Services for aging face employment and IT challenges

“With the population aging rapidly, support and services for the elderly are growing exponentially, but the healthcare industry is not equipped to keep pace, according to an industry expert.
The trend toward less institutionalization and more community and assisted living services that enable the elderly to stay in their homes is adding to the demand for more support and services, said Katie Sloan, COO of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, a national organization representing more than 5,800 not-for-profit community-based organizations that serve the elderly.”
Article
Patty Enrado, Healthcare IT News, 14 October 2008

A New Generation of Assistive Technologies: the robot appliance for eating

The assistive robotic system are designed in order to improve the independence of disabled or elderly people, but some of them are under-utilized because of their technical complexity, high cost, poor usability, and poor mapping to user needs within home environment. This innovative system is a new eating robot appliance for high-level disabled and elderly persons that simultaneously considers the users’ requirements for a specific task within a specific environment in order to gratify users’ emotional, perceptive, and psychological needs.
The concept of “robot appliance” contains the idea of a task-restricted robot that is safe, low cost, modular, simple but effective in its task, suitable for use with various types of food and easy-to-use (flexible and accessible interface).
It is an assistive robotic system portable and re-configurable, i.e. it can be used in diverse settings such as on a dinner table or on a wheelchair. The feeder system is the integration and combination of two independent units which assist people with disabilities both in eating and drinking from a common plate and glass.

Giuseppina Anna Di Lauro
CEO DEDALO SOLUTIONS, President Club of Spin-off Companies, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

To be presented at the ICMCC Event.

Disability Definitions and Trends for e-Health Policies and Services

Health Economics is at the core of the countries and populations welfare.
The actions of the different agencies of UN and of the international financial institutions as the World Bank on Health and Disability are expressed in terms of inclusive programs and projects for social-economic development.
The World Bank finances development projects involving disability components - in education, health care, infrastructures, children and youth - and supports a large variety of disability-related fields, such as data collection and statistics, research and analysis, technical assistance and knowledge sharing, addressing the specific needs of populations and countries. These activities can potentially have an impact upon disabled people, their family, or their organizations and eventually improve the prospects of poor disabled people in developing countries.
The Health concept extension from Health of people to Health of populations as intangible economical asset, expressing on one side the working force and on the other side protecting the intellectual core-business of the structured society, is a new driver that has deep impact on the definition of and on the strategies for disabled people and their inclusive role and contribution into the society.
The National Health Agencies and Services, focusing in the past only on the health-care of non-healthy populations, are progressively changing their strategies and infrastructures to take in charge prevention for healthy populations, prediction for health environmental, climate and epidemic shocks, rehabilitation for aging, chronic and vulnerable subsets of populations, creating and proposing innovative and adequate provider-user lifecycles in the predictive, preventative and regenerative medicine.
The WHO’s framework for measuring health and disability at both individual and population levels is expressed into the ICF ( The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health ), officially endorsed by the Member States in the Fifty-fourth World Health Assembly on 22 May 2001 (resolution WHA 54.21). The objective is to offer a common Metrics - the ruler of health and disability – and a way to analyse the shifting from one condition to another, taking into account the social aspects of disability and not only the as ‘medical’ or ‘biological’ dysfunction, and evaluating the impact of the contextual factors, especially the living environment, on the person’s functioning.
Assistive Devices and Technologies (such as wheelchairs, prostheses, mobility aides, hearing aids, visual aids, and specialized computer software and hardware) increasing mobility, hearing, vision, communication capacities and in general human performances, are collectively defined in a more comprehensive way as Life Supporting Systems – LISS. With the aid of these technologies, people with a loss in functioning are able to compensate and/or to enhance their abilities, and are hence better able to live independently and participate in their societies.
On the other side Rehabilitation is a logic and consequential extension of disability recovery strategies, as illustrated too into the WHO action plan 2006-2011 on Disability and Rehabilitation.
ICT Solutions will play a tremendous role to improve services and providers for disabled people not only into the health-care environment but also into the real daily activities at the condition to evaluate the social and cultural acceptance of the man-machine interactions, in the so-called Cyber-Medicine and Health Cyber-Services, and the concrete applicability, distribution and diffusion of technological solutions at large scale.

