Category Archives: Gerontechnology

Posts about technologies for aging and older adults, welfare technology, health technology, etc.

Mobile Health: Apps for Every Age and Ouch

Posted on by under Care, Education, Gerontechnology, Health, Inspiration

The apps, sensors and seemingly unlimited data at our fingertips put people — not providers — in charge of their own health. Medical procedures that once cost thousands of dollars can be reduced to pennies in the form of an app.

This cool, interactive infographic gives examples and real-life experiences of people using mHealth apps for better health and well-being. Click on the link below to read more!

Explore how the recent explosion in mobile health and medical apps can impact every stage of a person’s life. And potentially, our health care costs.

Mobile Health: Apps for Every Age and Ouch

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From innovation to implementation – eHealth in the WHO European Region (2016)

Posted on by under Education, Gerontechnology, Health, Inspiration, Research, Reviews

It’s finally here!

from-innovation-ehealth

Please have a read of the World Health Organization European eHealth report and share it with those who would be interested. In particular, you may find the case example on page 71 interesting, where big data for dementia research and treatment is discussed. Or the case example on page 36 about eHealth supporting aged care and carers.

If you like it, please share it 🙂

Happy reading!

Source: From innovation to implementation – eHealth in the WHO European Region (2016)

A hackathon focused on dementia!

Posted on by under Gerontechnology

Hacking dementia: Facebook invites tech nerds to combine brain power

Imagine if a person with dementia could tap a device on a television, microwave or laundry machine and instantly be reminded how to use it. Technologies like this emerged from last year’s DementiaHack, a “hackathon” that incubates hundreds of tech and medical professionals, along with the general public, to create tools for people living with dementia—a condition experienced by about 750,000 Canadians and 15 per cent of Canadians aged 65 and older.

The event, held this year at Toronto’s George Brown College on Nov. 7- 8, is organized by Facebook Canada and HackerNest, a not-for-profit aimed at using technology for economic development. This weekend, as early registrants began dividing into teams and pitching ideas, Maclean’s spoke with Jordan Banks, managing director of Facebook Canada, and Shaharris Beh, director of HackerNest.

Read the rest of this article on Macleans’ website here.

Probing The Realities of Big Data In Alzheimer’s

Posted on by under Education, Gerontechnology

This article comes from US Against Alzheimer’s, a US organization committed to stopping Alzheimer’s disease. This particular article talks about the uses of Big Data in Alzheimer’s research and some of the research projects doing just that.

Probing The Realities of Big Data In Alzheimer’s

Modern technology now makes it possible to collect so-called Big Data on entire populations, opening up new possibilities for AD research. Today, genetic, imaging and even sensor data can be collected on massive numbers of people with strong privacy and security protections. Unlike the traditional research approach that relies on one or a small number of labs’ work on data to publish a limited set of findings months or years later, big data allows a global network of researchers to gain access to each other and to citizen-generated data for collaborative and patient-focused research. The challenge before us is to mine all this data to unearth the clues to understand and then beat Alzheimer’s. And soon.

What barriers do we face in ushering in this new era of open science, and what advances are possible if researchers apply 21st century open science to the world’s broadest and best sources of Alzheimer’s data?

– See more at: http://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/blog/probing-realities-big-data-alzheimers#sthash.oFzTYvLX.dpuf

VPH-DARE@IT: Virtual Physiological Human – Dementia Research Enabled by IT

Posted on by under Gerontechnology, Research

The expected impact of the project will influence the scientific, clinical and industrial communities across Europe and internationally to improve the healthcare of dementia patients. This will both improve patients’ quality of life, and also reduce the burden on carers and the costs of supporting people with dementia.

The “Virtual Physiological Human: DementiA Research Enabled by IT” (VPH-DARE@IT) project aims to provide a systematic, multifactorial and multiscale modelling approach to understanding dementia onset and progression and enable more objective, earlier, predictive and individualised diagnoses and prognoses of dementias to cope with the challenge of an ageing European society.

Source: VPH-DARE@IT: Virtual Physiological Human – Dementia Research Enabled by IT | Joinup

Dem@Care: Dementia Ambient Care 

Posted on by under Care, Gerontechnology, Health

Dem@Care aspires to contribute to the timely diagnosis, assessment, maintenance and promotion of self-independence of people with dementia, by deepening the understanding of how the disease affects their everyday life and behaviour

It implements a multi-parametric closed-loop remote management solution that affords adaptive feedback to the person with dementia, while at the same time including clinicians into the remote follow-up, enabling them to maintain a comprehensive view of the health status and progress of the person with dementia.

Check out the project’s website to watch videos and learn more about the work they are doing:  Dem@Care

Read more about the project at: Dem@Care: Dementia Ambient Care – Multi-Sensing Monitoring for Intelligent Remote Management and Decision Support 

14 Technologies Seniors Should Use to Make Life Easier

Posted on by under Gerontechnology

14 Technologies Seniors Should Use to Make Life Easier

Technology Allows Aging in Place to Happen

The most efficient way to lower long-term care costs is to remain at home and to delay nursing home placement. People can stay in their homes using home and community-based services. What cost-effective means will keep them safe and independent? We think it’s technology. But which ones? Here are 14 technologies seniors should use to make their lives easier.

Read the rest of this article here, on AssistedLiving.About.com

World’s first mobile hospital lab to help elderly

Posted on by under Dementia in Denmark, Gerontechnology, Health

I found this short article through Healthcare Denmark. Check out their website to find out more about how health and social care is organized and carried out in Denmark, with some more great examples of using technology for health!

