The HUME works with multiple sensors to measure stress. At the moment we use the Movesense which goes around the chest and the Empathica, a strap around the wrist. The sensor around the wrist is not very comfortable to wear all day, that’s why we are developing our own wearable in-house.
This will be a foot sensor, integrated in a sock or in a patch. This makes the sensor less visible and less vulnerable. This foot sensor can measure physiological data such as skin conduction and acceleration.
We will continue to develop this foot sensor in the coming year so that it can also measure skin temperature and heart rate in the future. Furthermore, we are investigating whether we can integrate a similar sensor in other garments, such as a shirt or a glove.
Picture: Freepik
On Friday, December the 4th, Evert Jan Slootweg, CDA Member of the House of Representatives, and Christo Weijs, CDA City Council Member of Eindhoven, visited Mentech in Eindhoven. The reason for this visit was Evert Jan’s question: which bottlenecks are experienced by companies that develop care innovations for long-term care?
Evert Jan is a member of the House of Representatives and also a member of the permanent committee Public Health, Welfare and Sport and is very interested in innovations in healthcare. We have been seeing for years that the demand for quality care in the Netherlands is steadily increasing and the ability to provide this care remains the same. In our view, supporting technology plays an essential role in answering this additional demand for quality of care. Evert Jan: ‘I think that an invention such as Mentech’s will help us to answer the demand for care much better in the future. As a result, care providers will be able to work much better and people will have a much higher quality of life. It was a lot of fun to see what you can do with technology, to make people feel happier and at least understood’.
Thanks again, Evert Jan and Christo, for the visit. We very much appreciated your interest in the HUME and the open discussion. Hope to see you soon!
A few months ago we applied for the title ‘Most innovative company in the Netherlands’ at the Chamber of Commerce. And we are proud to announce that we have been chosen for the top 100 most innovative companies in the Dutch small and medium-sized business of 2020. On Thursday, January the 21th is the final and we hope that we will be among to the finalists! Check out our participation via this link.
To introduce the theme of Innovation & Technology during the Kick-off policy framework economy 2030 of the Province of Noord-Brabant, Mentech Innovation was asked to think about what is now needed for start-ups in Brabant to be able to continue, Eric Riegen explains it in this video!
Upcoming Thursday, November the 26th, the Knowledge platform EVB+ organizes an online event with the theme Innovation & Technology. During this meeting our commercial director Eric and colleague Kyaro will share together with Sylvia Huisman (Prinsenstichting) and Ilona Senders (Severinus) more information about the HUME and the Feelix app. Also known as recent technological developments in the care for people with EVB+.
The following questions will be discussed: How can innovation contribute to a better quality of life for people with EVB+? What can we do to overcome the big questions and problems in the life and care of people with EVB+?
The program looks as follows:
15.00 – 15.50: Three introductions on recent technological developments in the care for people with EVB+.
Early measurement of tension in people with EVB+: HUME
Working together on happiness: Feelix App
Exchanging images between professionals and relatives: See together App
15.50 – 16.00: Break
16.00 – 16.45: Exchanging in smaller groups about the use of technological solutions around people with EVB+ in their own organization and what big questions are currently surrounding people with EVB+?
16.45 – 17.00: Plenary: How do we proceed? Is there a need to tackle this theme together?
Interested to participate? Subscribe via this link.
We are very proud to announce that we can welcome a new partner in our HUME pilot project: Koraal healthcare. Koraal is for people of all ages with serious (mental) disabilities and complex behavioral and/or psychiatric problems. They offer care, support, education and labor.
Koraal also struggles with regularly complex behavior among clients. Therefore, from the beginning of next year the HUME, with the permission of parents and relatives, will be implemented at various locations of Koraal. The HUME makes it possible to better understand the complex behaviour of the clients. By means of the HUME it is investigated whether tension and stress are important causes of complex behaviour. We will use sensors to measure the build-up of tension in a number of clients. Based on these measurements a pattern recognition can be developed for each client. In the near future the supervisor will receive a signal from the system when the tension in a client gets too high. This allows to prevent escalations in a timely manner. Great for the client and great for the healthcare employee!
