Enabling Aging-in-Place: Lessons Learnt from Piloting an Elderly Care Provisioning Solution in the Community

Rising trend of elderlies aging in place and leading more independent living has prompted us to explore instrumented homes for ambient assisted living. We introduce the Smart Homes and Intelligent Neighbors to Enable Seniors project in 2014 where we study the feasibility of using sensors to derive insights into the cognitive and physical wellbeing of elderlies. Sense making of the data provides insights into the daily activities and living habits of elderlies to enable responsive care provisioning by their caregivers and/or volunteers. Complex data mining and analysis work also enables the possibility of more pre-emptive care provisioning. From a nationwide perspective, addressing such issues early is likely to prevent or at least, reduce the medical resources necessary in the future in caring for this aging population. Here we share some key learning points from the project so that they can value add to future deployments of similar solutions.