Aged :: A new level of care for the elderly

Dublin company, Valentia Technologies, and Fermanagh company, McElwaine SMART Technologies have teamed up with the University?s Technologies for Rurality, Ageing and Independent Living (TRAIL) laboratory to develop new health care delivery systems that will help elderly people continue to live longer in their own homes.

The aim is to deliver a leading-edge system for health and social services organisations to enable elderly persons to enjoy an improved quality of life in their normal home environments throughout the island of Ireland.

Valentia?s CareMonX? Home Appliance system in conjunction with McElwaine?s newly-opened monitoring and response centre in Lisnaskea will provide elderly clients with a range of integrated healthcare and social services via a simple-to-use touch screen appliance that will be installed in clients? homes. The monitoring and response service will use a Bosch telecommunications platform and homecare monitoring devices.

This cross-border collaboration between Valentia and McElwaine SMART is the first of its kind in relation to the development of focused healthcare services on an all-island basis.

It addresses the growing demand for public and private partnerships to enable independent at-home living of the elderly, those with chronic conditions and disabilities thus relieving pressure on hospitals and residential healthcare facilities.

The collaboration also highlights the opportunity to develop, deploy and perfect leading-edge healthcare and social service delivery models in Ireland which can be replicated on a much larger scale in other countries.

The CareMonX? Home Appliance is a highly-advanced healthcare system that facilitates two-way real-time interaction between a patient and their healthcare and social services team as well as with family and friends.

The appliance also integrates with healthcare monitoring devices in the home such as movement detectors and fall alarms, allowing data generated from the devices to be incorporated into a single comprehensive system platform. Service components include chronic disease management, medication reminders, nutritional advice, appointment management and contacts with healthcare, social team member and next of kin.

Maurice Mulvenna, from the University of Ulster?s TRAIL laboratory, said: ?Our research focuses on assisting ageing people as well as those charged with their care. We are particularly interested in assisting ageing, rural dwellers, supporting their decisions to remain in their homes and lead fulfilling lives in the heart of their communities.?

McElwaine SMART Technologies Chairman, Mr John McElwaine, said:

?McElwaine SMART is proud to be at the forefront of cross-border collaboration in healthcare and social services. We are excited at the potential which the combined technologies and services of McElwaine SMART and Valentia can offer to elderly persons along the border region and across Ireland. Elderly persons want to remain independent in their normal living environments for as long as possible and we are happy that we will enable this to happen, while also using some of the most advanced technologies currently available anywhere in the world for this purpose.?

Valentia CEO, Peter Nelson, said: ?We are delighted that today?s announcement will mark the launch of a new healthcare and social services delivery model for elderly persons in the community, including those living in remote and disadvantaged areas. Valentia and McElwaine SMART have very complimentary skill sets and footprints, allowing us to provide a fully-fledged service backed by robust and secure monitoring facilities and infrastructure. We are of course also pleased at the all-island potential of our initiative.

Partnerships of this calibre are vitally important for the University, said Jonathan Wallace, Director of Knowledge & Technology Transfer for the Faculty of Engineering:

?We see partnerships such as this one between Valentia and McElwaine SMART as offering our researchers a key platform through which new, innovative product and service solutions can be brought to market.?


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