In January 2020, innovators from around the world responded in huge numbers with ideas and innovations. After careful review by experts, a select number of standout ideas were chosen. On October 15, the awards were announced. Among them, The CareBank Project: a PeerCare Platform Connecting Elders for the Pandemic and its Aftermath. To learn about the CareBank Project and Healthy Longevity Award, please visit:
www.CareWheels.com
https://healthylongevitychallenge.org/winners/carebank-a-peercare-platform-connecting-elders-for-the-pandemic-and-aftermath/
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.
"Now is the time to care selflessly about one another."
Dr. Anthony Fauci
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
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• Population aging is one of the most
• The influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with smoking and alcohol consumption.
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Greater independence through interdependence
CareWheels is helping to reduce “Stay Home, Stay Safe” orders |
I write this letter during an emerging Covid-19 crisis - Eric Dishman, Intel Fellow, |
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 EldereadyTM Sensors
CareWheels is developing innovative EldereadyTM 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 |
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 These partnerships will connect us with |
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 |
Claude A. Goodman |
I am a Gerontechnologist, trained in Biomedical Engineering. My mission is to serve by developing technologies designed to strengthen the Social Determinants of Health. CareWheels develops social care network technologies that support elder empowerment at home and interdependent living in community. The CareBank is based on research that revealed the transformative power of Peer-Care: we take better care of ourselves when we take good care of each other. |