Elderly – Page 2 – CommuniCity

FEUP: Tele Visit – The family goes home

Challenge: How to decrease the loneliness of the elderly?
Tele Visit – The family goes home

In the City of Porto there are a large number of elderly people who live alone in social neighbourhoods. They often face health and well-being challenges, namely the under provision of critical goods and services, such as health care, food, medicines, due to the lack of mobility and autonomy. Furthermore, many of them are economically vulnerable and digitally illiterate. The present project from the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP) aims to support the elderly in the Municipal public housing Area of Urban Rehabilitation (ARU) of Corujeira, in the parish of Campanha and their families, namely those with less resources, allowing the communication between them in safety and thus contributing as a prophylactic effect at three levels: 1) avoid a possible catastrophic event, especially among the most vulnerable people; 2) improve the mental health of the elderly; 3) support the interface with their family members.

Mental health needs to be valued, due to the context of loneliness, anxiety and depression that add to the difficulties in understanding the situation. The lack of mental health is associated with morbidity, reduced cognitive reserve and disability in older people. The negative impact of physical illness and depression increases disability and is associated with increased mortality. According to the WHO, Telemedicine is based on the use of information and communication technologies, allowing increased access to health care. The use of telemedicine can be seen in several areas, being applied in the USA by more than 60% of health organization and it is present in the area of mental health in 49 states. After obtaining an opinion from the Ethics Committee, the concept of telemedicine will be applied to facilitate tele visits by families to their elderly relatives, adopting technologies similar to those used for health care. FEUP – Engenharia Voluntária will provide technological support in terms of installation and training, with operationalization being carried out essentially through the voluntary intervention of the FEUP community. 10 seniors living alone in the Area of Urban Rehabilitation (ARU) of Corujeira will be involved. For each home, a survey of needs will be carried out, with the technology selected according to the needs identified.

Inlisol remote wellbeing and safety monitoring

Challenge: What kind of technologies increase the safety of the homecare clients?
Inlisol remote wellbeing and safety monitoring for homecare services

Palko Interactive Oy aims at improving and securing the living conditions of home care clients by enabling them to live independently and safely in their homes. One way to achieve this goal is through the use of technology, such as alert systems. These alarms can detect if the person has left the house, stayed in bed for an extended period or if there are drastic changes in health vitals. Furthermore, automated alerts can help prevent additional injuries and symptoms, especially for individuals who are unable to call for help themselves. Preventative vital data can provide valuable information to home care nurses, allowing them to detect early-stage indications of potential health issues and incidents. This data enables them to react in advance and prevent further health complications. In Helsinki pilot home care unit pilots service that automates tasks, measurements, and work that is not necessary to be done by humans, but which can significantly reduce the pressure on overloaded and stressed home care personnel. The solution provides a wide range of monitoring alerts, preventative notifications and indicators, and general wellbeing data through an AI and radio wave technology-based solution. All monitoring is done fully anonymously to respect the monitored person’s privacy.