I-Corps: Safe@Home

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This project develops sensor technology for elders to help them stay at home longer and defer or deny a shift to institutional care. The technologies developed in this project offer a unique design perspective with a dual focus on elder and caregiver. The core design philosophy is on the elder as a social individual in a network of caregivers and a stable physical environment. The core technology is a communications hub creating both a personal area network and connecting this network outside the home with redundant connections on multiple channels (wifi, cellular, landlines). Inside the home, the hub coordinates the risk-specific modules. The multi-sensor modules can be deployed or removed as risks change. These modules generate alters to the hub which then sends them to caregivers first, community second, and first responders or call centers according to the preferences expressed during installation. The advantages include simplicity and reliability. The sensors are unobtrusive; there is no stigma. The purpose of each module is clear: falling, wandering, or isolation.The societal and commercial impacts of this project are grounded in demographics. By 2030, the over 65 population in the United States will roughly double from the current 38 million to 72 million. Current models of caregiving will not scale to meet this need without appropriate technological mediation. A common solution to decrease the cost of caregiving is Aging in Place. Aging in place improves perceived quality of life, empowers social support networks, and reduces health care complaints and costs in comparison to institutionalization. Technologies produced through this project will help elders to age in place. The design of this technology offers an approach that will enhance scientific and technological understanding of this deeply socially embedded challenge.