Giuseppe TRITTO, MD, FACS

To be presented at the ICMCC Event.

Prescribing Assistive-Technology Systems: Focus on Children With Impaired Communication

“Abstract
This clinical report defines common terms of use and provides information on current practice, research, and limitations of assistive technology that can be used in systems for communication.The assessment process to determine the best devices for use with a particular child (ie, the best fit of a device) is also reviewed. The primary care pediatrician, as part of the medical home, plays an important role in the interdisciplinary effort to provide appropriate assistive technology and may be asked to make a referral for assessment or prescribe a particular device. This report provides resources to assist pediatricians in this role and reviews the interdisciplinary team functional evaluation using standardized assessments; the multiple funding opportunities available for obtaining devices and ways in which pediatricians can assist families with obtaining them; the training necessary to use these systems once the devices are procured; the follow-up evaluation to ensure that the systems are meeting their goals; and the leadership skills needed to advocate for this technology. The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledges the need for key resources to be identified in the community and recognizes that these resources are a shared medical, educational, therapeutic, and family responsibility. Although this report primarily deals with assistive technology specific for communication impairments, many of the details in this report also can aid in the acquisition and use of other types of assistive technology.”
Article
Larry W. Desch, Deborah Gaebler-Spira and the Council on Children With Disabilities, Pediatrics Vol. 121 No. 6 June 2008, pp. 1271-1280 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-0695)

Special WABT session at ICMCC Event

Empowering Disabled People with ICT Tools
organised by Prof. Giuseppe Tritto, President of the WABT (World Academy of Biomedical Technologies)

Session overview:

• Disability definitions and trends for e-Health policies and services
  Giuseppe TRITTO, President WABT (ICET/UNESCO), World Academy of BioMedical Sciences and Technologies, Paris, France
• Empowering Mr Green with ICT tools
  Malcolm Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Data Communication Systems and Telemedicine, Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University, UK
• ICT for home-based service to maintain the upper limb function: a telerehabilitation experience
  Marco Rogante, Dipartimento Tecnologie e Salute (Technology and Health Dept.), Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health), Rome, Italy
• Research on a mechanically efficient sensing surface for information retrieval in healthcare.
  Peter Brett, Biomedical Engineering, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
• A New Generation of Assistive Technologies: the robot appliance for eating
  Giuseppina Anna Di Lauro, CEO DEDALO SOLUTIONS, President Club of Spin-off Companies, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa Italy

Largest ever UK telecare trial starts

“The start of the UK’s largest ever trial of telecare and telehealth in a £31m programme covering 6000 people has been announced by the Department of Health.
Health secretary Alan Johnson said the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) Programme had begun this week in Kent, Newham and Cornwall, testing the potential of technologies like telecare and telehealth to support those with complex health and social care needs.”
Article
e-Health Insider, 13 May 2008

IOM: Technology Aids Senior Care

“The nation’s health care system is woefully unprepared to care for baby boomers, who will start to reach age 65 in just three years, according to a major new report from the Institute of Medicine. Among the report’s many conclusions is that assistive technologies should be used to improve the quality of life and care in the home.”
Article
Health Data Management, 14 April 2008

An Assisted-Living Home Architecture with Integrated Healthcare Services for Elderly People

Abstract:
Since the population of elderly people grows absolutely and in relation to the overall population in the world, the improvement of the quality of life of elderly people at home is of a great importance. This can be achieved through the development of generic technologies for managing their domestic ambient environment consisting of medical sensors, entertainment equipment, home automation systems and white goods, increasing their autonomy and safety. In this context, the provision intelligent interactive healthcare services will improve their daily life and allowing at the same time the continuous monitoring of their health and their effective treatment. This work is supported by the INHOME Project EU IST-045061-STP, http://www.ist-inhome.eu.

