A computer-based self-health monitoring system for the elderly living in a low income housing environment

Abstract

The aging communities in the United States, and elsewhere, are presenting serious problems for the health delivery systems in many countries. Add to this the problems associated with being poor and having limited access to the health delivery, and the problem becomes one of even greater urgency. One solution to this problem is the distribution of health monitoring equipment to the patient rather than having the patient travel to the equipment. In some cases, this might mean the installation of the health monitoring equipment in the patient's home, while in others it could mean the development of a centralized facility in a housing project that would be easily accessible by the residents. In the current work, the second model was built and tested in a low-income housing environment, the JL Young Center for Elderhealth Primary Care in Tampa. © Springer-Verlag 2004.