Singapore is on the hunt for innovative devices
that will help elderly citizens continue to live independently at home.
Such aids, meant to improve daily functioning in
areas such as hearing or showering, should be easy to use, safe and
cost-effective.
"We hope to attract multi-disciplinary
research proposals that are scaleable and sustainable, and transform the way we
see assistive devices today," said Senior Minister of State for Health Amy
Khor as she called for proposals for such devices at a conference last week.
To date, about $8 million has been awarded to
projects under the Care-at-Home Innovation Grant. Some involve having an
e-marketplace to match volunteers with seniors requiring home care and a call
centre service that will respond to seniors who need help.
Singapore can draw some ideas from Denmark, said
Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Heng Chee How at a
dialogue held between the two countries last month to exchange views on how to
design elderly-friendly societies. It was organised by the Royal Danish
Embassy.
"We can learn from the Danish experience in
terms of the preventive and rehabilitative part of care," said Mr Heng,
especially since Singapore is moving away from a model it is traditionally
strong in, such as acute care, to improve its community- and home-based care.
"Assistive technology is going to become an
increasingly important part of the story. As people live longer, how are you
going to enable the individual to keep his functioning up for as long as
possible?" he said.
Denmark has set up "living labs"
countrywide to encourage innovation. Private firms can introduce the latest
technology, including eldercare products, at these spaces, allowing government
officials and citizens to test them and give feedback.
The inventions include a bed that helps turn a
bedridden person on his back or side automatically, and a ceiling hoist that
gently lifts a senior from his bed to a wheelchair.
Seniors in Denmark are invited to move into these
living labs for a week or a month to try out the technologies for themselves.
Both countries are ageing rapidly. One in four
people here will be 65 or above by 2030. Denmark will face a similar situation
by 2040.
In recent years, the Danes have used technology to
ramp up home care and rehabilitative care.
By 2019, all patients with lung disease in Denmark
will monitor and manage their condition on their own at home using electronic
devices. These aids will enable them to record and track vital signs, and hold
regular videoconferences with nurses and doctors. There are plans to do the
same for patients with diabetes and heart disease.
Danish residents are able to use technology to
manage their own health at home because they have access to the national
electronic health record system.
"I can go into the portal and see all my
medicines, lab results, clinical notes written by my doctors, so I am empowered
as a citizen to have insight into my own health," said Mr Hans Erik
Henriksen, who is chief executive of Healthcare Denmark, a non-profit organisation
that is partly supported by the government.
"Now, a lot of people live for a long time
with chronic disease. That means it is not just about the doctor giving you a
pill or sewing you back together any more - you have to manage it yourself at home,"
said Ms Ninna Thomsen, Copenhagen's health and care mayor.
Some assistive technology can also be used in
daycare centres or nursing homes in the community. For instance, the
Vennerslund Day Centre in Copenhagen partnered the Technical University of Denmark
to introduce a game that helps seniors improve their balance and reaction
times. Robotic tiles controlled by a tablet light up when the user steps on
them in a certain sequence.
"I can't afford to buy it but noticed the fun
we had when we played it together as a group," said Mr Hans Joergen, 80,
who goes to the centre three times a week. The game, which costs about $7,000,
is free for use at various daycare centres.
"It's fantastic to use technology this way to
keep our limbs strong and nimble indoors when the weather outside isn't good
for walking in the woods."
SOURCE: Janice Tai, Straits Times
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