Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI), recently held their “2017 Brain Injury and Resource Facilitation” Regional Conference in Indianapolis Indiana, the first of three conferences throughout the state.
The conference started with Keynote speaker Brian Norton illustrating how assistive technology can support people with brain injury, at home, school or work. Several of CreateAbility’s products were featured in Brian’s presentation, and demonstrated later in the exhibit area.
The following items are covered in this blog:
1. An overview of Rehabilitation Hospital Indiana (RHI), and their innovative Resource Facilitation program
2. CreateAbility’s solutions for people with a brain injury
1. About RHI and Resource Facilitation:
RHI is dramatically improving return to work and reducing disability post brain injury through an innovative approach called Resource Facilitation (RF).
Percentage of patients who return to the community from RHI’s RF program
The impact of RF has been amazing: Indiana Vocational Resources has the highest vocational outcomes in the nation when the client is approved for RF services.
To achieve and sustain these outcomes, RHI’s RF department strives to build the capacity of professionals and community service providers through the state to work with people with brain injury.
Specifically, RF maximizes outcomes through:- Providing brain injury specific education- Proactively helping individuals identify, obtain, and navigate instrumental and brain injury specific resources and supports
– Insuring collaboration, integration and coordination between providers and community-based resources.
2. CreateAbility’s Solutions
Talking Pictures To-Do List, with Video Modeling
MeMinder
MeMinder is an app that currently runs on Android phones and tablets to coordinate caregiving and provide task management for people returning to work after a brain injury. The MeMinder app works with CreateAbility’s BEAM Cloud to help people with the right permissions to monitor what tasks were completed and the ability to modify the tasks and schedules. These changes are then automatically updated on the MeMinder app. The goal is to help reduce the effort required by the care team in creating and managing the individual’s activities and how to do them.
MeMinder is a talking pictures to-do list that helps people with memory and sequencing challenges. Each step in the sequence of reminders can be static images with audio instruction, or full video.
The MeMinder app runs on Android phones and tablets to coordinate caregiving and provide task management. The MeMinder app works with CreateAbility’s Cloud to help people with the right permissions to set schedules and tasks, monitor what tasks were completed and the ability to modify the tasks and schedules, and coordinate with the other stakeholders in the person-centerer plan. Changes made in the cloud are automatically updated on the MeMinder app.
Intro to MeMinder –
Remote Monitoring and Interactive Prompting Systems
Back-To-Independence
The Back-To-Independence product is for people who have experienced an acquired brain injury, such as a stroke, or people who have survived a traumatic brain injury. This product emphasizes a schedule, reminders and detects specific activities such as medication adherence, movement and detecting events related to safety and well-being.
The Back-to-Independence system incorporates supports for individuals who have a visual impairment as the result of their brain injury.
Back-to-Independence now includes voice control via the Amazon Echo. This means that users can control and monitor the status of items in their home, such as:
Using a Microwave (via CreateAbility’s special Alexa-powered device)
Lights and appliances
TV and other IR remote entertainment systems
Know when your laundry cycle has been completed (via vibration and electricity monitoring sensors)
Know if you left the stove on, and unattended too long
Know if you forgot to turn the space heater off
Know if doors and windows are open.
The system incorporates typical security-related sensors, such as motion sensors, only we turn it around and detect patterns of activity, such as on pantry or refrigerator doors (to detect if the individual was preparing meals and eating).
Prompts, cues and reminders are broadcasted to their TV, or small tablets running a special app, so that it doubles as a digital picture frame and slide show of favorite times, or family members.
These reinforcing prompts can be linked with sensors to help provide positive reinforcement, for items such as:
Hygiene
Monitor CPAP usage
Prompt for proper oral hygiene, bathing or shaving.
Medication adherence
Special tray dispenses the right meds, with the right dose at the right time, to the right individual. A built-in sensor detects when they are taken out of the tray and reports this to the cloud.
Music therapy
Specific activities can trigger the playing of favorite tunes or songs.
Behavioral Health Supports Between Therapy Sessions
Affectus
Affectus is a system that helps consumers with an Intellectual Disability, who also have behavioral or mental health issues. The system automatically detects yelling, the slamming of doors, the pounding on walls, as well as a self-report button being pressed.
This triggers prompting the individual to rate their emotion level, and then guides the consumer through the Skills System coping mechanisms. The result is that the individual returns to a calmer state, more quickly.
Intro to Affectus video:
Mobile Avatar Coach
The goal of this demonstration of our new Mobile Avatar Coach is to illustrate how mobile technology can help people who are also receiving behavioral health services between therapy sessions. Because this method is available whenever / wherever, it provides the individual the opportunity to practice and fill in between sessions, and helps keep them from losing what they learned (again, only to be used in the context of therapy).
CreateAbility’s Mobile Avatar Coach, is a type of “conversational agent” that have been shown to help people to share experiences they don’t want to talk about with another person,” and thus encourage more patient honesty. CreateAbility believes that this should only to be used in the context of therapy.
The following YouTube link is a screen recording while “Jeff” makes selections. A variety of Avatars and voices will be available soon, and the content will be customizable.
Exercise Therapy Technology
Mobility Coach
MobilityCoach helps people stay active, especially after having joint replacement. The video does not have sound, and shows how the PT models the exercise (stick figure in upper left) as the patient (video in upper right) follows along. Their frame is rendered into a digital stick figure, and the repetitions and range of motion are measured and reported.
While originally developed to help people after a knee or hip replacement, MobilityCoach can be customized for other exercises. This could be helpful for individuals who tend to live a sedentary lifestyle and need encouragement.
This can be especially helpful when coupled with a “Star Reward” system, where the individual earns points or money for their favorite activities.
Click on the following link to see a brief video on Mobility Coach:
https://youtu.be/QKY3iiWt44g