We are very enthusiastic about this new collaboration and can’t wait to get started!
Are you also interested in participating in the pilot study of Mentech Innovation? Please contact us for more information and we will be happy to tell you what Mentech Innovation can do for your healthcare institution.
T +31 6 28093518
E. info@mentechinnovation.eu
W. www.mentechinnovation.eu
At the moment we, are developing the HUME, this is a platform which allows us to measure emotions of people who cannot express these themselves. With the HUME we want to give people with an intellectual disability or dementia who are not able to express their emotions, a voice. We are eager to improve their quality of life.
In order to develop and train our models behind the HUME, we are still urgently looking for test persons. At the moment we have two kinds of tests: physical movement and virtual reality tests. During these tests we investigate the changes of the physiology with two sensors.
Would you like to support us and make people with intellectual disabilities or dementia feel more understood in the future? Please sign up as participant for our HUME lab via: https://mentechinnovation.eu/en/register-hume-lab/
In the last few months, Mentech/EMOOD, has developed a happiness app for people with a disability or dementia, in collaboration with Severinus. The first version of the app is now available for everyone to use, which is why we proudly present the Feelix app!
The Feelix app has been developed to enable the social network around a client to actively contribute to his/her happiness goals. Network participants use the app to plan happiness activities with the client and score the activity afterwards. These scores, together with happiness questions, provide insight into the client’s emotional well-being. The happiness goals are derived from the individual care plan with which the Feelix app supports the care process.
Over the past few months, several people have experienced how the Feelix app works, including Adriëtte van der Wijst, involved family member of a ZorgWiel client. She says:
“Since the process of dementia started with my brother, we have noticed that the activities he used to enjoy so much, are no longer pleasant for him. For all those who are concerned about his happiness, reason to look for things that will make him happy and which he can enjoy. The Feelix app is a great tool to get a glimpse of what makes my brother happy!”
John Meijer, family member of a client and chairman of the client council of Amerpoort, is also concerned about his sister’s happiness:
“I always try to find a solution for my sister and all her fellow residents, who have been unable to indicate what makes them happy throughout their lives. With the Feelix app we identify the network so that everyone knows what makes her and her fellow residents happy, communication is very important in this case”.
The Feelix app gives the social network a good insight into the daily activities of the client and how she/he appreciates these activities. This is also a reason for Ilona Senders, Severinus’ policy advisor, to implement the Feelix app in the healthcare process.
“I think it is important that people with a disability can participate in society in their own way, can be themselves, can make their own choices and therefore experience happiness. The Feelix app helps us to interpret perceptible behaviour together and thereby gain insight into what someone likes, likes, values, or does not like”.
Are you also interested in using the Feelix app?
Concept version HUME application
Last Wednesday, the fourth community meeting of the HUME pilot study with all participating partners took place. In this meeting the current state of the HUME, important developments and cases were discussed.
An important development, and therefore an important topic for the meeting, is the HUME application. This application will communicate the tension of the client with the healthcare staff. Within Mentech Innovation, an user-friendly application is being developed for this purpose, in which the wishes and needs of the healthcare staff are paramount. We are therefore pleased that various partners have committed to provide feedback about the function, design and implementation of the app in the care process.
Another important update is that the processing time of the cases will be shortened in the future. Our intentions are to do that in three ways. First, we will classify less visual material. Second, we will only classify the obvious moments of tension. Lastly, we will limit the number of measurements. From this moment onwards, the focus will shift more towards guided implementation of the HUME.
The next meeting is on the agenda for December / January. Are you interested in participating in the pilot study of Mentech Innovation? Please contact us for more information and we will be happy to tell you what Mentech Innovation can do for your healthcare institution!
T +31 6 28093518
E. info@mentechinnovation.eu
W. www.mentechinnovation.eu