A Conflicted View Of Telehomecare After A 20 Year Journey

Telehomecare systems have been in existence, in one form or another, for at least a decade. At the outset, the concept seemed to promise both a solution to controlling rising health care costs and a means of delivering the improved care which would enable the elderly to stay in their own homes for longer; but although it received enthusiastic support from governments and care professionals, as well as the commercial sector, adoption within a given community has not yet been achieved, and overall success has been limited at best. This book addresses the question of why, despite the investment of so much time, money and effort, Telehomecare is not more widely used than it is. The author describes his 20 years of experience in the field as a journey which started with a concern over his mother's health, and ended with himself and a colleague selling a series of patents to General Electric. Drawing on his experiences as an inventor, entrepreneur, businessman, implementer and researcher, he conducts a frank and thorough consideration of what has gone wrong, and offers an unflinching set of suggestions as to how to make it right. Telehomecare must become more than just a passive emergency response system if it is to have any chance of achieving its full potential. The analysis offered by this book will be of interest to all those whose work involves the development or implementation of Telehomecare systems.

Advances in the engineering of sensing and acting capabilities, distributed in a wide range of specialized devices nowadays, provide an opportunity for the fundamental advances in computer science made in the past few decades to impact our daily lives. Sensors/actuators deployed in a physical space – a house, an office, a classroom, a car, a street – facilitate a link between an automated decision-making system and a technologically-enriched space. The Intelligent Environment, a digital environment that supports people in their daily lives, is a very active area of research which is attracting an increasing number of professionals (both in academia and industry) worldwide. The prestigious 10th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE’14) is focused on the development of advanced Intelligent Environments and stimulates the discussion on several specific topics that are crucial to the future of the area. This volume is the combined proceedings of the workshops co-located with IE’14: 9th Workshop on Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Ambient Intelligence (AITAmI’14); 2nd International Workshop on Applications of Affective Computing in Intelligent Environments (ACIE’14); 3rd edition of the Workshop on Future Intelligent Educational Environments (WOFIEE’14); 2nd Workshop on Cloud-of-Things 2014 (CoT’14); 3rd International Workshop on the Reliability of Intelligent Environments (WoRIE 2014); 4th Workshop on Creative Science 2014 (CS’14); and 1st Workshop on Hyperrealistic Intelligent Environments 2014 (HyperRealitIE’14). This book offers an overview of the latest developments in key areas of the development of Intelligent Environments.

Two mega-trends of modern culture, the rapid aging of the population and the inexorable advances in technology, have fueled the development of gerontechnology--the use oftechnology to sustain individual autonomy to an advanced age. This expansive bookencompasses state-of-the-art research in gerontechnology and promising new technologies,products, and services that can improve activities of daily living, general health, and wellbeingof older individuals. It addresses current and future applications in such crucial areasas mobility and transportation, assistive devices, smart homes for senior citizens, in-hometechnologies, safety and privacy, and research and development highlighting--amongothers--design. Topics include, but are not limited to, virtual environments as a research tool, sensation, perception, and cognition research advancements, novel accessibility challenges to information and communication technology, as well as the evolving characteristics of the elderly. These are among the welcome developments addressed in the book. Contributors from around the globe, including the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, The Netherlands, Korea, the United States, and more, bring unprecedented cross-cultural insight to the intersections of aging phenomena and technology. Key Features: Disseminates empirically proven findings and evidence-based theories, models, and concepts Written by world-recognized leaders in the field of technology and aging Reflects the global usage of gerontechnological applications Includes new technologies, research, and applications for virtual environments, smart homes, assistive technology care, and robotics Discusses computer-assisted social engagement, technology-facilitated caregiving, business case examples, and more

Universal Design, Design for All and Inclusive Design are all aimed at dismantling physical and social barriers to inclusion in all areas of life. Engagement in universal design is on the increase worldwide as practitioners and researchers explore creative and desirable solutions to shape the future of universal design products and practices. This book is a collection of the papers presented at UD2014, the International Conference on Universal Design, held in Lund, Sweden, in June 2014. The conference offered a creative and diverse meeting place for all participants to exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas, and to build global connections and creative networks for future work on universal design. The themes of UD2014 span many aspects of societal life, and the papers included here cover areas as diverse as architecture, public transport, educational and play environments, housing, universal workspaces, and the Internet of things, as well as designs and adaptations for assistive technology. The book clearly demonstrates the breadth of universal design and its ongoing adoption in societies all over the world, and will be of interest to anyone whose work involves building a more inclusive environment for all.

