Australian Ageing Agenda
Projects to develop a toolkit to help aged care providers introduce activity-monitoring technologies and a video app to connect aged care recipients with volunteers are among 11 aged care innovation projects funded this week.
Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia announced the recipients of the second round of its grants program on Monday. The grants aim to benefit the aged care sector through the development and translation of high-quality projects that address important gaps in the aged care workforce’s capability and knowledge.
These grants target five priority areas identified in consultation with the sector to improve aged care including:
Technology start-up Gretel Analytics in partnership with Peninsula Health and Monash University has received a grant to develop a toolkit for care providers. As previously reported, Gretel Analytics’ sensor-based smart building solution uses computer vision data and other dynamic data streams and real-time alerts to target issues like response to falls, boundary transgressions, aggressive behaviour, adequate socialisation and contact tracing as well as track how many minutes of care a resident receives.
Gretel Analytics chief executive officer Georgie Armstrong said she was delighted to be awarded an ARIIA grant.
“Our research project is about balancing the tension between the ability to provide meaningful reporting through observation technology, and adhering to data collection and management practices which maintain the consumer’s dignity and privacy as a priority,” Ms Armstrong told Australian Ageing Agenda.
“In collaboration with Monash University we will be developing and disseminating a toolkit to help care providers build social license to introduce activity-monitoring technologies and processes within the care environment. We’ll be engaging with community stakeholders as we co-design a framework required to respectfully and effectively leverage data in care – for safer care environments and better quality of life.”
Digital transformation is essential to achieve transparency, efficiency and quality in aged care, Ms Armstrong said. “Funding for a project like ours ensures consumers, families, carers and unions are all onboard and heard during this transformation process.”
ARIIA research director Professor Sue Gordon said the standard of applications was again high.
“ARIIA Grants enable aged care providers and research organisations to work together and partner with others to deliver improvements in areas of need, and as they must make a co-contribution to their project, they have a firm commitment to it,” Professor Gordon said.
Successful grant recipients must undertake their project over 12 months, which means research discoveries are translated into real work benefits in real-time, she said.
Also awarded a grant is the Dossy Project – Community Connect, which is a collaboration between technology-start up Dossy, aged care provider Uniting Agewell, University of Melbourne, and digital product studio Two Bulls. Dossy is a simple video app that connects older people with their loved ones.
Most of the grant funds are going towards building a technology platform for older people to reach out to digital volunteers from all walks of life, said Dossy founder Kristen Graham.
“As we age our social networks get smaller. Some older adults don’t have family or close contacts they can call on when they feel lonely or isolated. Dossy gives them an immediate community ready and waiting for them to connect at all times of day and night,” Ms Graham told AAA. “The ARIIA funding is helping us build, pilot and validate whether Dossy can in fact reduce feelings of loneliness and social isolation through meaningful video connections.”
The first phase 1 of The Dossy Project – Family Connect, which wrapped up in December, validated that simple technology could help people to connect. This second phase kicks off in March. The project is committed to co-design to ensure the technology is valuable and makes a difference to people’s lives, Ms Graham said.
“The University of Melbourne is helping do this with their pre- and post-evaluations of everyone involved in the pilot, including participants, and their families, volunteers, carers and aged care providers. Anything we develop needs to be scalable, affordable and reliable. It’s also a way to provide volunteers with flexibility to give back during the hours they choose,” she said.
This five-minute video below, which is being shown at today’s Aged Care Industry IT Council webinar, provides more details on the project.
The full list of grant recipients in ARIIA’s second grant round – and the priorities they address in parentheses – includes:
The ARIIA Grants Program consists of at least six rounds funded against key sector priorities of focus for the aged care sector that are revised each grant round. The five winners in the first round were announced in November. Round 3 recipients will be announced soon.
Round 4 is currently open with applications closing on 17 February 2023. Additional priority areas for this round include:
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