Interreg Noordwest Europa: Call 1

Project Idea for Specific Objective 4.5- - Ensuring equal access to health care and fostering resilience of health systems, including primary care, and promoting the transition from institutional to family-and-community-based care.

Context

Death of a spouse at any age is a life-shattering experience. In addition to psychological impacts such as depression and isolation, grief can have physical consequences such as sleeplessness, inactivity and loss of appetite. For older people, bereavement can have a devastating effect on their immune system and cause them to lose interest in their own care. In other cases, the partner needs to be admitted to residential care because the demand for care is so high. Although the partner may still be alive, these events are accompanied by a great deal of grief and have a huge impact on the life of the partner still living at home.

While most seniors gradually adapt to life without their spouse, there are many challenges they may face. Even for those seniors who are in good health, there will likely be many new and overwhelming tasks to learn. Many elderly couples have set roles within their marriage, where one spouse is solely responsible for a certain job. For example, many husbands or wives have never been required to prepare a meal, shop for groceries, think about a week menu or wash their clothes and consequently may struggle with domestic chores. Or, for the responsibility of paying bills and managing funds, they may feel at a loss when faced with financial decisions. Having to acquire these new skills during a period of grief can seem insurmountable. Seniors who suffer the loss of a spouse can feel plunged into isolation. If they were living independently, as opposed to in an assisted living facility, the surviving spouse is now alone. Often, older couples are always together and therefore don’t feel the need to develop a wider social network. The loss of their life-long companion is felt in every aspect of their day as well as having to sleep alone, often for the first time in decades. Meals, routines and outings such as afternoon walks may get neglected causing the surviving spouse to get stuck in a continuing cycle of depression or isolation.

Objectives

In this new Interreg NEW project we have the ambition to improve accessibility to health and care services in rural areas, in particular for older people who are at risk of isolation after their spouse passed away. We want to reach out before difficulties arises. Therefore, we want to develop innovative care services and smart approaches to avoid extreme isolation and by consequence of this isolation health problems like malnutrition or home accidents like falls. 

Envisaged Outputs

1. Overall territorial strategy and action plan for several rural areas to avoid extreme isolation among elderly. A strategy where we can detect widows, reach out and provide tailored guidance To develop this action plans we will insist on sharing good practices and cocreational processes.
2. Pilot actions testing innovative solution

Pilot  1: Innovative Cooking Platform: During the Interreg Age’in project ( the foundations for the innovative cooking platform were laid within VIVES University of Applied Sciences. A smart kitchen platform was designed. Through interactive cooking instructions and Augmented Reality, people are supported in independently preparing a healthy meal. Because being able to prepare a healthy meal yourself contributes to increasing the quality of your life. In this project we want to expand the smart kitchen platform with smart technology, smart kitchen appliances, food pairing technology, personalized support. Objective is to develop a marketable product for the home situation and/or to use in day-care situations or community work. 

Pilot 2: Library for Care Technology

Technology can support us in various areas of life, with or without a care requirement. Think of the well-known smartwatches to monitor whether we exercise enough, drink enough or sleep well. But technology can do so much more; the possibilities are innumerable and innovative technology is constantly being added. Gaining insight into all possible technology and expecting people to just buy it quickly is not feasible.  We plan to make an inventory of this technology in a sustainable and future-oriented way. Through leasing contracts, we attract companies to make their cutting-edge technology available. This technology will be placed in the lending library. As a care organization, you can take out a subscription in the library to borrow technology and test it out in your organization or with your care recipients. Depending on your subscription you can book training courses to implement this technology.

The library will be supported with apps and tools that guarantee low accessibility, like an assessment tool or supporting tool choosing the right technology. Trainings for correct use will be provided in a virtual way. 

3. Capacity building and awareness raising activities in the field of health and care.

 Training session about the newest technology, with a focus on sustainable implementation of the latest technology, both for developers and users.

Looking for partners

Partnership consists of following organizations:

• VIVES University of Applied Sciences (BE) (HEI)
• Stad Brugge (BE) (Municipality)
• Mintus Brugge (BE) Primary Care organization
• Clubster Santé (FR) (Network of companies)
• ……

We are looking for

1. Municipalities or local policy makers that envisage a strategy to avoid isolation in rural areas and wants to set up an action plan for better accessibility to primary care through technology
2. Primary partners from local municipalities with direct contact with the target group, elderly people who want to be take part in the pilot testing of new technologies
3. Organizations and Companies with innovative services for elderly, innovative services that need further testing before market implementation
4. Technology providers for the development of the smart kitchen platform:
   1. Companies or research organizations developing AI that can support the kitchen for the  recognition of food and ingredients
   2. Companies developing innovative and assistive kitchen technologies like smart fridges or smart heating systems
   3. Companies developing and integrating visual detection systems, audiosystems and visual projection systems
   4. Research organizations developing smart detection systems  using IoT

CONTACT

Elke Denys elke.denys@vives.be

Aline Ollevier aline.ollevier@vives.be