Clippings

Posts for Tag: health Care

Stroke Patients Get Robot Legs

A powerful exoskeleton is helping stroke patients and victims of spinal cord injuries to walk again. "The prototype device is called the Lower-extremity Powered ExoSkeleton, or LOPES, and works by training the body and mind of a patient to recover a more natural step." Developed over the last several years at the University of Twente in Enschede in the Netherlands, the device "can do all the walking for the patient, or it can offer targeted support in either one leg or with one element of the walking process."

What's the Big Idea?

Commercial versions of the product could be developed as early as next year. Beyond victims of medical injuries, the lower-extremity exoskeleton is being designed with military function in mind. A California company is developing an exoskeleton that "enables infantry soldiers to lift and carry weights of up to 90kg in the field, and consists of a hydraulic-powered frame which straps around the soldier's body." In the future, exoskeleton devices may be used by aging individuals to keep pace with younger ones when families are out and about. 

Read it at B.B.C. News

via bigthink.com

More Monitoring Devices

I was just speaking with another reviewer here about how surprisingly common it is for manufacturers to copy each other’s designs. To ‘port an entire line of products, though, is a little more unusual: iHealth has just announced an app-enhanced digital scale, blood pressure monitor and baby monitor that mirrors Withings‘ entire lineup, gadget for gadget.

The first of the trio is the iHealth Blood Pressure Monitor, available now through their site for $100. In October, the company will ship their iBaby Monitor ($200) and the iHealth Digital Scale ($70). It’s interesting to note that two of the iHealth gadgets are priced lower than their Withings counterparts (Withings have not yet settled on pricing for their baby monitor).

via CultofMac

Can Design Get People To Take Their Meds? | Co. Design

My mom called me crying recently. She’s 68 years old, overweight, inactive, and suffers from a litany of “old-age ailments” including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, borderline diabetes, arthritis, and hearing and vision limitations. Her situation probably sounds familiar to a lot of baby boomers and their kids.

Every Sunday evening, she loads her four-by-seven pill case with her 12 prescription medications, three vitamins, and two over-the-counter pain relievers. She can’t remember or even pronounce the names of most of these pills. She can barely recall which are for her heart and which are for her joints. Sometimes she skips taking her pills altogether. She figures if she’s feeling good, why mess with it? My mom is not alone.

via fastcodesign.com

This is also a Sunday evening task for me, too. Doesn't reduce me to tears exactly, but it does give me lots to think about. I love what people are working on—a centralized database for tracking medications, better storage methods, better ways to track your medications, and more.

Bionic Men and Women

It's fair to say that I watched the NewsHour's feature on prosthetic devices in rapt attention. I'm at the low end of devices and often laugh at myself as the $6,000 Man, but I can't help but marvel at what's available to help people who need it. It's amazing and inspiring to think not just of how much better this technology will get but how much more users will be able to do. 

The Best Health Care in the World?

What happens to the insurance coverage of people who donate kidneys in America? The recipient’s insurance covers the tab for both the donor and the recipient for the procedure. The donor needs regular follow ups for the rest of his/her life to make sure that one kidney is in tip top shape. The recipient’s insurance drops coverage because they can’t cover this tab forever. They cut the donor off. And then the donor is left with the bill. Only in America. Our healthcare system is embarrassing. via NPR

What happens to the insurance coverage of people who donate kidneys in America?

The recipient’s insurance covers the tab for both the donor and the recipient for the procedure. The donor needs regular follow ups for the rest of his/her life to make sure that one kidney is in tip top shape. The recipient’s insurance drops coverage because they can’t cover this tab forever. They cut the donor off. And then the donor is left with the bill.

Only in America. Our healthcare system is embarrassing.

via NPR

via blog.jayparkinsonmd.com

Jay Parkinson shares an NPR link. We've heard a lot about about the supposed greatness of our current system, but reports like this pop up constantly. (Some day, I have to finish T. R. Reid's book about health care around the world.) Tone puts me in mind of a piece I saw the other at Daily Kos, No We Can't.