US health technology company, Electronic Caregiver, has launched its first 3D living avatar for care management.
Through voice and touch interaction, Addison, the 3D-animated Virtual Caregiver helps monitor the health of ageing and chronically ill clients at home.
Addison is an all-in-one Telecare solution, connecting the patient with primary care, emergency response, friends, and family.
As the next generation of virtual voice assistant, Addison reminds users to take prescribed medications, conducts interactive health assessments, delivers dosing compliance verification to caregivers and providers, and assists patients in recording vital sign measurements to monitor specific conditions.
The Addison Care system can be paired with various Bluetooth devices, such as a glucometer for patients with diabetes or a weight scale and blood pressure cuff for patients who have or are managing heart disease.
Addison tracks medication adherence and vital sign trends over time, allowing clients, their caregivers, and providers to catch any escalations before they become problematic.
Users can tell Addison to call emergency services if they fall and can’t reach the phone, or to call their daughter to remind her to pick them up for an appointment in the morning. Should their vitals show signs of health decline, Addison will inform their caregiver and doctor. The Virtual Caregiver also offers telehealth services and Care Coaching.
Addison Care devices can also be implemented in senior living communities and health care organisations, providing health and security services to a large number of people.
Addison has been a dream of Electronic Caregiver’s founder and CEO Anthony Dohrmann since the company was founded in 2009.
“Addison is the most transformational and engaging interface for human interaction with technology ever created,” Dohrmann said.
“For years consumers have wondered what Siri and Alexa might look like behind the voice. Addison adds far more than a mere face and body to the voice. Addison provides a dynamic, ever-changing, emotionally stimulating, personalised experience to the user. Addison can educate, demonstrate, inquire, and connect.”
The launch of Addison comes at a pivotal time. The US Census Bureau has reported that by 2034, older adults will outnumber children. This will leave fewer family members to help care for ageing loved ones. Already, 39.8 million people are providing informal care for the elderly and chronically ill with more than 20 percent of caregivers’ own health declining.
In addition, the cost of assisted living continues to skyrocket. According to research published by the National Institutes of Health in 2021, the median cost of assisted living is $4,300 per month. Unpaid family caregivers are also hit with a high financial burden, spending an average of 26 percent of their income on caregiving activities, according to the AARP.
The living avatar talks to and reacts to clients, mirrors time of day, weather, holiday celebrations, and faith. Users can personalise environments, gender, ethnicity, decor, locations, fonts, tones, coloUrs, apparel, and language. They can interact with objects, animals, musical instruments, media, and characters in Addison’s world.
“You know [Addison’s] not human, but it’s nice to have a person there, and it’s fun to watch her,” said Coralee Armstrong, 82, an Addison Care client living in Greenville, Pa.
“It’s kind of like an extra person in the house. It’s kind of like company.”
The company says that Addison will soon incorporate physical and mental health routines and video televisits with healthcare professionals.
The living avatar will offer third party service integrations for grocery delivery, rideshare, and connected home solutions. Additionally, clinical Addison configurations are being created for bedside patient management in hospitals, including intake and discharge processes.
