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Ask Slashdot: Bulletproof Video Conferencing For Alzheimers Home?
Milo_Mindbender writes I'm trying to find a bulletproof near zero maintenance video conferencing client for shared use in an Alzheimers living facility. It's used so the patients can regularly see their relatives who are often out of town. Most everything I've tried on PC or Mac requires tweeks/updates from time to time to keep it working, not good in a place where there are no computer savvy people. It looks like most of the low cost dedicated boxes have died out too. The ideal setup will be turnkey with little-to-no maintenance and if possible support auto-answering calls from approved users. It needs to be compatible with video conferencing apps the relatives can easily get on phone/tablet/pc such as Skype, Facetime, Hangouts...etc. Any suggestions?
Move the maintainance to something you control and deploy through a browser.
One setup could be:
Crhome/Firefox as VoIP client
SipML5 http://sipml5.org/
Webrtc2sip (see above)
Asterisk for handling the RTP exchange and authentication.
The security aspect is handled by Asterisk via. simple sip.conf, all clients use a webcam + browser and connect through a simple client (see the call.html example at sipml5.org ).
This way you have a linux box somewhere at your control running asterisk, apache and webrtc2sip (needed for dtls proxying); the clients can be a simple kioskmode setup with a webcam and a single page served from your apache.
Have a full time tech on site with that and bill each patient health insurance a monthly or daily or per use fee.
That is how most things healthcare marketplace work.
Or how about you just buy the video phones like
http://www.sophiesystems.com/g...
There are some that are skype compatible. You can then encourage the families to buy a video phone or if they are tech savy they could skype as well.
You're dealing with nontechnical folks at both ends... You want ease of use and commercial customer support
Easy answer: Smart TV w/ Skype camera. Here's Samsung's version
An iPad with FaceTime. Sorry, but this is really the simplest one out there. Setup an MDM on it for remote management.
Create an app that posts family pictures that with a click will call them. Or it can hook into the fingerprint reader and call the right family. Or, get a personal iPad for each patient and set it up in their room and have the MDM only allow Facetime to the family.
If you are talking about hundreds of iPads, then even Apple will help you setup all this.
https://appear.in/
No account is necessary. You only need to send the other party (or parties) the name of the room.
Firefox, Chrome of Opera are currently necessary I believe.
Service is free, there is currently no ad. I don't know what is there business model and how long they'll be able to sustain it, but it looks like they got video-conferencing right.
Yea, because those MDMs work without a hitch an nothing ever goes wrong with an iPad. There is also no possibility the patients would suffer from anything like arthritis that might make holding it up or using the small onscreen controls difficult. They also never run out of power or suffer from battery degradation over time.
Use the Samsung TV method above, nice big screen, loud speakers to compensate for hearing or vision loss.
Honestly, not every solution is an iPad or an Apple product.
Actually, my suggestion is in a separate comment down the page...
But to answer why the above is still a bad idea, it leaves OP on the hook for regular/recurring maintenance. Moreover, it creates a single point of failure if he gets hit by a bus, or just goes on vacation.
When dealing with highly nontechnical users, especially under a high-stress environment such as distant family wanting to talk to failing relatives before they die or can't usefully communicate anymore, any delay or breakdown leads to massive tension- and gets OP called at 2am on Sunday!
Therefore, a 100% COTS soltution is ideal.
Fronkly OP needs to learn to use freakin' google, I found COTS solution, in stock at Best Buy, in ~45sec... There are still supported, stable solutions out there
Get an Xbox one with Kinect and set up a shared skype account on it. The camera even moves and zooms automatically to whoever is talking
Stop arming seniors afflicted with alzheimers.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Posting AC, so I don't undo the moderation I've already done.
The rest of your comment is fine, but for Alzheimers patients, this is a complete waste of time. We've had to stop bringing my grandmother to large family functions, as she gets so confused and possibly frustrated when she doesn't recognize anyone. (luckily, my cousin's daughter is good at telling when she's getting frustrated, and distracts her with hugs).
We were all together for Thanksgiving a few years ago when she asked my mom who she was, and my mom replied 'I'm your daughter' to which my grandmother replied 'You can't be my daughter, you're old'. Mind you, my mom goes up and visits her for lunch almost every week, so it's not like her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who she would've have seen for a few months. At one point that night, she said that she was going to do a cartwheel, after seeing her great-granddaughter show off that she had learned how to do one. (I managed to convince her that there wasn't enough room, as she was twice the height)
I've heard other stories from folks ... one in which his mom (might've been grandmother) was hitting on him ... which has got to be disturbing, but we're hoping it was just that he reminded her of her dead husband, and she's in a similar situation of not being aware just what age she is.
