Green light for Australia’s first falls prevention research in Aged Care
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VMCH partners with innovative falls detection technology provider HomeGuardian and leading researchers from Deakin University in a three-year study.
Funding for the research comes from an incredible $2.65 million investment from the Federal Government.
The Cooperative Research Centers Projects (CRC-P) Grant program supports short-term collaborative research projects for products that will “solve problems for industry and deliver real outcomes”.
Falls are a significant health concern, with around 1 in 3 older Australians having experienced a fall in the past 12 months.
HomeGuardian’s Artificial Intelligence devices detect when something is wrong, such as a fall and automatically escalate alerts within two seconds.
Funding will allow VMCH to deploy thousands of devices and support to monitor falls across its residential aged care sites to help identify and enhance preventative measures.
“We are absolutely thrilled to play a key role in such an important initiative,” said Maria Paz, VMCH Chief Information Officer.
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“This grant will allow VMCH to continue to be a leading innovator in the adoption and development of technology solutions, through industry and research partnerships, to positively impact the broader sector.”
Using predictive indicators to reduce the incidence of falls would make the HomeGuardian device the first product in the global market to provide this functionality, increasing its competitiveness in a $21 trillion industry.
“This technology has the potential to not only help reduce hospital admissions and injuries but also save lives,” added Paz.
The falls detection research program is said to run until December 2025.
Related: Opinion: Aged care sector left out in the cold in Federal Budget
Menchie Khairuddin is a writer Deputy Content Manager at Akolade and content producer for Third Sector News. She is passionate about social affairs specifically in mixed, multicultural heritage and not-for-profit organisations.
