Media coverage on Majd Alwan's talk at an American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging conference (Apr 15, 2003)
By MARILYN RAUBER
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON - Imagine this: computer sensors that know when a dementia patient falls at home or forgets to eat or bathe -- and even remind relatives to call.
It's not science fiction; it's "smart" house technology that may help baby-boomers, who start turning 75 in the 2020s, stay in their own homes.
"This is not just in the future. The future is now," William L. Minnix, president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, said at a Washington conference on inventions for the elderly. Minnix's association represents non-profit nursing homes.
At the University of Virginia, researchers are close to putting on the market smart house sensors that can be placed in or on floor mats, chairs, walls, beds and kitchen appliances.
The sensors can monitor an elderly person's day-to-day habits at home, including how well they sleep and if they are capable of washing their dirty dishes - all without intrusive cameras or microphones.
Simple motion sensors can detect how often the homeowner goes into the kitchen. Temperature sensors can tell how often the stove is on or the fridge door is opened. Humidity sensors in the kitchen and bathroom show if the homeowner is regularly using the sink or the shower.
"Gait monitors" on the floor can measure changes in the person's walking abilities and detect a fall.
"A lot of older people we interviewed in our focus group were very suspicious of video cameras. They don't want their images to be beamed over the Internet ... regardless of the benefits," said Madj Alwan, the director of the University of Virginia's "elder care" technologies program.
"We're trying to do our best to respect the privacy of the occupant," Alwan said.
In Florida, the Veterans' Administration uses video phones and other e-health computers to care - long distance - for about 1,200 Florida patients who live at home or in assisted-living facilities, most of whom would otherwise be in nursing homes, said Patricia Ryan, who runs the program based at the VA Medical Center in Bay Pines.
Ryan said the veterans love the system.
"It gives them a sense of security, it gives them patient education and it gives them a connection to their care provider," she said.
Veterans with a "Health Buddy" in their home answer a series of medical questions every day. (A monitor beeps until they trigger it to start the15-minute session.) Another device is a tele-monitor that checks the patient's pulse, blood pressure and lungs. The Veterans Administration is planning to expand the project, which can cut hospitalization rates by half, nationwide starting next year.
Fewer and fewer elderly Americans are moving into nursing homes, and surveys show that most of the nation's 75 million baby boomers are even more independent-minded than their parents. Many baby boomers plan to stay in their homes after retirement.
At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control estimate almost three-fourths of all elderly Americans suffer from at least one chronic illness.
"You can turn technology into a personal health assistant," said Philippe Fauchet, director of the Center for Future Health at the University of Rochester in New York.
Researchers say most of the simpler technology will be relatively cheap - and certainly cheaper than the traditional methods of caring for the ailing elderly in nursing homes.
The University of Virginia's Alwan estimates his laboratory's smart house system could be installed for about $3,500 plus a monthly fee of between $50 and $200 to correlate and transmit the information.
Health experts warn that under the current system, the cost of caring just for baby-boom era Alzheimer's patients - 14 million by 2050 - will be enough to bankrupt Medicaid and Medicare.
Last year alone, employees who had to leave work to care for elderly relatives lost wages totaling more than $40 billion, according to the association of homes and services for the elderly.
Eric Dishman, a social scientist at Intel Corporation, predicts smart houses are just five years away from being an acceptable alternative, although the systems will probably be used in nursing homes before then.
The gizmos that Intel is developing range from simple pressure sensors placed in chairs to infrared beacons in clothing. Messages reminding someone to eat, for example, can be sent through the TV or clock radio.
Computers could also be used to discourage social isolation -- a common problem with depressed, elderly patients - by figuring out when a patient is having "a good day" and hooking her up with a friend.
In Japan, researchers are developing sensors to put in toilets to analyze stool and urine, and wearable skin patches that can detect onset of diseases.
Scientists are working on refining an "inference engine," commonly found in robotics. These devices can predict outcomes and distinguish between dangerous and non-dangerous situations.
Researchers, however, gripe about a lack of federal funding for inventions like these, claiming the field falls between the cracks because it is neither traditional medicine nor traditional engineering