The Eurecat technology centre has developed a smart device in conjunction with the Sant Víctor nursing home to prevent falls in the elderly. It has been specially designed to stop people with some kind of cognitive impairment and reduced mobility from having accidents as a result of movements they are unable to perform due to their frail health.
The idea for the device, called Sit2Stand, ‘‘emerged from the goal of enhancing the quality of care provided to the elderly in preventing falls, especially for those who are cognitively impaired and have reduced mobility,” says Josep Maria Macià, managing director of the Sant Víctor nursing home.
To this end, the Eurecat technology centre has undertaken the development and algorithmic design of the device which “furnishes a solution to the problem posed by the need to make headway in removing physical or pharmacological restraints and minimising the risk of possible falls that this may entail,” adds Xavi Catasús, head of Business Development for the Wellness Industries sector at the Eurecat technology centre.
To accomplish this, the device can be configured with different levels of sensitivity to tailor it to each person, has an LED strip that provides visual information and also communicates with a smartphone for setting it up and also for alerting caregivers when a user tries to get up.
“The project is designed for elderly people with cognitive impairment and reduced mobility who are usually seated and often want to get up by themselves, unaware that if they do so they will almost certainly end up falling over,” explains Josep Maria Macià.
To avoid this, the Sit2Stand device “is placed on the back of the collar of the user’s shirt because previous studies have shown that attaching it to other areas of the body or clothing might generate false indicators,” notes Xavi Catasús. By contrast, in this position “the rocking movement these people make when they want to stand up has been found to be the most sensitive way to get a good reading.”
“Sit2Stand is at the stage two technological development level, i.e. it has successfully completed the first testing phase at the Sant Víctor nursing home and is now being tried out with other users and different geriatric facilities.” Furthermore, he thinks that “based on the results, Eurecat will support the company in configuring the system to ensure it is scalable in any nursing home for the elderly and get to the market.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there are more than 55 million people in the world who suffer from cognitive impairment and it is estimated that there will be 139 million by 2050. As Josep Maria Macià points out, this scenario “shows the need for new technologies which enable us to deliver solutions aimed at alleviating the mobility problems they may have as they grow older.”
