Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

Current in-home monitoring of aging populations includes the use of patient-worn sensors and alarms and traditional camera systems. However, patients may forget to wear the sensor or be unable to trigger an alarm in case of a fall, while cameras intervenes with a person's privacy. Our innovative monitoring project uses smart cameras to generate video recordings of people with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. These cameras immediately anonymize the patient identification to preserve privacy. The uniqueness of our project is that the processing of these data is done within the camera, so the images do not need to be stored or transmitted. We will use the cameras developed by AltumView Systems Inc, our knowledge user company, to process and analyze such video recordings to facilitate clinical assessments of body movement and emotional status, such as depression. The camera could also trigger assistance alerts to family members or health services and inform physicians about a patient's health status. Monitoring of aging populations with smart cameras has economic benefits and can improve patient outcomes. Balancing our ethical duties of protecting patients' privacy, respecting their freedom, promoting their well-being, and using health resources responsibly, smart cameras will help maintain patients' independence longer, which in turn can reduce the costs of hospitalization and long-term care facilities. The camera-derived information can help physicians make better decisions on treatment and consequently may reduce the number of additional visits to physicians, hospitals, and emergency rooms. This project will have significant commercialization potential as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's affect roughly 600,000 Canadians, and - with suitable modifications - could be adapted to monitoring the healthy elderly. Training of HQP will be greatly facilitated by this inherently multidisciplinary project that combines engineering, medical, and ethical skills.