Andy MARSH^a, Christos BINIARIS^a, Dimitrios VERGADOS^b, Arnold EPPLER^c, Christoforos KAVVADIAS^d, Olaf BIGALKE^e, Eric ROBERT^f, Boro JERABEK^g, Alevizos ALEVIZOS^h, Michael CARAGIOZIDIS^i
aVMW Solutions, Romsey, UK
^bUniversity of the Aegean, Samos, Greece
^cAlcatel-Lucent, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany
^dTeletel S.A., Athens, Greece
^eSiemens, Bocholt, Germany
^fThales, Lambersart Cedex, France
^gGorenje Group, Velenje, Slovenia
^hHealth Center of Vyrona, Athens, Greece
ⁱThoss & Partner GmbH, Ludwigsburg, Germany

To be published in “Medical and Care Compunetics 5″, IOSPress, 2008.
To be presented at the ICMCC Event 2008.

Active Ageing: Independence through Technology Assisted Health Optimisation

Abstract:
The potential doubling in the percentage of the elderly within the populations of Europe and beyond over the next decades has focused informatics research on the development Assistive Technologies and Smart Homes. However its concentration on creating a supportive home environment also has the potential for makings its users over dependent on its facilities and as a result trapped within it.
This paper outlines an approach that extends the smart homes concept out into the wider community to create a smart environment that not only maintains contact with all their home-based services, but also expands these to include other facilities needed to assist them whilst on the move.
This involves the convergence of physiological monitoring, communications and computing with leading-edge textile technologies, which uses a multi-layered, multi-functional clothing system as a mobile and extended variant of a smart home IP hub. In addition to variable functionality capabilities of the clothing layers in terms of thermal, shock-absorbent and other characteristics, wireless IP connectivity is provided between layers with external links typically being WiFi enabled. Health optimisation is provided by on-going lifestyle guidance/action feedback based on auto-diagnostic analysis.

B.R.M. MANNING^a, J. McCANN^b, S. BENTON^c, J. BOUGOURD^d
a University of Westminster, School of Informatics
^b University of Wales, Newport, Smart Wearables Research Group
^c University of Westminster, Business Psychology Centre
^d University of the Arts, London

To be published in “Medical and Care Compunetics 5″, IOSPress, 2008.
To be presented at the ICMCC Event 2008.

Wenn der Teppich Alarm schlägt

Electronic assistants allow elderly an independent life - a future market for the technology industry.

Article (German)
Dirk Asendorpf, Die Zeit nr. 10, 28 February 2008

New ICTs for Elderly Must Respect Dignity

“Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) developed to help older people stay healthy for longer should be cost effective and respect the privacy and dignity of the elderly, MEPs have stated. Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy were voting on amendments to the Commission’s proposal to set up an Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) programme.”
Article
e-HealthNews.EU, 28 January 2008

Robosoft showcase robot to help elderly

“French robotic specialist Robosoft has demonstrated a prototype service robot which can help elderly and handicapped people stay at home.
The robot, launched at Microsoft’s Innovation Day in Brussels at the end of 2007, is a home-centric robot, which combines the internet and robotics technology to provide daily-life services to people staying at home.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 9 January 2008

Electronic Tagging - Enabling Or Disabling People With Dementia? UK

“The latest sign of over zealous Big Brother or the future for empowering people with dementia?
When electronic tagging was suggested as a way of tracking people with dementia it sparked a nationwide debate on the ethics of assistive technology. Now the Alzheimer’s Society is launching a new policy on electronic tagging and safer walking technology and people with dementia and their carers are being asked to speak out.”
Article
Medical News Today, 7 January 2008

ROBOSOFT Introduces a New Robuter Aiming at Assisting People at Home

“The prototype shows how service robots can help elderly and handicapped people staying at home. It is based on robuLAB10, an off-theshelf mobile platform, and a robuBOX™, the generic robotic middleware based on Microsoft® Robotics Studio, that comes with every robot produced by ROBOSOFT: it allows providers of services to customize it and offer various services to their customers.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 2 January 2008

