REFLECTION ( Presentation )

We had our presentation today which i think it went smoothly. We have picked up problems to talk about in detailed for the presentation and we wrapped everything up nicely until the end. However, i do think that our final design is not quite interesting enough to bring some of the audience listen to us which i was a little bit disappointing. We have thought of improving our final design during the tutorial in order to make it more presentable to others and more attractive. Moreover, we are also giving our best to the final proposal so that it can be in as perfect manner as possible.

Today's feedback from teachers and friends ,we will keep that in mind and continue to carry out a good work for the submission.

Finalize Design ( Group )

Finalized Design (Group 10)

After a long discussion, research, interview and survey with my group members, we all have agreed that the most common injuries that happen among the elderly is TRIPS & FALLS.

In order to fulfill our objectives which is reducing the accident rate between the elderly, we have came up with this idea called APOLLO.

Overall Design : 

Key Point:

- High technology 

-Simple 

-Easy to maintain 

-More space

-No sharp edges 

-Retractable Handle Bar

We have came up with the idea of giving more space for the elderly to walk inside their room. With thus idea we would be able to prevent the elderly to not a corner of the sharp furniture  and also they will not trip on the things/ furniture in front of them.  We would remove furnitures on the floor by lifting them up high enough to not bother the elderly's way. It will work as pressing one button and the furniture itself will slide up ( Shows in the image ). We think that it is very effective because the elderly needs more space for them to move around in order for them to walk comfortably in the room , it is also good for their vision because elderly does not see thing clearly so if there are no things on the floor they will not have to worry about not seeing and hitting things.

Moreover, We have added an feature such as Retractable Handle Bar. The bar will be able to move in or out up to the users, we thought that this would help the elderly to stable their legs when try to stand up from getting from bed or falling. The bar will be coated with a silicon so it will not be slippery and easier to grab.

We have also added the lamp for an additional feature since we think it will be useful for the elderly at night the light will turn on by itself once the drawer has been lifted up. This will improve the elderly's vision at night. 

In my opinion , i think the idea can be very useful and not too complicated to operate. I really like the idea that it gives the elderly more to move around and help them not to hit sharp edges when their vision goes bad at night. I think the lifting up furniture will be very effective. However, i do think that it might be inapplicable for the furnitures that are heavy. Since the roller that rolls up the furniture might not be strong enough to handle it but overall, i am quiet satisfied with this design.  

Individual Sketch (2) Bed

HIGH-TECH BED

Key points:

-High technology 

-Comfortable

-Soft edges

-Built in light

For this sketch design i am focusing on the comfortless by using technology. 

There will be :

• a built in speaker and project ( The elderly enjoy their spare time with out getting out from bed)
•  built in lighting ( the elderly does not have to bother standing up to turn on/off the light ) 
• built in temperature control ( This will control the temperature around the bed  according to the elderly's body temperature )

The mattress will be adjustable such as it can get higher up when the elderly would like to sit on and lower down while they are sleeping ( reducing falling off from bed).

Moreover, The rectangular shape around the bed will give out the feeling of protection and it is also comes with the small cushions wall so when the elderly fall around they wont hit their body to the sharp edges of the bed.

Everything that i have mentioned about in this design will be operate through a remote control or by a simply touch on a panel next to the bed. This will help more than the safety for the elderly but also help the elderly who can move at all but they can still enjoy the connivence of this bed.

Individual sketch ( 1)

Lighting + Furniture 

Key points: 

- Decrease the hitting at the furniture at night 

-Better vision for the elderly 

-Easy to spot the placement at night 

-Easy to turn on/off 

-Can apply in all the bedroom furnitures

This furniture series will be focusing on the lighting since poor lighting can be the cause of trip and falls in injury at night. This furniture will turn on automatically when the surrounding is dark.

The light that grow out from the furniture will be dim light that does not disturb the elderly while they are sleeping and also if the elderly does not want the light to turn on thy can off with the remote control.The remote will be place next to them as for their convenient .Moreover, there is emergency button in the remote so the elderly can press just incase of an emergency case. 

In conclusion, this series is an inexpensive way to make and also effective as the lighting is one of the most important thing we have to be aware when we are talking about the safety. Moreover, it provides convenience for the elderly because they do not have to move around to turn it on as it is all automatic or operate by just a click on the remote control. 

  

Research on design (1) Individual

Inspiration:

Hi-can bed or High fidelity Canopy designed by a designer called " Edoardo Carlino " in 2007. His design contains modern technology and unique in design such as built in lighting / theatre systems. It will give out the charming the atmosphere and warm tot he users because of the surroundings. 

