It is estimated that nearly 850,000 patients are managing their lives with Alzheimer's in France, with 165,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Perhaps of some solace is the fact that technology is trying to keep pace with this dreaded disease that affects millions of elderly all over the world.

Medical Mobile and Orange have developed the Columba telephone bracelet for the French market to help monitor Alzheimer patients. This product integrates mobile phone and geographic location technology in a watch-sized device that a patient can wear on the wrist. When an Alzheimer’s patient wearing the bracelet leaves the precincts of a familiar area, an alarm is signalled to the family members or caregivers. A medical call-center can then ascertain the exact location of the patient via the bracelet’s GPS assisted geolocalisation system. The bracelet also has loudspeaker and hands-free functions to help the attendants to directly communicate with the patient.

More information available at medicalmobile.com and medicalintelligence.ca.

Via Techwear Weblog.