Pine Point Project
Premise
Our elders and people with disabilities share some common needs and complementary desires: most would prefer to live independently in their own homes and many require some assistance to do so.
Together with the Pine Point Participants - working-age Oregonians with disabilities - we began co-creating innovative TeleCare technologies and services to deliver community-based in-home care. They connected via the Pine Point Wireless Network:
The Need
20th century advances have endowed our civilization with the longest life expectancies in history. One of our greatest challenges in this new century is how to deal with the unintended consequences of our technologically extended life expectancies. Now we face a paradox: having spent billions to improve sanitation and health care to achieve this longevity, we have not made equitable investments to ensure that our golden years will be worth living. How will we redistribute scarce resources to support healthy aging and maximize independent living options for the largest elderly cohort in human history – the aging Boomers?
Proof of Concept
Networked SmartHome Technology has tremendous potential to facilitate the information and support processes that are essential for responsible and effective caregiving by streamlining communications, automating repetitive and persistent tasks and redistributing resources to maximize the availability of human caregivers when and where they are most needed.
We began by tapping the creativity of pre-senescent people living with disabilities, to develop novel technology and services to fulfill their desire to live independently, perform meaningful work and provide in-home care. Together we are beginning to develop 21st Century solutions for our aging society – home health care technologies and services for healthy aging, that maximize our dignity and independence.