So ... this might be a great idea for a general retirement community -- but for Alzheimers patients, like my 90 year old grandmother who is now kept in a locked wing after wandering off (she was going to visit her parent ... who have been dead for 40+ years) ... you'd be better off labeling the phone numbers so the staff know who the people are. (eg. 'Mary Smith's son Joe'). ... and I'm not even sure that video conferencing is a good idea for Alzheimer patients. The only good thing is that by *not* taking her out of the nursing home, you don't have to deal with the issues of her not believe that's where she's been living for the last 8 year when you take her back.
You can use Teamviewer or similar for maintenance. I've found that Oovoo is one of the easier video calling platforms available, install and turn off any automatic updates on the computer.
The problem is not just at the care facility end, but with all of the families and friends who may call. You could set up one account for the whole home, and anyone who wanted to video call would have to arrange a time in advance.
Easy for the elderly to see? You'll need a large screen. So get a large screen of the kind they're used to seeing. Use a television.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...
This Logitech camera has Skype built right into it, plugs in via HDMI. What more could you ask for?
You want low cost AND no maintenance AND compatibility with existing systems?
Sorry, you're SOL. There is no such thing, never was, and never will be. Even non-low-cost systems require at least some maintenance.
At the absolute minimum, you will need an on-premise machine with some kind of VPN access so that you can remote in and perform updates. You can do that with windows or linux.
What you require can't be given via a slashdot q&a. There are too many options, and too many give 'n take decisions that need to be made. Is it video conference only? Do you want to support instant messaging? What platforms will the system support on the families' sides? What hardware and how much bandwidth is available at the facility? How much are you willing to pay for monthly service contracts and maintenance? If you want Facetime, then you *have* to use a Mac, or iPad or something.
Your best bet is to talk to a telecom consultant who can help you out. But you're going to have to adjust your expectations because what you want is physically impossible.
Take a look at the Logitech Skype TV box. No computer to speak of, just plugs into a HDMI and Network (they do a wifi version)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logite...
hope that helps.
yes, www.dotcomforwardslash.com is my real URL.
If you don't want to maintain a system, then don't deploy it. Either pay someone to maintain it for you, or plan to maintain it yourself. You seem to want to be a hero and give unknowing non-technical users a complex system and then abandon it because it takes too much time.
Splab, thank you.
Thank you for giving us an a *perfect* example, in the wild, of *exactly* how techies answer questions condescendingly & with making big assumptions, but most importantly, demonstrating you have a high level of technical knowledge, but not ***ACTUALLY FIXING THE PROBLEM***
People like you have been making tech obnoxious for decades, and it needs to stop. /. bear witness:
It is perfect. All the elements are there. This kind of response typifies interactions between people with tech problems and those who claim to be able to fix them.
First, obviously OP was asking about **low maintenence for everyone** not just one subset. This is the language voodoo. Conjuring a dichotomy of meaning where there is none.
2nd, we see the dork/troll complete the circle by insinuating that OP was ("obviously!") being unreasonable thinking they could get something at required **absolutely** no maintenence...for that he's, of course, "shit out of luck"
But OP didn't as for "absolutely no maintenence"...but for the dork/troll that doesn't matter. This whole thing was a way for parent to demonstrate superiority by dropping some jargon & then making the original person out to be dumb for ever asking the question.
***WE MUST STOP DOING THIS FOREVER***
It's ruining our industry, and our work life quality. People hate a person who (having demonstrated their technical knowledge by dropping jargon) wastes their time.
When people need help, it's wrong to use that as an opportunity to make yourself look smarter. It only makes everything worse, and it causes the other person to hate you and tech in general.
Just stop. Forever. The whole routine...let's just end it...
Thank you Dave Raggett
I know I'm gonna get modded down for this - so be it:
Typical /. radical evangelism for open source, at all costs (metaphorically, not $$), without regard for the whole of the circumstances.
If there was a dedicated IT team, fine. If this was just OP and his grandma only, fine. Any of several circumstances, fine. But that's NOT the case!
