James who is 72 years of age, is living with Parkinson’s disease and other co morbidities, including hypertension, sleep disorders and inflammatory arthritis. His wife, Elena, who is 70 years of age is his primary caregiver, facing several difficulties as she has mild cognitive impairment and deals with a lot of stress, since her husband’s condition has degraded. They would like to be informed about the disease progression, be able to communicate easily with social and health care professionals, as well as learn the best actions to take on a daily basis.
This personalized interaction model is now offered by PROCare4Life, the European R&D project.
WHAT DOES PROCare4Life OFFER?
This exciting project proposes an integrated scalable and interactive care ecosystem for neurodegenerative diseases, which will also be adaptable to other chronic conditions. Using sensory monitoring applied to a smart bracelet, PROCare4Life learns about James’ behavioural habits, detects the symptoms relevant to Parkinson’s, but also hypertension.
James’ neurologist and physical therapist receive reports about the evolution of the disease and can take the best decisions regarding the prescribed medications or recommend exercises and then monitor the functioning of the motor skills. This leads to time and cost efficiency! The ecosystem can bring benefits to all users, from individuals and families to health professionals. Ultimately, it will improve the quality of life for older people.
One of the novelties is that, although health related, it is fun! The app provides a personalised and interactive model through gamification techniques which can support the user to adopt healthy habits, maintain daily routines and follow advice to maintain and improve their health condition. For Elena, this means daily exercises and games recommended and adjusted to her needs.
HOW IT WORKS
The ProCare4Life solution is divided into two subsystems, the low-level, which includes an array of sensors that collect data about the user’s wellbeing, and the high-level subsystem, which includes the services that store, process and provide feedback regarding the collected data.
SIMAVI is in charge of the cyber security of the platform and the communication services. The Romanian software company also provides know-how and expertise in all aspects needed.
First, SIMAVI is in charge of ensuring that the access to the high-level subsystem is secured, and that no unauthorised people can access the app. All users have to pass through a dedicated security layer, whether they are users, families or clinical staff.
And second, SIMAVI develops the social and communication services. Let us explain!
We have a text based chat, via which users, families and clinicians can talk to each other. The app also communicates with its users, which is done via emails and in-app notifications. In these two ways, users can access information as soon as it is available, whether it is a new report generated by the app or recommendations and tips from the care team.
This blog was written by Dana Oniga, Project Manager at SIMAVI, Daniela Banuta, Marketing Manager at SIMAVI and the rest of the team at Software Imagination and Vision (SIMAVI), Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie „Carol Davila” Bucuresti and Spitalul Universitar de Urgenta Bucuresti.