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from the I've-fallen-and-I-can't-get-up dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The team of researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), in collaboration with the Department of Geriatrics at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU), are developing a system that monitors the health conditions of the elderly. The system consists of several sensors and a controller—a portable device on a neck strap—that automatically calls for help in the time of need.
According to Eurostat, almost one in five persons in the European Union (EU) is aged 65 or over (19.4 percent). This represents a population of nearly 100 million people. It is estimated that by 2070 the number will reach 29 percent. Therefore, the need for technologies, which provide nonintrusive monitoring of the health of the increasing amount of population, are constantly growing.
"With this system, the elderly can feel at peace and safe at home. They don't need constant supervision. The developed technology is well suited for clinical treatment and can also be implemented in various geriatric institutions," says Egidijus Kazanavicius, a professor at the KTU Faculty of Informatics, one of the authors of the technology.
The system is consisting of stationary sensors mounted indoors and a small wearable 3-5 cm high device. It is constantly monitoring the health conditions and body position of a person. When it senses that the person has possibly collapsed, the system sends a signal to those listed as emergency contacts.
"We aimed to create a system that would record the patient's position, body posture, and movement indoors. If something goes wrong, the person falls, or any other problem occurs, the controller will record the patient's collapse and the alarm will automatically be transmitted," explains Prof Kazanavicius, the Director at KTU Centre of Real-Time Computer Systems.
The controller with the integrated Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module identifies the location of a person as accurately as one meter. The system was primarily designed for the installation in medical facilities, but now it can be implemented at home.
"Having access to the Internet is required but not a necessity. Emergency calls and notifications can also be sent via GSM," says Prof Kazanavicius.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday September 25 2019, @01:58AM (1 child)
Not sure if it was really Boomers or Silent Generation, but let's just stick with Boomers since they're fun to put down. Boomers were also the first generation, by and large, that couldn't leave someone to stay at home on the farm (or in the City, although that really picked up in Gen X) and watch over Mom or Dad due to a reduced number of kids. And bear in mind that Silent generation and before had no tech by which to keep up with the kids so it's no surprise that Boomers would have been raised that way and then raised their kids that way... Gen-Xers were the first generation actually raised by people who lived with the technology age from birth.
It's only been in the last couple of decades that the concepts of motion tracking and remote telemetry of health data has been around at all (really post-Apollo...)
And even if you're Johnny-on-the-spot-bug-your-Granny-day-and-night (which most Seniors wouldn't like any more than never being contacted), unless your occupation is to follow that person around 24/7 there will be sometime when you aren't watching. That's when the accident (or death) will happen.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 25 2019, @02:27PM
Another fun way that statistics commonly lies.
While most people may have come from large families, most people did not themselves have large families. So, if you have 12 kids - sure, the youngest daughter can stay home and take care of momma in her old age, and, BTW, that daughter is probably going to die a spinster.
If you look at the population growth curves, they didn't really take off until the 1950s, just about the same time the 2.1 child "nuclear family" came into vogue, along with divorce remarry new kids with new spouse, oops we did it again, plenty of families intentionally having 3 and 4 kids, etc.
Back when it may have been common to come from a family of 6 or more, most people had one child or less that lived long enough to have children of their own - so those people were SOL in their old age. But, when the "new deal" came around in 1935, I believe the number of people living beyond age 65 was something like 5%, so... that's one way to keep the nursing homes empty: keep the cemeteries full of freshly turned earth.
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