Title: IONIS - Indoor and outdoor solution for dementia challenges

Biography:

Neja Samar Brencic is a researcher and developer at the IZRIIS institute. She holds a Masters in psychology degree at the University of Ljubljana. She has dedicated last 15 years to develop end-user experience and validation programs in Slovenia in EU.

Abstract

Demographic changes and the aging population in Europe increase the demand for some particular ICT services – including e-health and e-care services. The reasons are multiple: we want to address specifically the increase of symptoms related to dementia. In Slovenia we have 33.000 diagnosed patients. Many professionals at the clinics recognize that there is no connection between the care at the clinic and home care. What to do with the patient with dementia after they leave the hospital?

IONIS project financed within the EU-AAL program perspective aims at developing a European-wide service concept specifically for people with dementia and their families.

At the moment in some countries in EU, patients at home use bracelets, watches and fitness bands connected to smart phones to give caregivers some idea of what is going on with the patient. In Slovenia this is almost non-existent. Currently IONIS is developing solutions to fill the gaps with integrated and validated health monitoring, home automation, and personal agenda with reminders, alerts, caregiver administrative tools and profile specifically for dementia patients. The IONIS platform will offer integration of services and technology to benefit both patients and caregivers.

IONIS will create the network of support for the patients, families and health professionals.

Such programs as IONIS will help to support the continuation of care form the clinical environment to the home care environment.