reMIND

Inspiration

In 2018, dementia has affected 50 million people worldwide, and this number is expected to rise to 82 million by 2030 and 152 million by 2050.Locally, according to the Well-being of the Singapore Elderly (WiSE) study led by the Institute of Mental Health in 2015, one in 10 people aged 60 and above may have dementia. This translates to almost 82,000 people in 2018 and the number is expected to exceed 100,000 in a few years’ time. Hence we decided to create reMind, which helps lessen the workload of the caretakers and also allow patients to lead a rather independent lifestyle.

What it does

In reMind, there are two roles available under each account, one is caretaker and another is patient. Each patient account is linked to one or more caretaker accounts. We designed the user interface such that it is simple and intuitive for the patients to navigate.

First, there is a location tracking function which allows caregivers to check on the locations of the patients. Under the locations page, there is also a help button which patients can press if they want to know the way home or they require help from the caretakers to bring them home. Caretakers will get a notification when patients press that button and caretakers will be able to immediately call the patients through our own built in calling function.

Second, reMind includes a reminder page which reminds the patients about the daily tasks that they have to do such as eating and taking their medications. Caretakers are able to add reminders to the patient’s reminder page directly. Our app will send notifications at the stated time.

Third, there is also a photo album containing pictures of family members and loved ones. Users can add images from their gallery or directly from the camera, and add details like their name, relationship and a short caption. This acts as a memory booster and reminds patients that they are surrounded by people who care about them and that they are not alone.

Fourth, reMind also has a profile page which includes important information such as the patient’s name, address, caretaker number as well as their health condition. This allows for strangers to be able to get an immediate understanding of the situation through the medical conditions and be able to help the patient out in case of emergency

Lastly, reMind also has a phone book which contains the contact number of the patient’s family members, allowing the patient to freely call not only their own caretakers but also their family members when needed.

How we built it

Using Android Studio as our main platform, we coded an Android app using Flutter, an open-source UI SDK created by Google, from scratch. Android Studio is able to provide both the ios and android virtual device which will allow us to emulate the actual look and workings of the app.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges we faced was that Flutter uses Dart, which is a completely new programming language to us. There was a tight time limit for us to learn, plan our solutions and create our application within the same day. Fortunately we were able to pick up new skills due to the workshops organized by IEEE and managed to code a working application in one day.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Through this hackathon, we gained more experience in software design, mainly programming mobile applications and related software such as Flutter and Android Studio. We learned a lot about what a software developer does, the challenges faced in the process and how to overcome them.

What we learned

This hackathon has taught us to be more aware of the different groups of people in Singapore who have varying health issues, the difficulties they face and how we as young adults can help to make their lives easier. It made us more grateful for whatever we have and at the same time have more empathy towards them.

What's next for reMIND

One of our future plans is to include a voice recording feature. When patients click on the help button under the locations page, a pre-recorded audio of their caretaker will be played. Hearing a familiar voice will be able to help calm the patient down and reassure them that their caretaker has been notified about the request for assistance. The voice will then instruct the patient to wait at a safe location until the caretaker arrives.

Another of our future plans is to include Go-To-Points(GTPs) as one of the destinations in the location page. GTPs are touch points within the community that serve as resource centers to provide information and useful resources on dementia and link those who need help with the relevant dementia-related services. Patients can then get to these GTPs instead if their house is too far or too complicated for them to reach back by themselves. These additional destinations can also allow residents to send the patients to the GTPs, since the residents are the most familiar with the nearby facilities available.

We are also looking to incorporate Fitbit devices in our application and its services such as heart rate, blood oxygen level, fall detection to monitor the health of the patients more closely.