Monitoring Alzheimer’s Patients
People with Alzheimer’s disease are plagued with an incurable condition, and need additional care and help from those close to them. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a condition where the individual gradually loses his or her memory and ability to think, which worsens over time and interferes with the person’s ability to perform daily tasks and activities. Thus, caregivers need to step in to help the patient out and look after him or her.
CNN.com, the website of Cable News Network, is a news website that posts events that occur around the world. One article posted on CNN.com shows a new monitoring network system that allows caregivers to track movements and actions of Alzheimer’s patients on a smartphone app through sensors attached to various items and places.
This new monitoring system sets up a network within an Alzheimer’s patient’s life that connects his or her caregiver(s) remotely through devices and sensors. This system creates a graph, with the nodes being the sensors and smartphones, and the edges the data sent from the sensors to the app on the smartphone. The monitoring system serves as an application of the graph structure, and an example of how it may potentially benefit people. Through this graph, caregivers are not required to be with patients constantly yet still have the ability to monitor their activities. Although it is not a replacement for the care and attention someone can give in person, this network of sensors allows both the caregiver and the patient more freedom and independence to do as they please. This may raise speculation of privacy issues, yet at the end of the day, the purpose of this system is to protect and ensure the safety of loved ones.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/25/tech/innovation/alzheimers-smart-home/index.html