The population of the world is increasingly an elderly one. With rising numbers of births, better healthcare and quality of life, the percentage of elderly people in our commnunities is set to grow year on year.
Elderly populations are facing lonliness and isolation, as well as health problems that come with age – from remembering frequent visits to the doctor, to living with the risk of taking a fall or becoming ill when alone. These problems will become more common in our societies as the population of eldery people grows.
In a time where we have the power of technology at our fingertips, we must start addressing these issues now using new innovations, in order to brace for the future. Furthermore, these innovations must be secure and trustworthy, due to the likely transfer of highly personal data, such as medical test results, between devices. That is why, at M-Sec, we are working on piloting a use case which will focus on improving the wellbeing of elderly populations, in a secure and safe way.
Our use case will be piloted in Santander, and will tackle this problem in the following way:
- M-Sec will integrate cloud and edge services, mobile devices (tablets, phones), generic tracking devices (bands or Fitbit watches, Nokia Health, etc.), as well as specific devices (fall detector, blood pressure monitor, glucometer, etc.).
- This solution will be implemented on top of the M-Sec platform, ensuring security and privacy of all data and offering peace of mind.
- Both health and social aspects will be addressed:
Health: Empower ageing citizens to self-manage and share their health status for follow-up and advice, alerting him/her to actions (e.g. taking medication, medical consultations, diet, etc.).
Social: Allow ageing citizens to quickly and directly contact city social services, friends, family, neighbours or caregivers at any time by creating a trusted support network. Provide elderly people with information about the volunteer, care and urban activities organized in the city and a space to share their interests with other citizens.
You can read more about the pilot of our use case here:
http://msecproject.eu/portfolio/healthcare-for-active-and-independent-ageing-people-santander/
Looking forward, the question is raised of how to integrate these devices or new habits into the routines of the elderly. For the younger generations, growing up with increasingly evolving technology means adapting and re-adaping to new ways of studying, working and communicating, becoming flexible and quick to learn about new ways to fit technology into our lives. However, for the older members of our communities, the introduction of technology into their everyday lives has either been too late in life or too rapidly evolving to keep up.
We expect to launch our use case pilot in the near future. If you would like to learn more, or see how we can collaborate, send an email to [email protected].
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