ANDOVER, MA – A three-part aging study from Philips and the Global Social Enterprise Initiative (GSEI) at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business revealed that family caregivers are unintentional barriers to technology adoption and usage by older adults in their care—even though they acknowledge it can be an important way of enriching the care recipient’s life.
The Philips/GSEI study, which surveyed caregivers most likely to use technology as a caregiving tool, revealed a series of contradictions in the attitudes and behaviors among the caregivers and their care recipients. These contradictions provide insights into the low adoption of technology for aging well.
According to the study:
• 44 percent of caregivers said they are concerned that the older adults in their care are depressed or lonely, and recognize the importance of entertainment and enrichment activities, such as social interaction, entertainment, and education.
• Similarly, 62 percent of those surveyed said that enrichment for the care recipient is at, or near, the top of their priority list.
Moreover, in one-on-one interviews with a group of care recipients, they most often cited social interaction as what matters most to them as they age. However, 67 percent of caregivers report that the older adult in their care has not started any new enrichment activities in the past two years and most often seeks enrichment through watching television and talking on the phone.
Desire Versus Reality
It is not caregivers’ lack of desire or ability that prevents them from introducing new technology to their care recipients. For instance, the study reveals that:
• 63 percent of caregivers believe their care recipient is open to using new technology
• Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of caregivers said it is fun or extremely fun to teach a care recipient a new technology
• 72 percent feel capable of teaching a new technology
The full results of the current study can be found at www.philips.com/caregiving.
Showing the value of HME and/or home care will also be part of the upcoming 10x Medical Device Conference, held from May 4-6 at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley. The conference will feature an HME-focused panel discussion with some familiar industry faces in a session entitled, “How Escalating Costs are Giving Rise to Home Care and Telemedicine.” The panel will specifically address how the DME industry will benefit from escalating health care costs.
Kevin Gaffney, group show director, Medtrade (pictured), will moderate the panel that features: Tom Ryan, president and CEO, American Association for Homecare; Jeremy Malecha, senior director, ResMed; Mitchell Yoel, executive vice president, Drive Medical; and Seth Johnson, vice president, Government Affairs, Pride Mobility Products Corp. Now in its third year, 10x covers timely subjects affecting the entire medical device industry.
The event is limited to 200 guests, many of whom tend to be medical device company CEOs, presidents, VPs, directors, and senior managers, as well as business development executives from medical device consultancies. Those who wish to attend may go to the registration page and use the code “Speaker” for a $400 discount. “This is a small conference, but it is packed with influential people,” said Gaffney. “Proper use of HME is a great way to avoid costly hospital stays, and this discussion will inevitably touch on the fact that HME is part of the solution to the health care woes that the country is facing.”
Top & Derby Expands Product Selection
MANITOBA, CANADA – Top & Derby, winners of the Medtrade 2014 Best Booth Under 400 Square Feet Award, has expanded its line of home health care products to now include medical-grade compression socks. The company aims to change the stigma of disability by designing home healthcare products that people are proud to own. As the company did with its first product launch – the Chatfield walking cane – the founders are currently running a crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter to launch their next product.
Two years ago, Top & Derby’s co-founders, Ben Grynol and Matt Kroeker, ran their first crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo to bring the Chatfield to market. Through their campaign, Grynol and Kroeker raised $22,000 in pre-sales over 30 days and shipped products to people in more than 200 cities and 15 countries worldwide. “We couldn’t have launched and gained as much traction as we did without the generosity and support of our backers,” commented Grynol.
Like most utilitarian medical products, compression socks were born out of filling a need. But in the process, the design of the socks seemed to be ignored and forgotten, leading many people to forego the use of the garments when they needed to wear them.
When discussing the product’s design, Kroeker, Creative Director for the company, said: “We designed something that we’d be pumped to wear, and hopefully others will too!” The socks that Top & Derby is launching are unisex, have a moderate compression level of 15-20mmhg, and are available in four sizes, S-XL and three colors: Going Bare Black, Not Your Granny’s Smith, and Coral of the Story.
The company’s Kickstarter campaign runs until May 8th, with a goal of raising $10,000. Upon having a successful campaign, Top & Derby is hoping to attend Medtrade (Oct 26-29, 2015) once again, to showcase many of the new design-driven home healthcare products that they’ve been working on.
With approximately one out of three women, and one out of four men requiring the garments, Top & Derby’s fashionable compression socks will help to expand their products into a larger commercial market with a wide global reach.
ResMed Debuts Lumis Noninvasive Ventilation
SAN DIEGO – ResMed’s recently introduced Lumis™ series of noninvasive ventilation devices that combine personalized, simplified therapy with powerful wireless connected care capabilities. The Lumis series builds upon ResMed’s legacy of innovation as a new option for patients with respiratory challenges who are not dependent on continuous ventilation.
“With its ease of use, customization capabilities and wireless connectivity, the Lumis series offers important benefits for patients, clinicians, and home medical equipment providers alike,” said Luke Maguire, President of ResMed’s Cardio-Respiratory Care Global Business Unit. “Lumis joins ResMed’s Stellar and Astral lines as a new entry-level option for care providers to efficiently and effectively manage the respiratory stability of their patients.”
The Lumis series comprises the Lumis 100 VPAP S, Lumis 100 VPAP ST and Lumis 150 VPAP ST noninvasive ventilators that support a variety of therapy modes, built-in wireless connectivity, integrated humidification and intuitive simplicity that are the hallmarks of the series.
Lumis ventilators are designed with a broad range of automatic settings making it an ideal choice for a wide variety of respiratory conditions and individual patient preferences. Lumis is the first ResMed ventilation platform with IntelligentAir, a collection of ResMed technologies that can tailor therapy to individual breathing needs, making truly personalized ventilation possible. The complete IntelligentAir suite for Lumis includes iVAPS (ResMed’s unique volume-assurance therapy mode), iBR (an intelligent Backup Rate), and AutoEPAP (which maintains upper airway patency), as well as other features to personalize and fine-tune individual patient’s synchrony and comfort (Vsync, TiControl, and trigger and cycle settings).
ResMed engineers also kept comfort top of mind when designing Lumis: each device features built-in HumidAir heated humidification capabilities and the popular Climate Control Auto setting, which automatically determines optimal humidification by adjusting to ambient room conditions. Lumis is compatible with ClimateLineAir™ Oxy tubing that allows for added oxygen to be heated and humidified, which is useful for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In addition, the Lumis optional Ramp and Ramp Down features can ease the transition onto ventilation and back to spontaneous breathing when therapy is complete.
DeVilbiss Healthcare Named Finalist for Job Growth Award
SOMERSET, PA – DeVilbiss Healthcare was recently named one of five finalists for the 2015 Pennsylvania Governor’s ImPAct Awards in the Jobs That Pay category for the Southern Alleghenies Region. This is the third consecutive year DeVilbiss has been named a finalist. In 2013 and 2014, DeVilbiss was a finalist in the Export Impact category.
“Being a three-time finalist for the Governor’s Impact Awards is an outstanding achievement for DeVilbiss,” said Tim Walsh, CFO, DeVilbiss Healthcare. “We’re glad to see that our efforts in operating a business dedicated to local advancement are being recognized.”