Recognizing the rising number of seniors with dementia and the increasing challenges of meeting their needs, CABHI brought together a diverse group of stakeholders for a 2.5-day design sprint to drive collaboration in new and unique ways. Almost 100 people attended the event held at Centennial College in Toronto, Ontario in February 2017, including senior caregivers and providers, students in healthcare and technology programs, and leaders from healthcare system partners.
Our partners for this event were: Baycrest Health Services; Saint Elizabeth Health Care; the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN); and Centennial College’s Wearable, Interactive and Mobile Technology Access Centres (WIMTACH), an academic-based accelerator dedicated to grassroots innovation in health technologies.
Participants were led through several engaging and interactive exercises that tested assumptions about aging and envisioned a future where technology could optimize the experience for adults living at home. After the sprint, 30 per cent of participants said they had applied the design tools and exercises to problems they faced and 20 per cent brought ideas generated at the sprint to their organizations for consideration.
Based on the best results from the sprint, Baycrest, Saint Elizabeth and OTN have proposed an integrated system solution aimed at creating a responsive, dementia-friendly community. Plans are underway to recruit other system partners and to submit a proposal for funding.