A team of researchers including one of Indian-origin has made technology meet the society by developing a new app that allows older people residing in independent living communities play various brain games and help them connect with health care providers for better living. The researchers in the University of Notre Dame aimed at enhancing the physical health, vitality and brain fitness of seniors citizens.

The traditional challenges of these communities are how the caretakers can provide support in an environment? Unlike many available apps for seniors, this app, called eSeniorCare, creates a personalized socio-ecological construct around the senior. It helps the elderly connect with care providers by sending concerns and questions as text or voice recordings. A physical health component of the app allows seniors to track a variety of health goals.

It not only helps empower the seniors but also provides a continuity of care allowing health workers to proactively reach out to at-risk seniors when they need help while still allowing them to maintain their independence. They can set goals, such as eating less fast food or drinking less caffeine, and maintain a record of various activities in support of such goals and send the records to resident health administrators for guidance, reflection and personal motivation.

The app also features medication scheduling and management, medication history, medication reminders and medication adherence. Medication reminders have textual, audio and video components. Because the app is interactive, caretakers can see when medications are not being taken correctly or renewed on time and can quickly intervene to remedy the problem. The app is being pilot tested at senior independent living facilities in the South Bend area and is not yet available to the general public.

A variety of crossword and Sudoku puzzles and other games provide the opportunity for mental stimulation. As might be expected, when seniors first begin using the tablet app, there is a degree of trepidation. “It is about personalized health care,” said Nitesh Chawla, director of University of Notre Dame’s Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications (iCeNSA) in Indiana.

“It is about the individual. It is about how we can bring data and technology together to help empower ageing population to live healthy, independent, social and productive lives. It is about making a difference,” Chawla said in an official statement. eSeniorCare empowers our residents to maintain their independence by providing a framework for medication, nutrition and pain management.