Forget Us Not
Reimagining the future of dementia care in 2030
What if we were to totally surrender our health data privacy to the government to aid with dementia care? As the government comes to have access of all aspects of our health, a new system is birth forth which enables the early detection and diagnosis of dementia, and consequently, the most optimized care for dementia. View the presentation slides here
Details
Tools: Rhino 6, Sketchup, Photoshop, Illustrator, Miro
Timeline: 13 weeks
​
Project type: Student project (group) with industry collaborator, Philips Experience Design ASEAN Pacific Unit
​
Role: Industrial Design, covering the experience and product aspect
Skills: Product, Space, and Service design, Systems design, User experience (UX), Multidisciplinary collaboration
Project Summary
Brief:
This project was done in collaboration with the Division of Industrial Design, Department of Architecture and Philips Healthcare. The design brief was to reimagine the future of healthcare with regards to a medical condition and create an integrated system by considering how Product, Space, and Service tie in together from the micro to macro scale.
​
What we did:
We focused on dementia and thoroughly reimagined by questioning the fundamental assumption that dementia is something to be feared. We imagined a future where dementia is destigmatized and cared for easily through design.
​
My role:
In addition to the working together on researching and framing the project, I handled the industrial design aspect of the project individually. This included planning the user journey through empathy mapping, creating the product level solution and system which connects the architectural spaces with the spaces in an integrated service.
Process
1. Discover
The first step of the project was Discover. The objective of discover was to gain as much knowledge in the healthcare industry as possible and become familiar with practices so that the group is able to make an informed decision when selecting the condition that we want to tackle.
To discover our focus, we first had to thoroughly understand the current healthcare scene in Singapore. We based our research on the different facets of healthcare, namely Home Health, Retail Health, Mobility Health, Transit Health and New Hospital, to enable us to identify potential opportunities.
We saw some initial opportunity in home health and the ageing population of Singapore, leading us to do further research in those areas. We also researched the various general healthcare trends that was springing up around the world and in Singapore in particular.
Having done the top-down desktop-based research, we employed a bottom-up approach of interviews and shadowing to collect information of our users in their context and uncover insights to inform our potential solutions. The combination of both approaches ensured that our research was well-founded and not biased.
From our intensive research, we have discovered the opportunity in tackling the problem of dementia by offering a solution that integrates the external healthcare solutions like hospitals and decentralized polyclinics with home health.
2. Frame
The next step was Frame. After my group discovered and selected dementia as the condition to tackle, framing required us to thoroughly analyze the condition to create a scaffolding of the the granular details and the angle of presentation.
Scoping
Using the canvas provided by the Philips Design team, we worked out pertinent details of the project such as our topic, the target audience, the various stakeholders, existing user journey of dementia and its opportunities.
Persona
We created two personas from our interviews and surveys. Robert is the main persona who suffers from dementia and Joyce is the secondary persona, the daughter and Robert's caregiver
Site Analysis
Existing medical facilities
Existing green spaces and park connectors
Existing community spaces
Existing transport nodes
We chose to frame our project in Boon Keng as already has ample infrastructure in place and a population that is older. It also is home to the elderly living alone in one room flats. A detailed multi-layered site analysis of the area was conducted using the framework of the 5 elements by Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City (1960). We settled on block 113D.
3. Ideate
The last step was to ideate. With the various opportunities framed, we came up with a system comprised of solutions from the macro to micro scale. The macro scale involved the redesign of the town plan of our Boon Keng, our case study, where pathways, nodes and landmarks are reimagined. At the home level, a new type of home design for adaptable dementia living was constructed. At the product level, which I was doing, a new product which can address the various stages of dementia was created. Additionally, with the different scales delegated, I began synthesizing the possible journey that Robert and Joyce would experience in our new healthcare system.
Drafts of the persona's journey map after intervention
The envisioned experience flow chart provided by Philips was reiteratively filled up to detail how the various key aspects of our solutions throughout the entire care journey link together, such as our identified current challenges informs our envisioned principles and how it is then manifested in our service journey, in both the front-end as wel as back-end, and how all these are interfaced through the key touchpoints that would be our solutions.
Initial ideation of product
Initial sketches of product
I was responsible for solutioning for the intermediate space between the neighbour and home scale and the early onset stage. I began ideating with post-its, referencing the insights drawn from the research. . I explored three different means of detection - gait, depth, lack of memory detection - through various products such as buttons, special floorings, and structural elements around the neighbourhood.
