In just 24 hours, University of Illinois students Sara Ziaja (LAS) and Tushar Jain (ISE) turned a powerful idea into a working healthcare innovation.
At the Keywords AI Hackathon, the pair earned First Place in the TRAE track for Beacon, an AI-powered documentation assistant designed to help emergency medical technicians spend less time on paperwork and more time caring for patients.
The idea for Beacon grew from Sara’s experience as an EMT.
“She’s seen firsthand how much administrative burden and documentation slows down care, and how these moments can impact patients on their worst days,” Tushar said. “Beacon was born from that insight: a tool to give first responders back valuable time and help them focus on high-quality care.”
Tushar’s background in Industrial & Systems Engineering and computer science helped transform that vision into a scalable platform.
“My Industrial & Systems Engineering and computer science background helped turn that vision into a structured, technical solution, from workflow optimization to building the AI-driven platform that can capture, organize, and analyze real-time patient interactions,” he said.
Building a functional healthcare tool in just one day came with reasonable technical challenges.
“The biggest challenge was integrating real-time speech-to-text with structured medical outputs, differentiating between speakers, and ensuring the data could feed into usable reports quickly and accurately,” Tushar explained.
The team divided responsibilities based on their strengths and relied on rapid iteration and support from Keywords AI to keep the system reliable.
“By the end of 24 hours, we had a fully functional prototype that captured live interactions and generated structured outputs,” he said.
Following their hackathon success, the team has already begun moving Beacon toward real-world deployment.
They are currently in discussions with Carle Health about launching a free trial of the platform. This pilot would allow first responders to use Beacon in live settings and provide critical feedback for refinement.
“We’re treating this as a learning opportunity,” Tushar said. “Real-world use will help us improve usability, accuracy, and integration.”
Their long-term vision is clear: expand Beacon beyond a single healthcare system, adapt it for EMS and firefighting teams nationwide and eventually develop a sustainable model that supports long-term growth.
“Our goal is to build a one-stop solution that truly serves emergency responders,” Tushar said. “We want Beacon to scale while staying grounded in the needs of the people who use it.”
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