Smart living template

SMART: With Dr Reiner Wichert (centre) are Prof Terry Cunniffe and Pat Cunniffe. PHOTO: PAUL BROOKS

Could Whanganui lead the country in Active/Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)? Could this "smart city" provide the template for looking after its citizens in their own homes?
Dr Reiner Wichert was recently in Whanganui where he spoke at an event, Seeking Smart Solutions for an Age Friendly City.
Invited to Whanganui by Pat Cunniffe, consumer representative and member of New Zealand Council of Elders Charitable Trust, Dr Wichert is spokesperson for Fraunhofer AAL Alliance, a syndication of 11 Fraunhofer institutes in the area of Ambient Assisted Living. He has been involved in smart home research and development in Germany.
Pat and Reiner met at an international standards meeting.
AAL is common in Europe but not here. New Zealand is far behind, says Pat, because it doesn't belong with any Government department. "There is no impetus from the top. We'll have to grow it from the bottom up rather than the top down."
AAL is the use of computer technology to render a living environment safe.
"The urgent topic is now to handle the demographic change as more and more people get older," says Reiner. He says he's aware that young people move to larger centres for work but return later, skewing the demographic towards more older people in the regions. "That was the reason Pat invited me here and organised this event."
Professor Terry Cunniffe, ergonomics expert, and husband of Pat, sees the Seeking Smart Solutions meeting as the beginning of a Whanganui industry.
"Whanganui has an aging population, and, based on support for Pat's work - she's New Zealand's representative on AAL - we have an opportunity in this city, because of the skill base that exists, to create this as a national centre of excellence in this area. Much of the technology that has been developed, largely in Germany, is available off the shelf. It's not science fiction."
Components are such things as motion detectors that can trigger a door opening or closing, a light turning on or off; sensors to monitor routines and send an alarm to a central system should that routine be too far from the ordinary. Programmed around life patterns, the technology can serve as an alarm if a severe deviation is detected and signals a person is unwell or has fallen. Similar to existing medical alarms but smarter, without the need for the person to activate a trigger.
"You have a lot of parameters where you can adapt to the users' needs," says Reiner.
The technology, once fitted to a home, can cover safety, medical IT services, fitness and wellbeing, social care and interaction, leisure and remote surveillance.
Terry suggests that, with the right support, funding could be secured for Reiner to spend time here, sharing the knowledge that he has put into practice in Europe.
"We believe that unless someone addresses the issue of the aging population, our young people won't be prepared to sustain the financial burden," says Terry. "The economic impact is going to be astounding. Rather than Whanganui seeing this as a burden, it's a commercial, intellectual advantage. We just need to grasp the opportunity and we have the components."
Having someone trained to be able to carry out individual assessments is important, says Terry, so a living environment can be tailor-made to their requirements. "So no one unit is the same as another, necessarily."
The occupant needs to have no technological knowledge. Sensors can be programmed to automatically switch off power if a fire starts, or turn off a washing machine if the floor floods etc. Or it can make a phone call to the occupant.
"It's also possible for the system to be self-checking," says Reiner. "We've got the people, we've got the infrastructure in Whanganui to make it happen," says Pat. "We don't want to see this economic development opportunity go to waste.
The council's pensioner housing could be a good place to start.
"The crucial thing is getting Reiner back," says Terry, "Because he, with the support of others, can drive it."
"The technicality of it is so intricate, but all we need now is to get the big picture and some money," says Pat.