk for a teen with limited motion

– A mechanism that will allow a girl with very limited hand movements to apply lipstick

– A solution to help a girl who is paralyzed from the waist down independently catheterize herself

– A mechanism to bring a bag from the back of a teen’s wheelchair to the front

“The most impressive part of this day was the concept of women creating for other women, with the goal of empowering these teenage and pre-teen girls with disabilities to be able to be more independent,” said Maayan Aviv, executive director of American Friends of ALYN Hospital. “ALYN Hospital is a place for creativity and innovation and thinking outside the box. This forward-thinking event and the solutions that were developed highlight not only ALYN’s first-rate care, but also the kindness and support that ALYN’s dedicated professionals provide to their patients.”

Hosted by PELE, a department of ALYN’s innovation space, this Women’s Hack-A-Thon event is a culmination of the innovation and care that ALYN is known for and helps to showcase these important challenges and solutions on a bigger scale.

PELE is made up of professional staff and volunteer “makers,” who provide case-driven, personalized, affordable solutions for children of all backgrounds who face physical challenges to independence in their day-to-day activities—such as eating, dressing, communicating and being mobile.