Guam Medicenters wins Rep. Jim Moylan’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Guam’s At-Large District

When asked what inspired the creation of Guam Medicenters, the students said, “The recent predicaments, such as Typhoon Mawar, Typhoon Bolaven, and COVID-19, displayed the necessity of nearby and easily accessible health services for various needs. Fortunately, many locals and others who’ve lived their lives in Guam have a full understanding of a majority of the services on the island, and it seems as if that level of knowledge is expected as there is minimal information available on the vast array of medical services in Guam. When researching clinics and private practices for our personal purposes, we came to realize how little information there is on both private and public services offered on Guam, with the only reasonable methodology of garnering information being to go through getting put on hold and transferred over calls far too many times or to know someone who had already gone through such processes. Sadly, many others, such as people who’ve recently arrived on the island, those who are not as proficient in English, and tourists, struggle to locate facilities that offer certain medical services they’re seeking. As we have had similar experiences, as well as our relatives and friends mainly throughout Typhoon Mawar and Typhoon Bolaven, we decided to try to take a step into providing a more comprehensive system of sorting data on the medical services on Guam, starting with the most basic, and commonly urgently needed, service: hospitals. Although rather basic, a list with even only the address and hours of operation is rather robust compared to what can currently be found, with the alternative being clunkily looking through Google Maps, which also has outdated information such as incorrect hours of operation.”