Here we have lot of users, you MUST have dedicated support, and OP can't (trust me, I've been in this situation) provide that 24/7 long-term. And keep that server running, but that can be outsourced very cheaply is a delusion. Who's gonna pay for the next X years?? IT Consultants aren't cheap, and any upgrades that break things will be costly to repair, while being an outage for the users.
In a situation like this, COTS, with consumer support available and used to dealing with non-technical users (you know, the helpdesk script monkeys that piss US off...), is the way to go.
Polycom or Cisco. Nice devices that work great and cane even be automated.
Problem is no nursing home will pay for them.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I work in IT in LTPAC (nursing and rehab). This is something we've discussed many times. The best model we've found is a TV with Skype (either PC or SmartTV) on a cart. Family schedules a time and staff (eg CNA) brings cart into the room and answers call. I'm in a higher acuity environment most likely (mostly SNF, some ALF) so this might not be ideal for your environment. We do have "Memory Care Units" at some locations. Generally it's a specific hall that has some additional accommodations (read: Wanderguard).
Reply to this post with contact info if you'd like to discuss in detail. I can talk to our reimbursement folks, but I believe this is billable via Medicare and Medicaid.
If there were only a simple low cost low maintenance device that could do FaceTime, Skype etc. that costs less than $299 was portable, automatically updated itself, and was foolproof. I wander when someone will invent such a device. It wouldn't even need a keyboard and it could be wireless! It could have a front facing camera and be a simple touch screen device.
Nahh we will never see something that simple in our lifetime....
That's easy!
Start with a computer that doesn't need tweaks/updates from time to time, and then add video conferencing software that allows you to not upgrade it in order to support new platforms because the basic protocol never changes, but is already ubiquitous on every platform someone might want to use, and get it all from a vendor who has no monetary interest in forced updates!
The ideal setup will be turnkey with little-to-no maintenance and if possible support auto-answering calls from approved users.
OP says no maintenance at the Alzheimers home, my suggestion needs no intervention on the Alzheimer homes part once it's up and running. If OP wants something that requires absolutely no setup, no software, no hardware and magic internet rainbows, then he is shit out of luck. But that's not how I read the request.
Well first of all he asked for a turnkey solution, which is pretty much the opposite of a DIY project. If someone took a small fanless box, cobbled together these open source projects, configured them and created a nice little administration UI and manual/troubleshooting instructions for sale you'd be pretty close to a turnkey solution but this would basically be his custom client-server setup that only an expert could maintain. Which brings us to the second point, he asked for little-to-no maintenance full stop. Adding a server and hosting hardly sounds like low maintenance, it adds complexity to what seems like a very basic direct videophone call. Surely one of those has the basic contact management to handle this? This seems mostly like a lazy man's "I'll let /. Google it for me instead of doing my own research" question.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I use Skype on the remote Windows laptop; the patient has only to start the computer (unless you want to keep it on full time). Then I use chrome remote desktop to reply to my own Skype call, do updates etc.
Forget trying to set it up for the other residents as a group. The staff and administration will likely freak out over the privacy implications and HIPAA laws or whatever. Offer to help other families do it on a one-by-one basis as I outline below:
My mother is in a rest home for the past few months and she's lost the ability to do much of anything on a computer.
Still, we manage to video conference with her every day, with almost no problems and no work required on her part.
The cost was negligible and the setup trivial. Here's what we did:
Scrounge an old laptop. For this, my brother donated a late-model thinkpad. It runs some version of Windows, currently. If it gets a virus, I'll wipe it and install Ubuntu, but it's been fine so far.
Install Skype, with an account created for the elderly person. Set it so that only people on their friends list are allowed to call. Set it to auto-answer incoming calls. Add family members to the person's friends list, but do so carefully, as anyone you add will be able to pop on any time they like.
Add TeamViewer, in case you need to log in and restart Skype, add someone, or even start a movie on Netflix or YouTube.
Our setup has worked well in practice for two years, including scenarios like talking to ambulance crews and LifeAlert, before she went into the home and talking with her doctors and other caregivers at the home. She spends time every day visiting with an infant grandson she hasn't yet met, so it's had a huge impact on the quality of her life.
Some people will complain that they don't like Skype, or they want to use FaceTime, but another family member isn't on IOS or whatever, but by now, everyone knows that if they want to call mom, they just use Skype.
-- My Weblog.