My opinion , i think if the design is in such a way it will give the safe feeling to the elderly because of the shape ( Rectangular). The high technology that they give inside the bed  can reduce the elderly to be moving around so there will not be any injuries happened to them. Moreover, it is also help the elderly who are bot able to move but they can still have fun on their own. The color of the bed is white in my opinion i think it is a suitable for the elderly because it can brighten up the surroundings.

What did i learn from this design ?

I have learnt that if the design involve more with the new technology it would be more useful for the elderly and it is up to date. The cost might be costly but i think it is worth to try if the outcome will help more people out there.

Source:

http://freshome.com/2009/05/27/hi-can-last-generation-bed-presented-at-out-of-salone-in-milan/

Mind map (2) Group

We have put more visuals in out mindmap. 

Our final designs are:

1. Anti-slipped carpet 

2. Suitable lighting 

3. Operating system 

4. Collections of safety furniture ( Handles )

and we have finalized that " Collections of safety furniture " is our best solutions 

List of the things to do:

• Make a research on furniture that focuses on safety.
• Follow up with the new trend of technology, in order to apply it in the furniture series.
• Use up the good case study to be an example of how to solve problem step by step.
• learn more about different types of elderly in order to know which furniture will be suitable for them.
• Sketch out the ideas and put in the sketch book.

Group mind map ( Solutions Design )

1st Mindmap for the solution:

We have made an overall solutions as follows:

• Create a session for the elderly about safety tips on staying safety in the bedroom    (free)

•  Create a welcoming bedroom for the elderly 

   for e.g .choose a warm color for the room ( yellow, peach )
              .Place a furniture that i can keep their old pictures on the top 
              .Put the lighting that match with their eye sights ( Not too strong or too dark )
              .Install a air freshener ( censor ) so that the smell in the room keep them calm

Example look of the elderly's bedroom

• Stay In touch ( Install a phone that easily to dial or just with one press in order to call anyone to help incase of an accident , Install a panic button in several places) In addition, an installations of all the emergency items.

• Redesign the furnitures and the environment of the bedrooms to become more suitable for the elderly 

More comfortable chair

Adjustable bed 

       

non-slipping matt

• Organize of a group of volunteer to double check the elderly's bedroom ( who lives alone ) once month. Check the lighting, loose carpet, etc.

• Create a posters on the safety tips on bedroom and giving out to an elderly.

FEEDBACK:

- Can enhance the solutions by involve the today's technology into the furniture 

- Mindmap should includes more visuals. 

Case study ( individual )

Elderly and Their Independences

A program launched recently by De Pere Fire Rescue and The De Pere Health Department, in US. 

The program's goal is to keep the elderly who lives alone safe as long as possible. 

The firefighter from their team have visited the senior's home and talk to them in order to teach and giving advice on how to avoid accidents in such as falling. The team have visited around 20 individually in the senior's home and conducted one group session to about 30 people in a senior housing complex. They are still hoping to do more session. 

According to what they have learnt from this program, the elderly who 65 and above who were involved in the house fire are more likely to die more than the younger people and those who are 75 and above are more likely to die four times than the younger one which worst. They are also learnt that falling is the most kind of accident that happens to the elderly who age over 65 and this leads to the serious injury such as hip fractures. The patient from this accident likely to die within a year.

 

Their solution to these problem is to give a session about safety and they have names the program

 "Remember  When". This program offers the eight tips for fire safety and avoid falling and it seems likely to work because the number of emergency needs from the elderly are reducing.  These tips are actually what they have learnt in the school curriculums which is very simple such as " Stop, drop roll" but they are forgetting and can not perform well as they grow older. 

In order to help with the specific problem of different seniors, tailer-made strategies keyed to their own abilities and disabilities  and to the layout of their homes. The installations of the suitable items in the elderly's place is very important because it might safe their lives later (e.g. smoke alarm).

The service is this program is not only giving the session but they also provide, the checking of fire hazards ( like overloaded circuit ), falling hazards,  poor lighting , loose carpet and uneven walk surface. More over, they also help the senior with their prescription medicine schedule with a medical needs survey. 

