Indian teen invents gadget that may transform dementia care

[Jilly_in_VA]

In the blissful summer that Hemesh Chadalavada spent with his grandmother in 2018, the pair watched endless movies and ate her chicken biryani. Late one evening, as Chadalavada, then 12, sat on his own in front of the television, Jayasree got up in her nightdress and went to make tea at her home in Guntur, southern India.

After she had returned to her bedroom, Chadalavada went into the kitchen to find that his grandmother, then 63, had left the gas on.

“She had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s but I was still in shock. What would have happened if I hadn’t been there?” says Chadalavada.

(snip)

Now aged 17, Chadalavada is poised to start manufacturing a device that detects when people with Alzheimer’s fall or stray, which goes beyond the reach of the devices currently available.

The light and compact Alpha Monitor, which can be worn as a badge or an armband, sets off an alarm when the wearer starts to move and alerts a caregiver if the patient falls or wanders off.

(snip)

Alpha Monitor can detect a person more than a mile away in cities and three miles (5km) in the countryside thanks to the long-range technology, known as LoRa, it uses.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/jan/16/hemesh-chadalavada-indian-inventor-alpha-monitor-alzheimers-dementia-care

[Joinfortmill]

1. Very cool. Another reason why we should all be humble. Genius grows everywhere.

[mucifer]

2. Hard to believe this doesn't exist already.

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. Some smart watches have fall detection n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. LoRa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LoRa

[Warpy]

4. If it can be made cheaply enough, it might be useful

I can, think of several specific cases where this gadget would have come in handy around here. I remember one little old lady with Alzheimer's, the husband just let her wander, "Where's she gonna go? Nearest neighbor is 14 miles away." This would have come in handy for them, telling him which direction she'd gone. With luck, she hadn't stepped on a rattlesnake.

[flying_wahini]

5. A friend told me the story about her Mother in law who had dementia and she was following her husband to the gas station

(In Dallas)To fill up both cars at once. On the way back she missed him at a red light and it took her 2 days to run out of gas. They found her in Wichita Kansas. Same road in the center lane out of gas.

This kind of help would have been useful.