Family platform uses technology to tackle loneliness

In Ireland, one in three people over the age of 65 lives alone. According to the Loneliness Taskforce, loneliness is a health risk factor similar to obesity and can decrease life expectancy by up to 10 years, writes Ruth Doris

An Irish startup wants to tackle the loneliness epidemic by using technology to create real connections between elderly people and their loved ones.

File photo.

Chief executive Ger O’Keeffe and his co-founders, software engineer Brad Vrabete and retired nurse Majella McMahon, set up Allwayswithyou this year.

The cloud-based digital family platform enables people to connect with older adults living alone or in long-term care settings.

Allwayswithyou makes it easier for families to create and share digital albums of events, people, and special moments with older adults in their lives.

In a care setting, the platform can act as a trigger for conversation allowing nursing staff to get to know elderly people better by finding out about their family and life experiences, says Mr O’Keeffe.

Our goal is to use technology to bring content of interest to them. To bring back good memories, their favourite sports or television programmes, family events, or prayers.

While Allwayswithyou is described as a “family platform”, it can be used by older adults who don’t have direct family. Mr O’Keeffe says users can be any network of people. For example, a caring organisation could use the platform to customise content for any elderly person depending on their interests.

“The intent is to create a collection of content suitable for one person. There’s a target person in mind; typically, an older adult who can’t use a standard smartphone tablet and may not be able to manage today’s myriad of apps as well as the complexity around different content types, where they’re stored and how they’re accessed.”

The platform is simple to use. One family member sets up the account and invites other members to create a “family circle”. The Allwayswithyou app is downloaded onto a tablet used by the “target person”.

Any member of the family circle can upload content to share with the older adult. That content can include photographs, favourite television shows, music, sports events, etc.

The personalised content model is suitable for older adults who may have limited dexterity or struggle to navigate through complicated interfaces.

The system is adaptable with different usage modes designed to cater to individual needs. For example, if the user isn’t familiar with touchscreens, playback is fully automated and the platforms functions like a personalised television channel.

Where the user is comfortable with a tablet, they may want to choose the interactive mode, where they decide what content to view and when they’d like to view it.

Grandparents can watch their grandchildren play a football match or perform in a school play, allowing them to feel more connected and more engaged.

Families can build up a store of content over time to create a digital life story. Mr O’Keeffe says the platform can be useful for older people with dementia and other conditions.

While it’s predicted that the number of people with dementia globally will reach 130m by 2050, reminiscence therapy has been scientifically proven to have a beneficial effect on sufferers, improving mood and reducing challenging behaviours.

The platform allows users to view content related to certain life events and “bring a smile to their face”, says Mr O’Keeffe.

Allwayswithyou differs from social media platforms as it is fully closed and secure. A unique feature of the platform is the insights function which can send regular feedback to anyone in the family circle.

Launched recently, and having received a priming grant from Local Enterprise Office in Clare, Allwayswithyou is in talks with leading care organisations in the UK and the US and is hoping to announce key developments in early 2019.

The monthly charge for using the platform is €9.99 with a 30-day free trial. Allwayswithyou is offering a year’s free subscription for users who sign up before December 31.