The service is free to everyone over 65 who live in De Pere. they are also hope that this will reach to their daughter and sons 

Thank you to this website:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/life/2016/03/09/two-team-up-elderly-safety-independence/81524108/

Methodology's Summary

INTERVIEW

 

Our group have interview have interview 3 people who is our close family members and relatives with the age of 65 and above. We have randomize the questions however, it is stay in our topic. The questions are simple and straight forward because it is easier for out interviewee. 

we proceed the interview by face to face and through calls, it went smoothly. As the result we have got a clear answer and very useful advices from our seniors. It can actually help us with the design later. However, we feel that only interview 3 people is too less since the ideas are very limited with the limited information. If possible we would like to interview more of people and get different perspectives. Overall, it was a good methodology. 

SURVEY

We have created 2 different kinds of online surveys by using monkeysurvey.com. The question in the first survey is fixed to " Strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly agree" with our statements and, for the second one the answer are more free because we left the space for them to answer in their own ways. We have gotten about 139+ responses for the both surveys which we think it was great.i have analyze the graph and it gave a percentage of what people are actually thinking about our group topic.

Case Study 

For the case study i feel that our group did not make it good because we have spent lesser time on this methodology and focuses on the other two above therefore we did not get a lot of informations from this. Later we will have to redo and dig more knowledge out of it. 

Survey Methods ( Group Mind Map )

MIND MAP

In Conclusion,

• We are going to use 3 ways for the methodology ( Case Study, Interview, Survey)
• Each one of us will search for different case studies and then choose the best one to focus on. 
• For the interview method each one of us will interview one person, in order to collect the data and use for our report  ( Age range of the interviewee: 65~) 
• For the Survey method we will use a website called "Surveymokey" to collect the data and write the analysis by ourself. 
• The research will take about 2 weeks, in order to completed. 
• While doing our researches we will keep in mind of what is the good point and the bad point of it. So we get a better idea of how to process it.

At this point, this is our plan and we are trying our best to create a useful data for our group proposal.

The talk ( WGSN)

Tay Kheng Soon 

Background:

Tay Kheng Soon is known as TKS. He is a practicing architect and adjunct professor at National University of Singapore's of architecture. Sir Tay Kheng Soon was also a chairman of the Task Force for the long term development of the National Museum of Singapore. 

What have i learned from sir TKS's talk?

Sir TKS had 100+ of slides for his presentations and 2 hours long of talking, each one of his talk has an important message behind us. I have to admit that, i am very interested in his way of thinking because it is different. I do agree with him that nowadays, in the design industry we always think about the look and do not focus on how effective it is. It is time for us to stop and think ' Is what we are doing useful for others?' and design something that actually benefits for everyone around us. I can relate this to my group work since we have to keep in mind the word ' Empathy ' , TKS gave me the clearer idea of it which i can use it in my work. 

He also mentions that a designer should not be the one who can only design but the designer should have the knowledge of environment, social , economy and other things around us. In my opinion, what he said is very right because in order to give out a better design work we should know ' for who we are designing?' ' How will our design affect everyone around it? ' ' Does it cause beneficial for every department?' and so on.

In conclusion, by attending his presentation talk i could get a new perspective of design industry. What i have been thinking is not the same as it is in real life, therefore i always the wrong idea and can not get more idea for my works. Sir TKS's presentation is like one of my guide line which make my direction clearer.

Research 1 ( Interview via email) -Individual-

An interview of Maria 

Maria is a retired women,age of 78. She used to live with her husband but after her husband passed away she had to move in to the big family house which includes her daughter, her son in law and her grandsons. Even though she is 78 years old, Maria is still very healthy.She said her age does not really matter as long as she can spend her day with her family, everyday is a happy day for her. Overall, she does not have any difficulties in doing her daily activities around the bedroom because the family members are always there to help her when she needs it. However, she expects to have more tidy room and more comfortable bed. Maria is one of the victim of sleeping disorder disease which commonly happens to the elderly. She also stated that the light in her room is too dark therefore sometimes it is hard for her to find stuffs and move around.Maria enjoys cooking breakfast for the whole family every morning, she said that it could brighten up. 

To summarize, the reason that cause her troubles are the lighting in her room is not suitable for her because she stated that it is too dark. Moreover, the bed that she is using right now is not comfortable enough to make have a good sleep which can lead to the sleeping disorder problem.

Research Method

Survey

 

Survey is a type of research that gathering informations from individual. Surveys can be conduct by many ways such as print out questionnaires, online survey, through phones,mail or may be in person. The data are being collected by asking the same questions or having the same procedures for each individuals. After collected all the data, we are supposed to analyze in the manner of a problem we want to look at.

 

Advantage of Survey

-Survey helps to reduce the cost of research due to it does not require high amount of money in order to create it.

