Black Lives Matter March: Morrison Bridge, Portland, Oregon; June 3, 2020 source: kgw.com

 

Across bridges and nations, young and old march together through this pandemic, while Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) suffer disproportionately from COVID-19. Epidemiologists predict waves of infections through 2022. CareWheels empowers us to take better care of ourselves by taking good care of each other.

As part of our mission for health equity for all, CareWheels unequivocally affirms that Black Lives Matter. We know words are not enough on their own, and we are deploying our technology services and resources to support Black lives, and continue to work on ways to better reach and provide for the Black elder community.

 

 CareBank

 

• Population aging is one of the most significant social transformations of the 21st century.   • 92% of Americans want to stay in their own home as long as possible.   • The influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with smoking and alcohol consumption.   • Elders living in isolation are one of the largest and fastest-growing underserved populations.   • The value of social networks increases as we age.   • The CareBank combines Smart Home sensor assisted TeleCare and TimeBank social networking to support successful aging-in-place.

 

 

Greater independence through interdependence

 

CareWheels is helping to reduce the impact and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic with the CareBank, a social care network that connects people in mutual peer-to-peer circles of PeerCare. “Stay Home, Stay Safe” orders leave many people struggling with social isolation – loneliness, loss of connection, meaning and purpose – causing depression, substance abuse and a startling rise in suicides.

I write this letter during an emerging Covid-19 crisis that is wreaking havoc upon older people. Many are succumbing to the disease at alarming rates, and many more face more loneliness and isolation than usual due to necessary social distancing. The peer-to-peer support models CareWheels has developed give us the opportunity to help older adults maintain purpose, connection, and health through low-investment technologies and programs. As an executive at Intel and now the National Institutes of Health funding promising innovations in aging-in-place and personal health solutions, I have rarely seen results as promising as what Claude and his participants have produced. - Eric Dishman, Intel Fellow,   CareWheels Director Emeritus; March 2020

 

 

The essence of PeerCare is greater independence through interdependence. Peers tackle fears and loneliness by fostering relationships based on mutual support, trust and camaraderie. PeerCare provides social incentives that improve healthy behaviors to reduce needless suffering, preventable crises, emergency room visits and hospital admissions.

 

PeerCare in the palm of your hand

 

The CareBank is a Care Sharing Economy Platform that integrates TeleCare Sensors with a TimeBank Server and Behavioral Economic Principles in an easy-to-use app. It implements three recommendations from President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Report about Independence, Technology, and Connection in Older Age:

 

Online tools help older adults participate in the sharing economy and work remotely.

Time Banks allow seniors to donate services now to access help from others when they need it.

Remote monitoring and sensors help people age-in-place while ensuring safety and maintaining health.

 

Empowering Elders with Eldeready^TM Sensors

 

CareWheels is developing innovative Eldeready^TM Sensors for the 50 million low- and moderate-income older Americans most in need of health care, economic security and support services to maintain their health and independence through this COVID pandemic and its aftermath.

 

 

Sensors are placed on important items, like the pillbox and refrigerator, to detect problems before they become crises by sensing routine activity patterns and detecting anomalies in routine activities. The CareBank integrates activity sensors with smartphones and social incentives to connect, detect, alert and reward PeerCare participants. It empowers elders to help save lives and money, by detecting problems before they become crises and rewarding elders for providing PeerCare services from the comfort of home.

 

CareBank = TeleCare + TimeBank 

 

The CareBank combines TeleCare with a TimeBank, empowering people to pay-it-forward by investing surplus human capital to build shared social capital. The CareBank App automatically rewards peers for monitoring and response services by crediting their CareBank account. Credits may be exchanged for home and community-based support services such as transportation, errands and household repairs. We improve upon the proven TimeBank model of reciprocity and asset based community development by automatically crediting CareBank members for their daily services.

 

 CareWheels Theory of Change

The CareBank makes it easy for us to be a peer support group. The simplicity of the CareBank App is its biggest advantage. This system is extremely well suited to helping people who live alone and require minimal supervision. I think every person living alone should be covered by a CareWheels system because this system will signal a health problem or death in circumstances where there might otherwise be no indication of a problem. The CareBank is proving to be beneficial to help keep our CareWheels Group safely in contact as we shelter in place to protect from the Coronavirus pandemic. - Art Henderson, Participant   CareBank Pilot March 2020

 

 

Peer-based, not Fear-based

The CareBank is different from medical alert buttons, advertised with fearful cries for HELP, which only work if the button is pushed. The CareBank detects problems before they become crises by sensing routine activity patterns and alerting peers on their CareBank Apps when those activities, like taking medications and meals, are not detected.

 

Working Better Together

Through this pandemic, we see that we are all connected to something larger that makes us vulnerable and gives life meaning. The CareBank harnesses technology to promote interdependence that is a key to unlock our potential to reinvent our world by working better together.

 

 

CareWheels is partnering with the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, Age-Friendly Portland, Office of Community & Civic Life Disability Program, and Smart City PDX to serve urban underserved communities. These partnerships will connect us with diverse participants through local organizations including REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) and the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, representing communities at high risk of COVID. They will provide community input to co-create culturally appropriate CareBank services and help us recruit PeerCare volunteers.

This [CareBank] project in uniquely situated to utilize technology to enhance social connections and interdependence, address loneliness, and advance safety and wellbeing among older adult, people with disabilities, and caregivers who serve as peer volunteers. This project is timely and needed at a moment when Portland (and much of the U.S.) is becoming increasingly diverse and markedly older; as importantly, this project provides new options for response and recovery related to the current COVID-19 pandemic and future emergencies. I am excited about this work and envision opportunities for PeerCare to meet the needs of Portland’s population and beyond. - Alan DeLaTorre, Ph.D., Age-Friendly Cities, program manager, City of Portland, Oregon; April 2020

 

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