Wristbands that alert caregivers to health emergencies. Speaking robots to assist the elderly. The Internet of Things for healthcare efficiency. As Thailand edges closer to becoming the first emerging country of Southeast Asia to become an ageing society, technology creators here have worked to develop innovations that will ease the burden of the population and ensure a better life for the elderly.
Several companies are now offering products that facilitate the care of seniors. Innovators such as CT Asia have put out robots that monitor signs and call family when problems occur. But a structural, long-term plan to assist the transition to an ageing society is more crucial, especially for those in the provinces, where the level of income may not allow them to access the latest high-tech devices.
At the moment, two communities -- Saensuk municipality in Chon Buri and Muang district in Nakhon Si Thammarat -- are working with the Tambon Health Promoting Hospitals (THPH) in Internet of Things (IoT) technology to help take care of seniors.
The elderly group in Saensuk was selected as a pilot for the state's Smart Healthcare Programme, part of Saensuk City's Smart Living initiative. More than 10% of the seaside city -- some 6,000 people -- is of retirement age. That's roughly the same as the national average. By the end of 2016, nearly 15% of Thailand's 68 million will be over 60.
Usually, municipal nurses in Saensuk visit elderly residents as part of ongoing patient engagement. But nurses are not always able to promptly respond. The Smart Healthcare system enables nurses to remotely monitor the health of elderly patients using cloud, data analytics and Bluetooth connectivity.
Panuwat Promsiri, business-development manager of BaseLab, a team that develops wristbands and the back-office system of the project, said that in the pilot phase, 30 senior citizens in the community have monitored their health via a small Bluetooth-enabled smart wristband or necklace.
The device monitors daily basic activity such as walking and sleep, and can alert healthcare practitioners in the case of unusual activity, such as an abrupt fall, or if the panic button is pressed.
"If the application detects a fall, it will automatically alert the nurse and notify the elderly person's contact through a short message," said Panuwat, adding that data collected in the system can be further analysed to determine the basic emotions of the patient.
The application has been in place since July. By the end of this year, it's expected that all 150 houses in the municipality will be fully equipped with the system.
The municipality has received support from Burapha University, BaseLab and the IoT City Innovation Centre to design the system with technology from Intel and Dell. The Saensuk Smart City Project has also been named one of the finalists in IDC's Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2016 in the Social Services category.
Down south in Nakhon Si Thammarat, a research team at Walailak University's Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Ecoinformatics has also been working with Tambon Health Promoting Hospitals in creating a web-portal system monitoring houses in the community.
Two years ago, there were many cases of elderly there dying in their sleep with no clear reason. A study showed that most of the houses were not designed with proper heat ventilation, so the hot days in summer increased the temperature inside the house, according to Dr Krisanadej Jaroensutasinee, director at CoE for Ecoinformatics.
A smartwatch syncs data with the equipment including webcams so that a hospital official can view the inside environment. photo courtesy of Walailak University
The university's research team, in collaboration with the THPH, applied IoT technology by making different devices in the home able to communicate with each other and report back to the THPH centre. Some 50 houses have already registered for the pilot project, with the system fundamentally aiming to reduce deaths and accidents by considering the ecology of the house, including temperature, humidity, quantity of dust and light -- big data, which allows the team to predict impending problems.
At home, sensors -- including a sensor worn on a smartwatch -- will monitor the environment, allowing the system to process all data via cloud computing. The elderly's relatives and the hospital can then view the data on a computer or smartphone.
Dr Krisanadej noted that Thais pay insufficient attention to the grey population. Houses are usually not designed to serve the elderly -- there is no support bar in bathrooms, the ladders are too steep, etc. In his view, our reliance on technology means we have to rethink every item in the house, from doors to spoons to beds, to accommodate the needs of seniors -- something that sounds commonsensical but is often ignored.
"The older we are, the more childlike we become. Technology can help people stay healthier longer; however, technology is a double-edged sword, and must be used in suitable ways at different stages in our lives," he said.
The prime example of an ageing society is Japan, where the situation is edging toward critical. The Pew Research Centre predicts that it will have 72 elderly (those aged 65 or over) for every 100 working adults in 2050.
A technologically advanced country, Japan has a long-standing prowess in robotics and yet they recently imported Dinsow Mini, a Thai-made robot specialising in elderly care. Developed by CT Asia, Dinsow Mini was designed to take care of the elderly by monitoring and communicating with relatives and doctors through Wi-Fi. The robot can answer the phone and connect to VDO calls automatically.
Positioned by the bed, Dinsow Mini can help monitor the well-being of the elderly by watching him or her at all times, even at night using an infrared camera. The elderly need not learn how to use the device; in case of emergency, he just touches Dinsow Mini and the robot will perform its tasks automatically: picking up the phone, moving his neck to follow the elderly's movement and sending alerts to the caregiver or hospital.
With sensor technology, Dinsow Mini can measure heart rate and blood pressure. The robot can store vital signs and other information.
Dinsow Mini is the latest version of Dinsow, a service robot used in travel spots and restaurants for greeting customers. Dinsow, which can now "speak" Thai, English and Japanese, has been improved to the present Version 3 with additional features.
"Dinsow Mini is the Version 4 of the robot," said Chalermpol Punnotok, CT Asia chief executive. "Seniors are a group that relies very much on others, but there is little technology designed especially for them," added Chalermpol.
For the elderly alone at home, the robot will immediately alert the caretaker if something unusual happens. Through the mobile application, caretakers can see and talk to the senior via video call. A doctor can do the same and control the camera from his smartphone.
In Thailand, Dinsow Mini has been tested at Klauynamthai Hospital and Phyathai Hospital. During the pilot period, 500 robots will be working in Thailand and another 500 in Japan. They reportedly cost 85,000 baht.
"We're studying to apply rubber for Dinsow's fingers, hands, arms and body," said Chalermpol.
For better-quality public healthcare, CT Asia has approached the government to subsidise the cost of the Dinsow Mini working at Tambon Health Promoting Hospitals, where patients can access the service more easily. With the robot, hospitals in remote areas with a shortage of healthcare practitioners can better serve their patients.