Obtrusiveness of information-based assistive technologies as perceived by older adults in residential care facilities: A secondary analysis

“With the anticipated growth in the older adult population in the next few years, information designers are examining new ways for assistive technologies to support independent living and quality of life for adults as they age. Central to the role of assistive technology to support and enhance quality of life is the development of non-obtrusive technologies. Despite the importance of non-obtrusiveness to the design of assistive technologies, there remains no standard definition of obtrusiveness or measurement instrument. A conceptual framework for obtrusiveness in home telehealth technologies has recently been proposed but has not yet been tested empirically. This project performed a secondary analysis of focus group and interview data to explore the presence of the dimensions of the obtrusiveness framework in older adults’ responses to information-based assistive technologies in residential care facilities. We found the existing data contained examples of each dimension (physical, usability, privacy, function, human interaction, self-concept, routine, and sustainability) and 16 of the 22 subcategories proposed by the obtrusiveness framework. These results provide general support for the framework, although further prospective validation research is needed. Potential enhancements to the framework are proposed.”
Abstract
Karen L. Courtney; George Demiris; Brian K. Hensel,  Medical Informatics & The Internet in Medicine, Volume 32, Issue 3

An RFID-based system for assisted living: Challenges and Solutions

Judith Symonds a, David Parry a,b and Jim Briggs b
a School of Computing and Mathematics, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
b School of Computing, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom

Abstract.

Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) offers a potentially flexible and low cost method of locating objects and tracking people within buildings. RFID systems generally require less infrastructure to be installed than other solutions but have their own limitations. As part of an assisted living system, RFID tools may be useful to locate lost objects, support blind and partially sighted people with daily living activities and assist in the rehabilitation of adults with acquired brain injury. This paper outlines the requirements and the role of RFID in assisting people in these three areas. The development of a prototype RFID home support tool is described and some of the issues and challenges raised are discussed. The system is designed to support assisted living for elderly and infirm people in a simple, usable and extensible way in particular for supporting the finding and identification of commonly used and lost objects such as spectacles. This approach can also be used to extend the tagged domain to commonly visited areas, and provide support for the analysis of common activities, and rehabilitation.

e-Care Integration: To meet the Demographic Challenge

Bryan R.M. Manning and Mary McKeon Stosuy
Computing and Compunetics Research Group, Cavendish School of Computer Science, University of Westminster, UK

Abstract

Current multi-agency models of care will be wholly unsustainable when faced with the forecast doubling of over 65s in the developed and developing nations to around 40% of their populations of the next decades. The resulting imbalance between demand and skilled resources is beginning to force radical change towards a fully “joined up” cross-disciplinary, cross-agency service that spans the wide spectrum of medical and social care.

This paper offers a basis for a radically revised model that combines end-to-end service processes optimization; the use of integrated assistive technology systems to help the elderly maintain an independent lifestyle; personal risk reduction through medical and status monitoring; extended care-watch and service co-ordination.

It then develops an IPTV based approach to provide the necessary infrastructure to underpin provision of these facilities both at home and in the community.

These substantial benefits are reviewed and weighed against the inherent loss of privacy that can result from the pervasive computing aspects of the care watch approach, together with the trust building and change management aspects that are inevitably involved in the rationalisation process.

Assistive Technology – Behaviourally Assisted

S. Benton and B. Manning
Business Psychology Centre, Department of Psychology; Centre for Business Information, Organisation, and Process Management, Westminster Business School, University of Westminster, UK

Abstract

In considering the recurrent problems involved in technology led initiatives within the public sector, this paper seeks to identify change management requirements needed to help avoid these latent pitfalls in the widespread introduction of Assistive Technology.

It develops a change process approach based on current clinical psychology techniques used in assessing sources and level of resistance to behavioural change and applies them to managing effective benefits realisation.