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New Technology Helps Elderly Stay Healthy At Home

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:10:25 +0000

Every morning at 10 a.m. sharp, Juanita Wood, 87, taps “okay” on a screen to start up a device that takes her blood pressure and transmits the information to her medical clinic. At 10:30 a.m., her husband, Arthur, 91, touch-starts his own device, neatly lined up next to hers. The machine calculates his blood pressure and weight and sends them off, along with a blood sugar count that he enters by hand.

The Woods, of Catonsville, Md., are participants in one of several pilot projects that home health-care providers, retirement communities and others are conducting to see if high-tech but simple devices can help doctors closely monitor aging patients at home. The goal is to help control problems before they escalate and cut back on the need for costly long-term care and hospital admissions – especially repeat hospital visits for chronic conditions.

Although proponents of health-care reform tout its potential for improving efficiency, often missing from the national debate are specific examples of how changes in the system might improve patient outcomes and reduce costs. These pilot projects are exploring some easy-to-use technology that might make a difference to patients and doctors.

Continue reading “New Technology Helps Elderly Stay Healthy At Home“

Googling Fights Dementia, Study Suggests

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:21:32 +0000

Ker Than
for National Geographic News

Who would have thought?

Using search engines may help stave off dementia and memory loss, a new brain-scan study suggests.

Scientists found that middle-aged and older adults with little Internet experience showed increased activity in key brain regions after surfing the Web for an hour a day for just two weeks.

It’s not so much the Internet itself as it is the seeking of new information and keeping your brain stimulated with new things,” said study team member Susan Bookheimer, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Playing Sudoku puzzles or immersing yourself in a new hobby, for example, has similar benefits, the team says. But Bookheimer says the Web is less likely to bore users after prolonged use.

“There’s an infinite amount of information on the Internet every time you get on,” Bookheimer said.

Read more on how “Google searches pumps the blood” from National Geographic News.

Artificial intelligence aid for dementia sufferers

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:01:10 +0000

A form of artificial intelligence has been designed to help make life easier for people with dementia.

Researchers have developed a computer system that reminds patients about their daily appointments.

The computer-generated face known as MANA can talk, recognise faces and turn itself on when someone enters a room.

MANA, or Memory Appointment and Navigation Agent, is designed for older people with early onset dementia, who have trouble remembering even basic things.

Watch a video and read more about MANA.

Robots and sensors to help elderly stay independent

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:01:47 +0000

Someday soon, older adults may not need to move into nursing homes because they’ll have a household of technological wonders to keep an eye on them when they become frail.

UTA professor Fillia Makedon displays some of the equipment as Kevin Xu wears an Motion Capture suit that digitally captures human motion as they do research at the Human-Centered Computing Labratory at UTA. The research they are doing will help build and develop devices that will help elderly people live independently.

Like smart pets that never require feeding, robots will scoot from room to room to wake the homeowners in the morning, remind them to eat and send for help if someone falls.

Read the entire article “Robots and sensors to help elderly stay independent”.