Last Friday, March 3, it was held in Joanna Tower OST a meeting of experts in technology applied to hospital management. Among the companies invited were 1MillionBot, newmanbrain y Trabem, who presented some of their most innovative projects in this area.
Raquel Pomares Urban, Production Director of 1MillionBot and expert in Neuroscience, exclusively presented the Mentor Project, a program that aims to foster the training and empowerment of the elderly, promote healthy lifestyle habits and prevent unwanted loneliness. The program has a social connection platform designed specifically to combat unwanted loneliness of the elderly.
Raquel Pomares, Production Director of 1MillionBot
This project is supported and financed by the Valencian Innovation Agency and brings together the multidisciplinary experience of four entities that work together in the research and development of a unique solution ( AIJU, Brainstorm Multimedia, Diocesan Caritas of Orihuela-Alicante y 1MillionBot). Mentor is an interactive platform that aims to improve the quality of life of the elderly and offer them a tool with which they can learn new skills, connect with other users and stay physically and mentally active.
As you quoted Raquel Pomares, according INE, riding a Spain 1 in 4 people lives alone. This means that almost 4,8 million people live alone. More than two million (10,7% of all households) are people over 65 years of age. The percentage of households made up of elderly people who live alone increased to 16,2% in municipalities with fewer than 2.000 inhabitants.
According to neuroscientist, unwanted loneliness can have negative effects on multiple aspects of health. At the physiological and immunological level, it can increase the risk of coronary and vascular diseases. On the psychological and emotional level, it can cause sadness, anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline. In addition, unwanted loneliness can lead to changes in behavior, such as sleep or eating disorders, and cause social disorders, such as isolation and deficits in social interactions. Finally, unwanted loneliness has been shown to increase the chances of committing suicide or suffering an early death.
The project was born with the purpose of combating unwanted loneliness, empowering older people by building communities that foster relationships of support and mutual aid.. For this reason, the platform not only gives seniors a tool with which they can learn new skills and improve their overall quality of life, but it also offers them an opportunity to connect with other users, combat loneliness and stay active.
raquel pomares announced that the platform has a series of cooperative games whose main function is to promote interpersonal relationships. In addition, Mentor has a chat system that allows them to exchange messages, share their experiences and meet other users.
Contrary to popular belief that older people are unfamiliar with technology and mobile devices, the INE reports that currently almost 12% of people aged 75 and over use the internet on a daily basis. Specifically, the elderly use Internet services mainly to communicate and access information, including email (10,3%), calls and video calls (8,9%), participation in social networks (4,7%), messaging instantaneous (16,8%), read news, newspapers and magazines (13,1%).
During the presentation, orchards explained how Mentor It has been designed with the intention of being easy to use and accessible to any senior, regardless of their level of technological knowledge. The goal is to make the platform as intuitive as possible, and for this, the development team has worked on a friendly and easy-to-use user interface.
The platform has a Virtual Assistant developed by 1MillionBot to make it more accessible and easy to use, especially for those users who are not familiar with technology. Instead of having to navigate a complicated website or click multiple links to find information, users can simply communicate with the Chatbot and get quick and accurate answers to their questions. Besides, andl Virtual Assistant helps older users feel more comfortable and safe when interacting with the platform. Chatbots developed by 1MillionBot are able to have natural conversations with users, which helps them feel more relaxed and less frustrated when using technology..
With the increasing aging of the population and the increase in unwanted loneliness, initiatives such as Mentor are presented as a valuable tool to improve the quality of life of the elderly and prevent possible negative effects on their health.
