Whole Health Plus Technology

The goal of My Life is to "better connect" the aging crowd with their loved ones and their care circle. This means providing two-way voice message exchanges, relevant sharing of family information and events, information about subjects of personal interest (perhaps sports or gardening or food), and information about health, exercise, medications, and so forth.  While all such communications and information are readily available in other forms, My Life makes it "instant" and simple via the power of natural conversation.

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OK, why do we need My Life to do this? To make connections effective over a long period of time, they have to be convenient, easy to use, and generate meaningful content. My Life with Alexa overcomes a number of barriers that exist. 

 

Send Text and Email Messages to the Device

 

My Life allows any family member to simply SMS/Text their elder 24 hours a day from either iPhone or Android phone. No need for logging into some special app. The texts are stored in the message queue for the elder and replayed when they start a dialog with My Life. The subject can "respond" to a message in spoken-voice (a full sentence) to answer questions ("Hey grandma, did you get my flowers?") and also send-out messages to anyone in their care circle which could include their nurse or facility personnel.

 

Calendar, Events, and Appointments

 

A care circle member can add any type of event to the elder’s calendar. Next time they start up My Life they are reminded of all the events on their calendar for the next three days.

 

Works without a connected smartphone

 

People in assisted living or getting home care services has a smartphone or wants one. Keyboard devices can be challenging to use. Understanding navigation can be a problem. My Life maintains its own database of contacts with phone numbers and email addresses. It is not reliant on a connected smartphone. Messages and replies to messages and email can be executed by voice from the Alexa device.

 

Proactive Alerts

 

With Alexa, you can get a news update by saying something like "Alexa, give me a news update". You get an update from your choice of sources you select in your settings. There are also sports and weather updates which you have to ask Alexa to deliver. WIth My Life, Alexa can alert one to something on any topic of personal interest, something that is important to the elder.

 

Interactive Profile Builder

 

Rather than requiring the user or a family member to fill out a long profile form for entry into a database, My Life askes the senior a series of questions about their interests over a period of time. It incorporates what it learns into future interactions with the user. Of course, the user can decline to provide such data if they want.

 

Survey Questions

This capability focuses a bit more on the senior’s physical and emotional well-being.  Use a simple text command,acare member can submit short assessment surveys to the subject. The survey questions can take the form of Activities of Daily Living Checklists often used by caregivers to help understand mood as well as any physical or medication challenges. This can be particularly useful when a subject is rehabbing from some medical procedure (knee, hip, other surgery, etc) and the caregiver wants to know about progress as well as provide meaningful encouragement and strategy.

 

Shopping Lists

 

My Life can take a request from the senior for a member of the care circle to buy items they might need. The list is accumulated and the selected member is alerted.
 

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About Facility Connections

 

Most aging elders live in either some Assisting living facility or smaller "home" that provides both care and room/board.  Such facilities have activities such as reading clubs, clergy visits, musical events, and so forth.  Plus, the facility menu for the day is often of interest.  With My Life, notifications about events and calendar are simple and in voice form.  Furthermore, the subject can "inform" the facility about various concerns (such as the food or care or cleanliness etc).  Again, while there are other ways to accomplish the same tasks, My Life makes it trivial and voice-convenient to the subject and the facility gains more information and helps their patients enjoy their offerings more easily.