Long-time lurker, first-time poster!
I would classify myself as an informal caregiver for my grandfather who is experiencing cognitive decline a few thousand miles from where I reside. Since I cannot be there with him physically on a day-to-day basis, I've been looking for a way to monitor "the trend" of my grandfather's health so that I know when / how to intervene. Wearables did not work for my grandfather (does not like them, forgets to charge them, loses them) but I still believed there were technological means for having a pulse on his day-to-day condition.
After about a year and a half of after-work hours development, I have devised an IoT Technology Solution where I am able to track the following activities / vitals without wearables:
1. In bedroom: Respiratory Rate, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, Sleep Quality Index, Bed Occupancy
2. In bathroom: Toilet Usage, Shower Usage, Tooth Brush Usage, Hair Dryer Usage
3. In kitchen: Refrigerator Open, Presence Detection
4. In livingroom: TV Usage, Presence Detection
This system has given me insight into a few of his vitals, activities of daily living and if he wonders from home at odd hours. It's not comprehensive but it gives me quantitative peace of mind. I am working on detecting Kitchen Sink Usage and Gait Analysis when he walks through the hallway.
My question to the community: is a technology solution like this of interest to people other than me, a software developer? Are there other obvious activities that I should be monitoring?
PS: A huge thank you to everyone who I've learned so much from. Cheers to ya'll.
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I'm also even less sure what benefit they deliver to your grandfather? And if he doesn't like wearables and didn't agree they were worth the effort... how does he feel about being under such very close surveillance?
Who supports him in daily life?
I use this information with my sister (who is local with my grandfather) to coordinate care decisions / track my grandfather.
The benefit to my grandfather is that he is not in an Assisted Living facility and gets to stay home. The work to maintain his condition over time has gradually increased, but is not unmanageable (yet...). The data generated gives us emperical data when we need to persuade him re: care decisions and allows us to intervene with deeper context.
He wasn't necessarily adverse to wearables but more so, just couldn't adhere to wearing them. I don't blame him, I can barely find my keys / wallet half of the time.
Sounds interesting. I am married to an engineer so I can relate to your technical mind.
I can see how these things would be useful in certain situations.
Have you contacted a medical organization to discuss what you have developed? They may have insight as to feedback that they would find useful.
Let me think on any other things that could be tracked. What about blood pressure monitoring? Sleep patterns? Scheduling medications?
Hang around, others will give feedback too.
Best wishes to and your family. Thank you for your concern and contribution to monitoring the behavior of the elderly. There is certainly a market since people are living longer these days.
I have talked to a few Accountable Care Organizations and they seem to be quite interested in such a solution for knowing when to dispatch / trigger clinical workflows for their members.
Thank you for the suggestions on additional metrics to be tracked. I would love to solve blood pressure as my grandfather has heart issues. Still a work in progress!
Cheers!