-It can be used in order to find out an opinion from a large group of people, and the results are accurate.

-Survey can be very flexibility since it can be in severals kinds of form such as ( paper, online, website, telephone, in person, mails )

- It is convenient for both who is a researcher and who got survey since the survey is usually conducted in a very simple form and straight to the point.

Limitation of Survey

-It is lack of visual material since it is mainly about questionnaire therefore there might be a confusion of the text.

-Some of the survey method is very time consuming such as in person because it takes time to go around and ask each person question by question.

- Limited opinion in the survey because the answer is restricted.

-It is difficult to tell if the result is truthful or not.

Interview

An interview is a process of collecting data by asking questions and getting answer from the participation in a study.There are different ways to proceed the interview such as face to face, through telephone, or a group interview. Interview is mainly focusing on each person's individual experience in detailed.

Advantage of an interview

-This method helps the interviewee to focus on a question that have been asked because it is proceed with face to face.

-With this method we can ensure that the person we are interviewing actually understood the questions properly before they give an answer therefore more accurate data.

-It can develop the relationship between the interviewer and interviewee to increase the mutual understanding and co-operate between the parties.

-Detailed informations will be collected from this research method therefore easier to analyze.

 Disadvantage of an interview

-Time consuming since the interviewee will need more times to answer the questions.

-Personal data might leak in this research method.

-Can be costly because need to hire a professional interviewer in order to get the accurate data.

-The data might be too complicated to analyze because there are too many informations .

 

  

Bibliography 1

website:

"Older People Safety." The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. RosPA, n.d. Web. Jan.-Feb. 2016.

"Home Safety for Seniors: Safety Solutions for Independent Seniors Medical Alert Advice."Www.medicalalertadvice.com. Medical Alert Adivice, 01 May 2015. Web. 23 Jan. 2016.

Magazine and Newspaper :

Nora Beane. "Senior Tips for Living Alone." Editorial. Senior Tips for Lving Alone. Seniorlivingmag, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2016.

 Nicole Bengiveno. "The Fragile Patchwork." Editorial. The New York Times 27 Sept. 2015: MB1. Print.

Book:

Hughes, Ronda. "Chapter 10 Fall and Injury Prevention." Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-based Handbook for Nurses. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2008. N. pag. Print.

"Home A Guide to Home Safety for the Elderly” Bettercaring.com.au. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.

(E-Book)

Persona:

-Name: Lucy Choo

-Age:67

-Gender: Female

-Occupation: Admin (past) , Selling tissue (present)

-Family condition: Sad

-Family member: Husband (dead)

-Address: Jalan Sultan Block 9 #8-52

Lucy Choo, age of 67 a retired woman. She was a fine woman working as an admin. She used to live with her husband but after he passed away, she had to live alone in a one room flat and that caused her into a depression. One morning when she got up from her bed and she wanted to go to the toilet. There were too many things lying on the floor that caused her to trip and fall on her back. Since that accident he had to sit on a wheel chair selling tissue to have an income for himself.

Reflection:

Before we did video we have made a research about what kind of accident that happen the most to the elderly. After the discussion we have decided to make the accident of " Falling" in our video to show that falling is a big problem among the elderly. By making this video i have came to know that being an elderly must be very hard. It made me out myself in their shoes. I was imagining myself being a character of " Lucy Choo". In conclusion, with this exercise i have learned that empathy is very important in order to make a good outcome of everything. 

Further more individual research

      Facts about the elderly..

• Living standard , Healthcare, Greater awareness of the importance of a healthy diet, regular exercise helped to make more older people enjoy their 80s to 90s life.

• Mortality rate and several kinds of injuries tends to happen more to those older people with the age 65 and above

• According to the statistics in England and Wales alone, 7,475 deaths were accounted in between the ages of 65 and above and 49% of the reason was due to a fall.

• The majority of accidents in the older age groups involve females rather than males

• almost 75% of the fall among the elderly result an injuries at the arm, leg and shoulder injuries.

• The elderlies tend to get injured more than one part of their bodies when they fall.

• the statistic have shown that 25% of fall in older people damaged their body more than younger ages which is only 16%.

• the most serious accidents usually happen on the stairs ( 60% deaths )and in the kitchen. The bedroom and the living room are the most common locations for normal accidents.

Reference photo of the statistics in older people :

photo-http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/images/falls/death-rate-graph-500w.png

photo-https://www.thl.fi/documents/568266/1481838/Elderly_accidental_deaths_2013_women.png
this pie chart shows the statistic of the accidental deaths in female elderlies and the hight accident is " FALL"

      Risk factors for falls..

