Sensor nets could help keep elderly independent
From: EE Times - March 3, 2003 - page 47
By: R. Colin Johnson

Research under way at Intel Corp. will result in new applications, new
infrastructure and new business opportunities in the 21st century, including
major inroads in health care services, said the company's chief technology
officer, Patrick Gelsinger, in a keynote Friday (Feb. 21) at the Intel
Developer Forum. 

Sensor nets monitoring the elderly will enable aging-in-place - that is, the
ability of many elderly to stay at home instead of residing at an
institution.  

"We think that health care costs can be greatly reduced by enabling the
elderly to stay at home instead of moving into an institution," said Eric
Dishman, manager of Intel's proactive health research lab and the chairman of
the Intel Research Council Health Subcommittee, a group of 15 social
scientists employed by Intel to evaluate future health care needs. 

On stage, Dishman used Gelsinger as a guinea pig in a mock-up of an elderly
person's home. Five video cameras pumped out 70 bits per second of video data
to track Gelsinger's movement from "room-to-room," logging his various
activities, such as cooking on the stove, and interrupted his TV program to
remind him that it was time to take his medication.  

"These seem like simple things, and they are usually, but in the future there
won't be enough people to care for the elderly so it is important that we get
computers to help them instead," Dishman said. "Unfortunately, it is
incredibly difficult to program computers to tell the difference between
routine and unusual activities that might indicate problems. For instance, if
an elderly person stands in front of the stove for an hour longer than usual,
you don't know if they are having a hard time remembering how to work the
stove, or whether they just picked an elaborate dish to cook today."  

Alzheimer's study 

After setting up a demonstration for the Alzheimer Association, in which
sensors plus computers and wireless communication were able to alert care
providers at unusual activities that could indicate the early stages of
dementia, the Alzheimer Association proposed a pilot study. Currently, this
new research effort, just getting under way, will focus on early detection of
dementia, but promises to expand to provide all sorts of assistance to the
emerging aging-in-place businesses.  

"This new research effort with the Alzheimer Association was prompted when we
gave them a demo," Dishman said. "They became very excited about being able
to detect the signs of dementia much earlier than we can today." 

By detecting the early signs of dementia, and dealing with the specific
problems that result, Intel hopes to foster a macroconvergence that enables
people to stay in their homes for extended periods of time well beyond the
time that current medical practitioners recommend institutionalization.  

"If we begin to notice changes in habits, we can prompt people with questions
that enable them to stay at home," Dishman said. "Today, when you enter an
Alzheimer's patient's home you will find very basic notes posted everywhere
around the house. On the bathroom mirror you might find 'Start the water
before putting shaving cream on,' or 'Take a bath, not a shower,' but these
are the kinds of reminders a computer could more effectively provide
verbally." 

One of the biggest single costs in medicine today relates to patients'
non-compliance with their medical treatment plans, Dishman said. By
monitoring such activity as whether patients are taking their medicine and
meeting their exercises needs, simple computer prompts could help them
succeed at home. They could also provide reports to care providers that
verify compliance and possibly indicate minor problems before they become
major or life-threatening.  

Home trials 

Next month Intel will begin a series of home trials of its aging-in-place
technologies, the company announced at IDF. By using the model of the drug
industry, Intel hopes to provide quantified evidence to Medicare and other
insurance providers that in-home monitoring of elderly not only reduces the
cost of medical care but also improves the quality of patients' lives.  

Read the entire story at:
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030221S0018