scholarly journals Enhancing hypertension awareness and management in the elderly: Lessons learned from the Airdrie Community Hypertension Awareness and Management Program (A-CHAMP)

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 561-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Jones ◽  
Scot H. Simpson ◽  
Diana Mitchell ◽  
Susan Haggarty ◽  
Norman Campbell ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Christina Brogårdh ◽  
Jan Lexell ◽  
Catharina Sjödahl Hammarlund

Falls are common among persons with late effects of polio (LEoP), which may lead to fear of falling and activity avoidance in everyday life. Here, we assessed the occurrence of fall-related activity avoidance among persons with LEoP and explored how these experiences influenced daily life. Fourteen ambulatory persons (seven women; mean age 70 years) with LEoP participated. They responded to the modified Survey of Activities and Fear of Falling in the Elderly (mSAFFE) and participated in individual interviews, which were analysed by systematic text condensation. Each quotation was deductively analysed from its representation with regard to mSAFFE. We found that many persons often avoided activities related to standing and walking, for example, taking a bath, performing household chores, walking outdoors, attending social events if there were stairs in the building and travelling by public transport, due to fear of falling, increased pain and fatigability. To facilitate the performance of daily activities participants expressed that strategic thinking and aids were important to use. In conclusion, fall-related activity avoidance is common in persons with LEoP, which negatively influence daily life and social participation. To increase daily functioning in this population, fall-related activity avoidance should be included in a multifaceted fall management program.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-198
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Sygulska

Elder people have knowledge and experience – they can share them with other people. Seniors can teach young people different things. Their stories can indicate what is important in life and what should be avoided. The article presents the results of qualitative research (interview) on the lessons learned from the life experiences of the older people. The analysis of own research is preceded by the theoretical introduction about wisdom of life. Respondents highlighted mostly the importance of family, health, self-care and relationships with other people (friendship, honesty and respect towards others). Life showed them how important are: faith in God, enjoying every moment, patience in pursuing a goal, independently deciding about own life, realising your dreams, and work. Life experiences showed them how to deal with problems and that a person learns all life. They learned rules such as: money does not bring happiness, you cannot trust everyone, live the present and the good comes back. The elderly said that a person should make efforts to be happy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Bajones ◽  
David Fischinger ◽  
Astrid Weiss ◽  
Daniel Wolf ◽  
Markus Vincze ◽  
...  

We present the robot developed within the Hobbit project, a socially assistive service robot aiming at the challenge of enabling prolonged independent living of elderly people in their own homes. We present the second prototype (Hobbit PT2) in terms of hardware and functionality improvements following first user studies. Our main contribution lies within the description of all components developed within the Hobbit project, leading to autonomous operation of 371 days during field trials in Austria, Greece, and Sweden. In these field trials, we studied how 18 elderly users (aged 75 years and older) lived with the autonomously interacting service robot over multiple weeks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a multifunctional, low-cost service robot equipped with a manipulator was studied and evaluated for several weeks under real-world conditions. We show that Hobbit’s adaptive approach towards the user increasingly eased the interaction between the users and Hobbit. We provide lessons learned regarding the need for adaptive behavior coordination, support during emergency situations, and clear communication of robotic actions and their consequences for fellow researchers who are developing an autonomous, low-cost service robot designed to interact with their users in domestic contexts. Our trials show the necessity to move out into actual user homes, as only there can we encounter issues such as misinterpretation of actions during unscripted human-robot interaction.


Author(s):  
Alex J. Baumgard ◽  
Tara L. Coultish ◽  
Gerry W. Ferris

Over the last 15 years, BGC Engineering Inc. has developed and implemented a geohazards Integrity Management Program (IMP) with 12 major pipeline operators (consisting of gas and oil pipelines and of both gathering and transmission systems). Over this time, the program has been applied to the assessment of approximately 13,500 individual hydrotechnical and geotechnical geohazard sites spanning approximately 63,000 km of operating pipelines in Canada and the USA. Hydrotechnical (watercourse) and geotechnical (slope) hazards are the primary types of geohazards that have directly contributed to pipeline failures in Canada. As with all IMPs, the core objectives of a geohazard management system are to ensure a proactive approach that is repeatable and defensible. In order to meet these objectives, the program allows for varying levels of intensity of inspection and a recommended timescale for completion of actions to manage the identified geohazards in accordance with the degree of hazard that the site poses to the pipeline. In this way, the sites are managed in a proactive manner while remaining flexible to accommodate the most current conditions at each site. This paper will provide a background to the key components of the program related specifically to existing operating pipeline systems, present pertinent statistics on the occurrence of various types of geohazards based on the large dataset of inspections, and discuss some of the lessons learned in the form of program results and program challenges from implementing a geohazard integrity management system for a dozen operators with different ages of systems, complexity of pipeline networks, and in varied geographic settings.


Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh Gautam ◽  
Kumud Acharya ◽  
Seth A. Shanahan

The Las Vegas Wash is a dynamic channel system that drains the Las Vegas Valley (3,950 km2) into Lake Mead and the lower Colorado River, which provides drinking water to southern California, Arizona, and southern Nevada. In the last few decades the Las Vegas Wash has undergone massive changes in terms of channel degradation and bank erosion followed by recovery and restoration efforts. The evolution of the Las Vegas Wash is interlinked with urbanization, water use, and wastewater discharge. This article reviews the historical dynamics of the Las Vegas Wash in the context of restoration: evaluates the ongoing activities in the Las Vegas Wash against an established framework and success criteria; summarizes lessons learned; and discusses challenges. The ongoing activities in the Las Vegas Wash differ from other regional restoration projects in that there is a lack of an appropriate historical reference to which restoration goals should be targeted. Keys to the success of the Las Vegas Wash restoration and management program appear to be strong interagency collaboration, funding availability, effective outreach and monitoring efforts, and adaptive management strategies based on pragmatic urban values. There is a potential for realignment of existing resources for more practical ecological restoration goals.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Zhou ◽  
Ann Partridge ◽  
Jaime Blackmon ◽  
Evan Morgan ◽  
Christopher Recklitis

Author(s):  
Claire Huijnen

This chapter presents the research, results and lessons learned from a project to evaluate currently available assisted living technologies for elderly people with mild to severe memory impairments who want to age in place. During the project a number of households were equipped with assistive technology to enable the end users to better cope with the barriers and problems associated with their forgetfulness. End users were involved in different phases, starting with a problem and needs analysis and ending with an evaluation of the technology installed in their homes. It seemed that technology did have a positive impact on their lives as well as on the lives of the informal caregivers who often live with those who suffer from amnesia. This project gives insight into how we are coming closer to optimizing the positive effects which assistive technology holds for the elderly with memory impairments. Key insights are presented.


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