Assistive Technology (AT) is an umbrella term indicating any product or technology-based service that enables people of all ages with activity limitations in their daily life, education, work or leisure. It is a highly interdisciplinary field, encompassing research, development, manufacture, supply, provision and policy. This book presents the proceedings of the 12th biennial European conference of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe, AAATE 2013, held in Vilamoura, Portugal, in September 2013. The full papers included here cover a diverse range of subjects, including: ageing, disability and technology; accessibility in Europe; ambient assisted living; AT and Cloud computing; communication access for all; monitoring and telecare; and user perspective, to name but a few. The aim of the AAATE conference is to promote a more effective dialogue between manufacturers, researchers, developers, professionals and end users, and this book will be of interest to all those directly or indirectly involved in the field of AT.

Successful transition from school to adult life has always been difficult for people with disabilities, especially in the area of employment. The vast majority of people with disabilities are either unemployed or underemployed with low wages and few benefits, and many governments are struggling to find a way of providing employment and benefits to people with disabilities without creating disincentives to work. This book provides strategies and ideas for improving the lives of people with disabilities, exploring new ways of enabling a successful transition to an integrated adult working life by providing effective instruction and support. Following an introduction which outlines the importance of transition services and meaningful outcomes, topics covered in the remaining chapters include: Person Centered Transition Planning; Enhancing Competence and Independence; Employment Assessment and Career Development; Collaboration between Agencies for a Seamless Transition; Independent Living and Supported Living; and Community Functioning Skills. The book will be of interest to all those who work with transition age students as well as those who work with adults with disabilities and want to enable them to have the best life possible. To paraphrase Helen Keller "people with disabilities not only need to be given lives, they need to be given lives worth living."

In 1996, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. In that report, the IOM Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine found telemedicine is similar in most respects to other technologies for which better evidence of effectiveness is also being demanded. Telemedicine, however, has some special characteristics-shared with information technologies generally-that warrant particular notice from evaluators and decision makers. Since that time, attention to telehealth has continued to grow in both the public and private sectors. Peer-reviewed journals and professional societies are devoted to telehealth, the federal government provides grant funding to promote the use of telehealth, and the private technology industry continues to develop new applications for telehealth. However, barriers remain to the use of telehealth modalities, including issues related to reimbursement, licensure, workforce, and costs. Also, some areas of telehealth have developed a stronger evidence base than others. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) sponsored the IOM in holding a workshop in Washington, DC, on August 8-9 2012, to examine how the use of telehealth technology can fit into the U.S. health care system. HRSA asked the IOM to focus on the potential for telehealth to serve geographically isolated individuals and extend the reach of scarce resources while also emphasizing the quality and value in the delivery of health care services. This workshop summary discusses the evolution of telehealth since 1996, including the increasing role of the private sector, policies that have promoted or delayed the use of telehealth, and consumer acceptance of telehealth. The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment: Workshop Summary discusses the current evidence base for telehealth, including available data and gaps in data; discuss how technological developments, including mobile telehealth, electronic intensive care units, remote monitoring, social networking, and wearable devices, in conjunction with the push for electronic health records, is changing the delivery of health care in rural and urban environments. This report also summarizes actions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can undertake to further the use of telehealth to improve health care outcomes while controlling costs in the current health care environment.

In April 2001, the Prime Minister established the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. Its mandate was to review medicare, engage Canadians in a national dialogue on its future, and make recommendations to enhance the system's quality and sustainability. The 47 recommendations in this report outline actions that must be taken in 10 critical areas, starting by renewing the foundations of medicare and considering Canada's role in improving health around the world.