Sean's Story
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Contents |
Morning
Sean awoke just after dawn as usual, just before his intelligent home monitor system triggered his wake up alarm went off and turned up the lights in his bedroom. The small visual display beside the bed indicated that Sean had 7.5 hours of sleep with a sleep quality index of 75%. "Not too bad" he thinks. Non contact sensors located under the mattress recorded motion, respiration and ECG data through out the night. As Sean had grown older a good nights sleep had become a luxury. Sean like more than half of all adults over 65 have suffered from a sleep complaint. However some recent life style changes suggested by his doctor seem to helping to improve his sleep quality.
Sean being a farmer all his life still has the motivation to get up early each morning. His sheep are reason to get up in the morning and a reason to live. Although he makes very little money from farming it gives him a sense of worth and sense of independence. Sean picked up his smart phone, clips it to his belt and inserted the discreet wireless earpiece and smiled to himself as the sound of birdsong filled his ears. Seans hearing had started to fade some years ago (only natural in a man of 68 he tought) and the earpiece functioned as a hearing aid as well as delivering updates and information from the 'lifestyle management assistant' software living on his smart phone.
Sean was used to solitude but he had come to think of the soft voice whispering reminders in his ear as a companion, he had even named her..[1], although he would never confess this to anyone else! Sean had developed a variety of personal and idiosyncratic ways for remembering crucial daily tasks over the years which worked with varying degrees of success especially as he gotten older. 'Sheila' now provided him with a personal safety net and he quickly grown to accept and rely on. 'Good morning Sean' the software said, 'don't forget your nicotine patch!'. Sean had always said that smoking was one of the few indulgences in his life but after some strong advice from his doctor he had started trying to quit. He picked up a patch from the pack beside the bed and stuck it on.
Heading downstairs in his rural farmhouse, motion sensors pickup his movement and switch on the lights for him. 'Shiela' whispered in his ear again "Remember to weigh yourself for the doctor' and he turned and went into the bathroom. Sean had recently been diagnosed with Diabetes, a result of his other indulgence...alchohol, but was managing it with a program developed with the doctor. He stood on the weighing scales as he did each morning Next his measures his blood glucose level with a digital glucometer. Both pieces of data are sent wirelessly to his health monitor device located in the living room.
After this was done he made his way to the kitchen (by now it was bright and the home control system his younger sisters had insisted he install switched the lights off) and began to make his breakfast. Sean had always believed in a good solid Irish fry-up to start his day but as his doctor had pointed out this was contributing to his high cholesterol level and so he was making an effort to eat more healthily. He had a consultation with a nutritionist and together they had devloped a healthy eating plan. Unfortunately he had run out of his usual cereal and was looking blankly into the fridge searching for ideas (never having been a very adventurous cook), 'Need some help with breakfast?' asked 'Shiela'. 'Sure, any suggestions?' he replied...he didn't mind talking to the PDA while on his own but when he was in public he switched over to the large touch display built into it. 'Shiela' recommended some scrambled eggs and toast, and asked would he like to add cereal to the shopping list? Seans shopping was delivered once a week by the local supermarket, based on the list 'Shiela' emailed them and maintained using information from the 'Content Aware' fridge and the list of recommended foods from the nutritionist.
The smart phone bleeped to indicate a message had arrived whilst he was asleep. Peadar, his 64 year old brother, with whom he ran the farm was not going to be there until lunchtime as he had an appointment. Sean made his way out to the workshop and strapped on his ExoLift hydraulic exoskeleton. This was a recent purchase he had made with a grant aimed at maximising the farming workforce. When strapped on over his overalls it allowed him to easily lift large and heavy objects..."just like being 18 again" as he thought to himself. The mini-tractor (another recent purchase) followed him out of the shed and across the field as he went about his business.
Afternoon
The mornings work flew by and Peadar joined Sean at lunchtime. He'd brought takeout from a local fast food restaurant with him, Sean was sure his nutritionist would disapprove. "Ah well" he thought, "you're only young once!" and tucked in. To be on the safe side he took a picture of the burger and chips and added it to his food planner, let the nutritionist worry about balancing it later! While they were eating a call came in from their sister in America. She had moved there many years ago but her and her family kept in regular contact with Sean and Peadar via phone and the internet. "Would you like to transfer the call to the TV screen?" asked 'Shiela'. Sean tapped the smart to confirm, the TV switched on and Nora's face appeared in 3D on screen. "Hi there big brothers! How's life on the farm?" asked Nora. "Ah, same as it ever was..." said Peadar. "How would you know?" said Sean, "Sure you've hardly been here all day!" Nora laughed, "Well some things never change! We've booked our flights to come visit ye next month, I'm sending you the details now", an incoming email notification popped up in the corner of the screen and Sean tapped on his smart phone to open it and display the flight details alongside Noras face. "Ah that's all grand" he said and added the details into his calendar with another tap. Peadar and Nora chatted for a while longer as Sean went to get another nicoteine patch after a prompt from 'Shiela'.
Sean and Peadar spent the rest of the afternoon in the fields until it got too dark to work. Farming had never been an easy life but with food prices so high and the technological help of the ExoLift and SmarTractor, the rewards outweighed the toughness of the work. The usefulness of technology had been brought home to Sean a couple of years ago, shortly after he'd got 'Shiela' when he's had an accident and hurt his leg when out in the fields. His home control system detected an abnormal pattern when he didn't return for lunch. When he didn't respond to an alert request the home control system notified Peadar (his nominated notificee). Peadar made his way to Sean by locating the GPS signal built into the smart phone and brought him to the hospital. Thankfully he made a quick recovery but it really brought home how useful the technology could be and led him to invest in the ExoLift and SmarTractor.
Evening
Peadar made his way back home and Sean decided to start preparing his dinner. Not being much of a cook he found the microwavable ready meals from the supermarket a godsend. 'Sheila' made a couple of suggestions based on the healthy eating plan (modified to take account of his early fast food meal) and Sean sat down to dinner and a movie. As he was watching 'Sheila' popped up a reminder that he was due for a music jam session with some of his friends. Sean had always had a love of traditional Irish music and was a keen tin-whistle player, he saved away the movie for later and joined the jam. Although it was getting harder for him to get to the regular sessions in his local pub he had recently become a member of an online group that used video and social networking to play together online. Sean saw the names and images of his regular session mates pop up on screen one by one and began to tap his foot as the familiar strains of Mileys fiddle swirled through the room. Sean began to play along and his other online friends joined in one by one. As the last strains of the reel they'd been playing died away Sean and the others began to chat and catch up on the local gossip. Sean lit up the one cigarette a day he still allowed himself (after de-activating the houses smoke sensor...he wouldn't make that mistake twice!) and sipped on a wee glass of whiskey. Not quite the same as being in the pub, but not far off he thought to himself. At least he could stay inside to smoke!
Key Themes
- Meaning and Identity in late life
- Waking and getting up
- Food and healthy Aging
- Memory and remembering
- Dignity and privacy
- Independance and social interaction
- Productive activities
- Activity – Active Lives vs Succumbing to old age
- Family relationships
- Entertaining Self and Others Inside and Outside the Home/Social Connectedness
GAP Analysis
- Under mattress bed sensor which can accurately measure heart rate and respiration to enable sleep staging
- Intelligent digital avatar - 'Shelia'
- Virtual collaborative entertainment environments
- Interactive nutrition programs
- Back to Aspects of Aging