Further ideation of product
Further sketches and CAD of product
Going back to the brief of designing for 2030, I chose to work on the floor gait detection idea gait has been shown by scientific articles (Gras et al., 2015 & O'Keeffe et al., 1996) to be a marker of very early stages of dementia and the progression of deterioration. Further ideation was done to explore the concept, followed by sketches and CAD models. All the while, I had to consider the architectural redesign that my team mates were doing to properly integrate my solution with the team's.
Outcome
We envision a future where citizens collectively agree to the collection of their data by environmental sensors placed around the neighbourhood because they trust the government will take care of them. The collected data enables an integrated dementia care system that extends from detection to death, where detection happens as soon as possible and diagnosis as quick as possible, to lengthen and increase the quality of care, such that getting dementia is no longer a disease to be feared.
-01.png)
Project Overview
The integrated solution involves a redesigning of the neighbourhood to include the various environmental sensors and dementia supportive infrastructure such as gentle pathway turnings
Tile system
An example of an environmental touchpoint, the tile system analyses gait for early onset of dementia and in the later stages, serves as a means to optimize the efficacy of the medical plan by comparing the actual deterioration with the projected deterioration. Each block's tile system has a unique color to serve as a wayfinding mechanism and the hexagon modular tiles can be rearranged into various shapes to fit the pathway.
Neighbourhood
Community Pockets are the hotspots of community activities for everyone, where both people with and without dementia can interact in a Kampong-like manner, allowing the community to play a part in supporting people with dementia.
There are special amenities like the Therapeutic Garden which has a gentle winding which people with dementia are more receptive to. The track loops and is surrounded by various plants to encourage physical exercise
The amenities can be enjoyed by all members of the community, like the Community Activity Corner which fosters interaction between neighbours to keep people with dementia sociable and supported by the community.
The Community Kitchen empowers people with dementia with responsibility and the community a reason to gather. For our persona Robert, cooking for others despite his dementia serves as reminiscent therapy that brings him back to his time as a Bak Kut Teh chef.
Home
The home is redesigned to be adaptable to the changing needs of the person with dementia and integrated with the overall healthcare system.
Before dementia, memorabilia such as photos and souvenirs can be placed in the space between the handrails and plants can be hung from it. While functional, these handrails blend in with the home.
The layout of the kitchen and dining are modelled after the hawker centre to serve as an object of familiarity for Robert who was a chef. Familiarity is soothing towards people with dementia.
While people with dementia need to looked after intently, it unsettles them as they perceive that their autonomy is being robbed. The window between rooms resolves this tension as the visiting social worker can look out for Robert in his room or shut the blinds should Robert be asleep.
Journey
This is the story of Robert and Joyce before diagnosis to the late stage of dementia
Before his diagnosis, Robert was a active Bak Kut Teh chef who ran his own stall for close to 30 years. His daughter, Joyce, was a career woman. With Robert experiencing dementia, they both have their own worries and fears.
The pathway leading to his block is an example of an environmental touchpoint. This touchpoint detects gait and memory.
After Robert's gait begins to show consistent signs of early dementia, the social worker attached to his block pays Robert a house visit, and advises booking a GP appointment
The GP incorporates the data gathered from the environmental sensors with the traditional dementia detection tests such as the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) for quicker and more accurate diagnoses.
In the early stages of dementia, Robert is able to continue living his life with minimal disruption as his environment supports his dementia.
The key principles of the redesigned environment include legibility through the different void deck by assigning each HDB block a unique color and safety through a vegetated edge to prevent people with dementia from wandering out of the neighbourhood. In addition, to counter hectic and crowded spaces like the hawker center and market that may be overwhelming and disorienting, the ground and ceiling plane utilize different colors.
The same environmental touchpoints continue to collect data which informs the GP of the efficacy of the medical plan, allowing for optimization. When Robert's condition deteriorates unexpectedly quickly, in this case, when Robert continuously goes to the wrong block and exhibit worsening gait, the social worker is alerted again.
The social worker meets Robert and Joyce at the social support corner to understand their compliance and efficacy of the medical plan. He then advises for their upcoming appointment with the GP to pushed forward.
As Robert enters the later stages of dementia, he spends more time at home and his home adapts to his needs, with railing that can be used for both support and keep memories in the form of photo frames, and a kitchen that resembles a hawker stall to remind him of his past.
With the interventions, Robert is able to be accurately diagnosed early and lead a largely independent life so that Joyce is able to focus on her career. Joyce is not only assured of the care her father is receiving but also of the care she will receive should she ever get dementia, and is able to live unafraid of the condition.
This project was done in collaboration with the Department of Architecture (DOA) and Philips Experience Design ASEAN Pacific Unit under the tutors Dr. Yen Chin-Chiuan from the Division of Industrial Design, Thomas Kong Kwok Hoong from DOA, and Nigel Geh from Philips.