Elderly Assistive Technologies – Al Madinah Smart City

العربية

Smart City Playbook

Healthcare & Wellbeing

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Elderly Assistive Technologies

The “Elderly Assistive Technologies” initiative aims at deploying assistive technologies that can help manage the health and well-being of the city’s elderly population. Given the tranquil spirit of Al Madinah, people from across the Kingdom and the world aim to retire there, making the number of retirees higher than average. This relocation typically puts additional pressure on the city’s medical infrastructure, which necessitates adopting solutions that would reduce the incidents and health issues leading to hospitalization. Such assistive technologies include medication reminders and replenishment, pill dispensers, telehealth systems, wearables to track vital signs with fall detection, and smart lighting system in the house to help the elderly navigate their homes safely. Elderly assistive technologies can also be deployed in public spaces such as public transports to notify passengers when an elderly enters a bus.

KEY

CHALLENGES

Public healthcare resources are insufficient, mismanaged, and of low-quality, eventually hindering the accommodation of patients and catering for their needs

Patients suffer from complicated and insufficient communication with the healthcare ecosystem

The general public are not targeted with awareness-raising tools and resources about health and wellbeing

The healthcare system is still reactive rather than proactive

KEY EXPECTED BENEFITS

Faster Response

Emergency cases will be served faster with reduced response time

Minimal Complications

Patients will have reduced risks of hospitalization and fatalities

Quality Services

Patients will receive high-quality services

Enhanced Infrastructure

Patients will enjoy less waiting time and pressure on healthcare services

ALIGNMENT TO SMART CITY OBJECTIVES

Empowered

TARGET USERS

Resident

Elderly

Caregiver

USE CASE

JOURNEY

Um Saif is a widowed lady in her 70s who lives alone after her two sons relocated abroad. She is now worried about not being able to get help when needed such as falling or fainting, which is why she is relieved to receive her ‘SOS’ wearable by courier.

She is a restless sleeper and wakes up several times at night. However, whenever she wakes up, the wearable directly detects her sleep status and connects to the lighting system in her house, turning bulbs on and off automatically whenever she leaves or enters a room, or even when she just gets out of bed, making it easier and safer to navigate across the house at night.

Unfortunately, while taking a shower, Um Saif faints, so the motion detectors on her wearable sends a call for help and an ambulance is immediately dispatched to help her. Um Saif is now recovering well from her fall and feels grateful for the wearable that has saved her life. Pain killers are prescribed for her fractured collarbone, of which she is recurrently reminded to take through her wearable.

POTENTIAL SERVICE FEATURES

Digital nurse with voice assistant

Medication reminders

Smart assistive lighting

Wearables for vital signs and fall detection

Smart assistive robots

KEY TOUCH POINTS

Website

Mobile App

Smart Wearables

Social Media

Smart Lightnings

Implementation
Timeline

Within 6 months

12 – 18 months

Over 24 months

Technology Commercial Viability

Currently commercialized

1 – 3 years to commercialize

5+ years to
commercialize

Regulatory Conduciveness

No New Policies and
Standards

Some Policies &
Standards to be
Introduced

Complex Policies to be
Introduced

Investment Requirement

Low

Medium

High

Use Case Ownership

Government Driven

Piloted by Gov. & Transitioned to Private Sector

Private Sector

Startups & Entrepreneurs

IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS

Integration with various doctor management systems for appointment availability

Content management and control of professional medical advice

Availability of data in the required format along with information about data sources

Availability of continuous connectivity to monitor and track movements in real time and in a secure manner

POTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

IN THE MARKET

Healthcare & Wellbeing

Use Cases

Doctors Digital Assistant “Tabib” (DDA)

Digital Life
Coach

Activity Finder App “Rafah App“

Al Madinah Health Directory

Mobile Deployable Clinics and Kiosks

Digital Ambulance “Nedaa”

Patient Companion App “Murafiq”

Community
Platform “Jahzeen”

Al Madinah Health Research Hub

Elderly Assistive Technologies

Health Insurance Gamification