Old age in the technology age
New devices to monitor health and well-being at home a growing new sector.
From: San Francisco Chronicle - 08/08/2005
By: Carolyn Said

Talking pill bottles that remind you to take your medicine. A wristwatch that
can help find a wandering Alzheimer's patient. Smart Band-Aids that check
your temperature and heartbeat. Sensors in bedsheets that monitor sleep apnea
and snoring. Motion detectors on doors and furniture that sense when you're
up and about, when you stay in bed, and whether you've fallen. Robots that
help disabled people get up from a chair and walk down the hall. 

They sound like sci-fi, or entries from a Sharper Image catalog circa 2015,
but they're technologies that exist today. With the United States' population
rapidly aging, electronic devices to monitor seniors' health and well-being
at home are a growing new sector. A few are on the market now; more may hit
the US market as soon as next year. 

"We have the potential to aim our innovation engine at the age wave challenge
and change the way we do health care from a crisis-driven, assembly-line,
hospital approach to a personal-driven approach, with people taking care of
themselves with help from family, friends and technologies," said Eric
Dishman, director of health research and innovation for Intel. 

The computer-chip giant takes the area so seriously that when it reorganized
in January, it created a digital health group as one of its five primary
business units reporting directly to the chief executive officer. 

"Intel went down this path after a study of 300 households in the United
States, South America and Europe where we sent social scientists out to live
with and observe them," Dishman said. "We ostensibly focused on digital
entertainment, but the overwhelming response by anyone over 40 was, 'I don't
need 500 more TV channels; I need a way to manage my diabetes, and more
importantly to manage the diabetes of my aging parents.' We heard that so
many times, we said: 'We need to start a lab to focus on personal health
trends.' " 

Now, Dishman leads that lab in Portland, Ore. "We study the needs of seniors
and Boomers to figure out how all the gear we're putting into people's lives
for digital entertainment can be used for health and wellness," he said. 

Although Intel will stick to its mission of building the chips that power
products rather than getting into product development itself, the lab has
created a number of proof-of-concept devices. 

For example, there's a "Caller ID on steroids" for people with memory loss
who have become "afraid to answer the phone because they wouldn't know the
difference between their own daughter and a stranger calling them," Dishman
said. When the phone rings, a screen shows a photograph of the person
calling, their name and relationship, and a short summary of a previous
conversation. 

Like the amped-up Caller ID, many senior tech products are built upon
existing devices. That makes them easier for consumers to use, because they
are simply extensions of familiar gadgets. 

Cell phones, for example, are the basis for a host of ideas for future
products, as well as some available now in Europe and Japan. 

There is a cell phone that detects voice tremors, indicating a risk of
Parkinson's disease. There is one that reminds patients to take their
medications at programmed intervals - and even comes with a built-in pill
dispenser. Another has navigational features to help people with memory
problems find their way around town; others help monitor conditions like
diabetes. 

Compelling demographics drive the push to create home health devices for
seniors.  

The entire article can be found at:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/08/BUG7PE2HL01.DTL&type=business