• Physical ability and lack of mobility , balance and gait disorder 
• Environment hazards
• Wrong replacement of the furniture 
• Unsuitable furniture / lighting in the rooms
• Acute and chronic disease and disorders including stroke and hear disease

Key points in making a good presentation ( individual )

~Good Presentation Skill~

photo-http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/

1. Keep eye contact with the audience 
2. Summarize the sentence short but catchy 
3. Speak out with confident (loud and clear )
4. Practice again and again before the presentation and REHEARSAL is a must before going to the real presentation 
5. Should have a natural gesture
6. Manage the presentation notes like a bullet point and so on ( but do not read )
7. Do not rush things up 
8. Involve the audience by asking them questions
9. Build variety in talk
10. Be organized

Mind Map : Safety for elderly (bedroom) 1

~GROUP MIND MAP~

Mind map's summary:

+ Information needed to understand this topic

• What kind elderly we are dealing with?

          1. Financial Problems 

          2. Mental illness 

          3. Age 

          4. Physical illness

• External Help for our Topic?

         1. Social members

         2. nurses

         3. Maids

         4. Family and Friends

• Possible solutions? ( very rough idea )

         1. Environment / Atmosphere

         2. Use the right materials ( Reachable wardrobe / Bed hight / Extra safety window / Panic button)

           3. Reduce the sharp place of the furnitures

+ Possible problem that causes accident for elderly

• Overused Electricity socket
• Sickness that causes them inconvenience ( Diabetes, depression, etc..)
• Living alone ( Lonely, Malnutrition, No body takes care of them )
• Slippery floor ( Fall , Trip )
• Leaving things around the floor 

In conclusion, we think that our mind map does not have enough informations to support our topic yet therefore it is a must for us to do a lot more research. The teacher gave a comment that it is good for us to know what we are doing because we are actually looking for an information which actually related to our topic.

                                         

Research (2) Information needed to understand this topic

what are kind of elderly we are dealing with?

photo-http://www.spring.org.uk/images/elders.jpg

• Elders with financial problem?
• Elders with mental illness?
• Elders physical illness?
• Which age range?
• Which background did he/she come from?
• Elders that lives alone?
• Elders with young heart?

What are the possible problems that elderly might face in the bedroom?

• they might hit the sharp-edged again and again because is hard for them to move as the way they want.
• Thresholds might cause them to trip and fall
• Unsuitable tile is being used in the bedroom cause slippery
• Unsuitable bed might make the elders having a trouble of getting in and out of the bed
• Unsuitable lighting can make them feel uncomfortable in the room or hard for them to see the direction
• The atmosphere of the room can affect their emotions therefore if the atmosphere is bad it will disturb their daily life style.
• the placement of the furnitures in the room might give them a problem. For example when the closet is too far from the bed which will take more of their energy and time.

photo-http://3.bp.blogspot.com/

Research (1) Finding out more about elderlies.

Who are the elderlies?

photo- http://www.pachamama.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/elders-wisdom.jpg

 In most developed countries, the age of 65+ is considered as a senior of the society.There are several advantages and disadvantages of being a senior. One of the advantage is that the seniors will have more experiences and knowledge than most of the young people and one of the disadvantage is physical aging which leads them to not be able to do the job that they used to do when they were still young.

What are the conditions/statuses of the elderlies?

• Elders with health problems, such as : Arthritis, Heart disease, Cancer, Respiratory disease, Alzheimer's disease, Diabetes, Falls, Obesity, Sleep disorder, Eye/ Ear problem and so on.

• Some elders are struggling with their  financial problems due to the low income or they have no income at all. This will affect their life style especially their healths and accommodations. 

• Loneliness often occurs when they can not spend time with their families since the family members have to go for a work or have their own responsibilities. Elderlies tend to have a physical problem therefore they can not do a lot of activities which leads them to have some kind of depression because they can not do what they used to do before.

• There are a lot of elderlies out there that  lives alone by themselves. This will bring huge problems later on. For example, when accidents happen to them there will not be anyone there to help them or call the ambulance. Another example can be a malnutrition since they are living alone there will not be anyone to take care of their foods so they will have to eat what they can cook or what they can find.

photo-http://www.minfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/financial-elder-abuse-6-300x208.jpg

GROUP 10

"Safety for elderly (reworking bedroom)"

Group member : AJ, Hanru, Singmei , Anna