WASHINGTON, June 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AARP Services,
Inc. (ASI), and UnitedHealthcare today announced the winners of the
Fall Prevention innovation Challenge. The Challenge, launched in
February to identify new solutions for preventing falls among older
adults, received more than 200 contributions from participants in
over 90 countries.
Luna Lights is the winner in the
Most Viable Solution category. The solution, designed by Luna
Lights CEO Donovan Morrison, is an
automated lighting system that uses behavioral analysis and
automated lighting to help keep older adults safer at night. It
detects when a user gets out of bed and immediately turns on
wireless lights to illuminate the paths to frequent nighttime
destinations around the home.
Path Feel is the winner in the Most Promising Idea category. The
product, designed by Katlyn Green,
is a shoe insole that provides vibratory feedback to improve
balance among older adults. The insoles amplify the sense of touch
of feet to the ground to accommodate sensory deficits or general
balance issues. The insoles help the user identify when their feet
touch the ground, reducing the sense of imbalance and incidence of
falls.
"When we started this challenge, we hoped to find at least two
viable concepts that could help prevent adults from falling, rather
than alerting someone after it was too late," said Sanjay Khurana, ASI vice president, Caregiving.
"We've been happily overwhelmed with the response we received from
people around the world who shared valuable insights and encouraged
the development of others' concepts along the way."
In addition to cash awards, the winners will receive in-kind
support to help them advance their solutions.
- Each will receive access to ASI's iCare Research Panel for one
research study with the caregiving panel to support usability
and/or concept testing.
- The winners can also participate in four hours of mentorship
provided by ASI.
- The Most Viable Solution winner, Luna
Lights, could be added to CareConnection, a caregiving
solutions resource and retail website.
- The Most Promising Solution winner, Green, will receive
$10,000 toward design services to
bring the Path Feel concept to life.
Winners were selected based on criteria focused on
affordability, health-centeredness, scalability and easy
integration into people's daily lives without requiring a behavior
change. The judging committee was composed of health care
professionals, physicians, researchers of aging and innovation
leaders.
"A fall can be traumatic for older adults and drastically affect
their health and quality of life," said Efrem Castillo, M.D., chief medical officer of
UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement. "The connections and
ideas generated during this challenge are paving the way for new
innovations that have the potential to improve the health and
well-being of millions of older adults."
Fall prevention is a globally underserved area of healthy aging.
One in four older adults fall each year, but less than half seek
medical care.i The Center for Disease Control (CDC)
estimated that in 2014 29 million falls were reported among those
65 and older in the United States,
with approximately 7 million of these falls resulting in
injuries.
The challenge was facilitated by OpenIDEO, a platform known for
crowdsourcing global solutions. Through an online workshop,
participants and a multidisciplinary community shared research, and
developed, prototyped and refined their ideas.
To learn more about the winners, go to:
https://challenges.openideo.com/challenge/fall-prevention/awards
ABOUT AARP SERVICES, INC. – AARP Services, Inc., founded in
1999, is a wholly owned taxable subsidiary of AARP. AARP Services
manages the provider relationships for and performs quality control
oversight of the wide range of products and services that carry the
AARP name and are made available by independent providers as
benefits to AARP's millions of members. The provider offers
currently span health products, financial products, travel and
leisure products, and life event services. Specific products
include Medicare supplemental insurance; credit cards; auto' home,
mobile home and motorcycle insurance, life insurance and annuities;
member discounts on rental cars, cruises, vacation packages and
lodging; special offers on technology and gifts; and pharmacy
services. AARP Services also engages in new product development
activities for AARP and provides certain consulting services to
outside companies.
ABOUT UNITEDHEALTHCARE – UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to
helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the
health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs,
and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The
company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for
individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and
their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and
contracts directly with more than 1 million physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities
nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and
well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at
uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
ABOUT OPENIDEO – OpenIDEO (www.openideo.com) is a global open
innovation platform that builds collaborative communities to
address pressing social and environmental issues. In online
Challenges, offline Chapters and targeted programs, OpenIDEO
enables innovators anywhere to apply design thinking towards
generating social impact.
i Stevens JA, Ballesteros MF, Mack KA,
Rudd RA, DeCaro E, Adler G. Gender differences in seeking care for
falls in the aged Medicare Population. Am J Prev Med
2012;43:59–62.
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SOURCE AARP Services Inc.