32 | Profiles
The Future: it’s Your Choice! By Mike Swinson.
A conversation with Futurist Morris Miselowski.
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ith a name like going to morph and evolve Robotic technology that turns lights on and Miselowski, you in the next ten years or so. off at set times, opens and closes curtains, know Morris is of I understand that we will pulls back the doona or blankets, raises Polish decent and always need people to deliver the pillow and bed, there are a myriad of therein lies a fascinating tale, a story care, but technology will play IT developments from around the globe for another day, sometime in the and is already playing an happening as we talk future. increasingly important role. I met Morris at this year’s LASA What will change is the way conference in Perth where he was one of the keynote speakers. we deliver care, the how, what, when, where and why and who we I was drawn to his presentation by his wit, research, knowledge do it to is undergoing huge change and that will continue,” says and his vibrant presentation skills. So what does all that have to do Morris. with aged care? An awful lot I can assure you. “For me,” he said, “it’s not a matter of trying to accurately According to Morris we are in the midst of another industrial predict what might happen, but instead thinking about what is revolution, this one mostly IT based. If you think about it for a likely to occur over the next short time frame and then doing some moment or two, just remember that there are 25 million Australians planning around that. I don’t think there are enough people playing and we have already purchased over 22 million smart phones! in the space of business models for the future, keeping people at Now how much have those little gadgets changed your life and home longer, providing more and more acute care, building and how you live it? employing the technology that allows you to do that. I know some Way back in the dim dark IT ages of 2010, in the early days of are but I think many are not!” this revolution, I detailed an update in the ACAA magazine on the “There are a lot of emerging technologies that are going to remarkable smart phone rollout by Silver Chain in WA: underpin extended life at home,” says Morris. “The Magic Carpet is one, an underlay that can monitor movement and let carers or Last year, one of the most ambitious IT implementation family know when a fall has occurred. Robotic technology that programs in Australia, if not the world, began when Silver turns lights on and off at set times, opens and closes curtains, Chain in WA started rolling out over 2000 smart phones pulls back the doona or blankets, raises the pillow and bed, there throughout its geographically vast organisation. are a myriad of IT developments from around the globe happening The smart phones are being used by a wide range of as we talk.” staff including doctors, enrolled nurses, registered nurses, The LASA Conference also heard of technology (‘Just occupational therapists, care aids and home-help support Checking In’) that exists today; monitoring movement in the home, staff. At any one time there could be over 700 people where and when, to the fridge, outside in the garden, to and from logged on to the database that runs the system. the bathroom, how often, how long. It’s a technology that is really The business’s General Manager of Information helpful for carers and family concerned that Mum or Dad is getting Management, Allan Turner said the next phase will up too much at night, going to the bathroom too much or not using see clinical staff using the smart phones for wound the food in the fridge at all. management, a system that will go live in April this year. “Most of the technology that I see being developed for use The revolution is in full swing and will, if it hasn’t already, in aged care is intuitive, that is, it can learn the activities and become a tsunami as it gathers force and pace, sweeping all movements of the person it is monitoring, so that when something before it, possibly leaving you and your business in tatters if you happens that is outside the norm, alarms can be triggered, people don’t take stock and plan for the future. alerted. In the old industrial revolution everything around us “My presentation was meant to be provocative for those in changed and that’s exactly what’s happening now. Soon we will the aged care industry, showing how the world around us is see virtual walls with changeable visual backgrounds in places