World’s first mobile hospital lab to help elderly

September 04, 2015

Mobil Lab
The world’s first mobile hospital laboratory for examination and treatment of elderly citizens in their own home, is now a reality in Denmark.

A collaboration between Køge Hospital and Køge Municipality has resulted in the development of the world’s first mobile hospital laboratory for examination and treatment of elderly and vulnerable citizens in their own home.

The mobile hospital laboratory is staffed with a biomedical laboratory technician from Køge Hospital and a nurse from Køge Municipality. They drive the mobile laboratory to the citizen’s home to examinate and take blood samples. The results are ready within 30 minutes and are sent directly to the citizen’s GP, who assesses whether there is a need for hospitalization or if treatment can take place in the citizen’s own home.

The target group consists of elderly and vulnerable patients who suffer from urinary tract infections, COPD, dizziness, dehydration, diarrhea, constipation or infections. With the mobile laboratory, many elderly can avoid a trip to the doctor or a stressful hospitalization and instead get their treatment at home.

Baby Boomers Are The First Tech-Savvy Retirees

Posted on by under Gerontechnology

This article comes to us from Huffington Post. With increasing use of wearable technologies, robotic assistants, home automation, and a whole range of welfare technologies to support independent living, safety, and health, this generation of retirees are doing it differently than we have seen before!

Baby Boomers Are The First Tech-Savvy Retirees — And Have The Home Renovations To Prove It

08/11/2015 9:36 am EDT by  Sr. Editor | NowItCounts.com

Newest retirees want state-of-the-art technologies in homes and home offices for consulting work.

Time to throw out the notion of the “stuffy” grandparents houses like we used to visit in our childhoods. Continue reading →

The 10 Best US Cities for Technology-Assisted Living

Posted on by under Gerontechnology

This article comes to us from Redfin Blog. To find the “best” cities for tech-supported living, the authors of this article looked at 5 app-based services that aging adults would find useful, monthly mortgage payments, and monthly assisted living facility costs in the cities. If it cost less to live at home and use the services than it would to live in assisted living, the cities made the list. So, while you are reading this list, please keep in mind that these are the criteria they used. Of course, there are many other options for using technology to support independent living, and if you want to read more about this, check out some of my other posts – you will see suggestions at the bottom of this post.

The 10 Best Cities for Technology-Assisted Living

by | August 11, 2015

10BestCitiesTechnologyAssistedLiving_Banner

The National Conference of State Legislatures and AARP Public Policy Institute report that nearly 90 percent of people over the age of 65 want to stay in their home for as long as possible. Fortunately, in most cases, they won’t have to move as they age. According to Seniorly, a service that helps people find senior care, the majority of seniors do NOT need to move into a nursing home. They simply need some care equivalent to what they would find in an assisted living community, which includes assistance with daily activities like meals, medication, housekeeping, bathing and transportation.

And these days, there’s an app for that. An elderly woman can take an Uber to her friend’s home, find someone to walk her dog through Rover.com, schedule her lawn to be mowed or her house to be cleaned through Porch, get groceries delivered through Instacart, and schedule a professional caregiver to assist with bathing, meal preparation and other daily living activities through CareLinx. Or, for those seniors who aren’t tech-savvy, friends and family can use these technology-based services to arrange care for them. Continue reading →

Internship on Age-Friendly Cities Initiative

Posted on by under Gerontechnology, Health, Reviews

Internship with the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities

In January, 2013, I started a 3-month internship with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. I will be working on how to incorporate eHealth in the Age-friendly cities initiative. I will be posting some updates here on how the internship is going and how gerontechnology will be playing a role in Age-friendly cities.

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Continue reading →

The stories speak for themselves

Posted on by under Gerontechnology

From Hospice Matters blog:

It is so gratifying to be able to touch the lives of these patients and to watch the excited faces of their loved ones as they observe the interaction. We relish these opportunities to restore quality of life to patients. Most of them don’t have the ability to tell us how much they enjoy these visits from our social workers, but their faces (and these stories) do it for them.

Hospice Matters

by Andrea Powell, HPCCR Marketing Manager

tiny piano appA while back I shared a few stories from our social workers who have been successfully connecting with dementia patients by using applications they’ve downloaded onto their iPads.  These patients, normally unresponsive, have surprised the social workers and especially their family members by interacting and showing interest in what the iPad apps have to offer.  Here are a few more stories to warm your heart.

From Lesley:

I used my iPad to pull up the main street of East Aurora, NY for a resident in memory care.  He was born there and had a big smile as he watched the video.  For another resident, I used my iPad to pull up a video of New York City taxi cabs because he told me that’s how he used to get around when he lived there.  He laughed at the video saying, “That’s how they drive!…

View original post 183 more words

Danes love assisted living technologies

Posted on by under Gerontechnology

Experiencing technologies as part of everyday life breaks down prejudice and misconceptions!

Odense Health - Innovation & Business

According to a new survey from the European Commission, Danes are the most positive and open-minded towards robots and robotic aids in Europe.

View original post 471 more words

Dementia: A good, safe, and dignified life with welfare technology

Posted on by under Dementia in Denmark, Gerontechnology

Come and hear about welfare technology and dementia! It’s free to join – but you must register before 9 September. I wish that I could attend, but unfortunately will be busy that day. If you are attending, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Dementia:  A good, safe, and dignified life with welfare technology 

Come to Welfare Tech’s themed event on dementia. We set the focus on welfare technology solutions that create a good, safe, and dignified life for people with dementia. The events of the day will address the needs of both the person with dementia, the relatives as carers, and present the solutions available on the market. Continue reading →