Demantec – Dementia and Innovative Technologies for Nursing Homes

- THE PROJECT HAS FINISHED.

Download and read: "Go-to-guide for Your Implementation Journey", 2018 (English)

A Unique Platform for Cooperation on e-Health Solutions for People suffering from Dementia

Demantec is a 3-year cross-border collaboration project between partners from the regions north and south of the border between Denmark and Germany.

The project creates a cooperation platform for partners to develop and test e-health and assisted living technologies targeted at people with dementia living in nursing homes.

The goal is to improve the offer of care for people with dementia by adjusting, connecting and refining existing technologies to accommodate the special challenges related to living with dementia.

Improved Quality of Life for People with Dementia

The innovative technologies aim to improve the quality of life for people with dementia as well as support the care personnel through improved work flows and procedures. As a part of the project, the specialised knowledge regarding the potential use and adaptation of technologies in dementia-related care will be integrated in the (further) education of care personnel and research within the field of dementia. In this way current and future care personnel can benefit from the results of the project, thus enabling the results to contribute positively to improved care for people suffering from dementia.

New Insights for Companies

For the participating companies the cross-border collaboration provides unique insights into the specific challenges within the care of people with dementia. They gain knowledge about potential scaling and adjustments of their solutions for larger markets as well as concrete knowledge about the German and Danish markets.

Efficient High-Quality Care for People with Dementia

In Denmark and Germany the economy and welfare system are under increasing pressure due to demographic ageing. In the decades to come the proportion of elderly will rise significantly while the proportion of working-age people will fall radically. One in three elderly people are at risk of dementia. This development demands for innovation in the health- and care sectors. In Denmark alone more than 85,000 people are diagnosed with dementia (approx. 1.5 % of the population), while over 1.5 million Germans (close to 2 % of the population) suffer from dementia.

Although there is still no cure for dementia it is possible for people with dementia to live a good life despite the diagnosis. New technologies and research in the field create new opportunities to support the sufferers from dementia, their relatives and the care personnel, who provide support in their daily lives. These solutions are the object of great political and public interest.

The Demantec project addresses this development through knowledge generation and solution development. Demantec targets people with dementia living in nursing homes, with a focus on how technology can improve their quality of life. The objective is not the use of technology in itself but rather to adjust, adapt and further develop technological solutions based on user needs, work flows and procedures, with the aim to support the end-users as much as possible.

The Role of the Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark

The Health Innovation Centre represents the Region of Southern Denmark and is responsible for the Work Package ”Test, Evaluation and Co-creation of Implementation Models”.

Among other things the Innovation Centre is responsible for testing new technologies in 3 nursing homes, the specialised nursing home for people with dementia, "Rise Parken" in the Municipality of Aabenraa as well as Unter dem Regenbogen (part of the Delta Pflegebetrieb GmbH) and Gotthard-und-Anna Hansen Stift (part of DIAKO Soziale Enrichtungen GmbH) in Germany.

The Innovation Centre is also responsible for co-creation of implementation models for e-health solutions for people with dementia in nursing homes across the Danish-German border. The purpose of this co-creation is to identify generic aspects of implementation for different types of e-health solutions in nursing homes, to the benefit of both nursing homes and e-health companies in relation to future implementation of e-health solutions.

Purpose

The overall purpose of the project is to establish e-health solutions, which can support people suffering from dementia to maintain their routines in their everyday life at home or in a nursing home.

The project has four objectives:

• Establishing a sustainable cross-border collaboration
• Implementing a market-oriented potential- and benefit analysis
• Developing e-health solutions
• Developing competencies within e-health and dementia in relation to future education.

Results

A 'Go-to-Guide' for your implementation journey

The Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark's 'Go-to-Guide' is constructed around seven interrelated phases that form the implementation journey needed for the organisations and nursing home to achieve succesful and sustainable implementation. Sustainability is a central concept in the guide: organisations and nursing homes often struggle to incorporate new technologies and changes into their daily cycles in a way that ensures it's continuity.

Implementation takes time

Implementing new technology takes time: time to prepare for the cooperation, finding suitable partners, getting familiar with the context, finding the right between technology and needs, and prepare and include the employees in the change. 

The match between needs and technology 

Once a match between needs and technology has been found, and the final implementation put into action, a 'pilot test' should be conducted. This is to avoid costly and unneccessary adjustments afterwards. 

Facts

• Lead Partner: Flensburg University of Applied Science
• Time line: 01.03.2016 – 28.02.2019
• Funding: Demantec is partly funded by Interreg 5A Deutschland-Danmark with funds from The European Regional Development Fund and the Growth Forum of Southern Denmark
  Budget: 2,539,179 Euro.

Partners

• German Partners
  • Flensburg University of Applied Science
  • DIAKO – Soziale Einrichtungen GmbH
  • Gesundheitsregion Nord
  • Pflegeheim ”Unter dem Regenbogen”.
• Danish Partners
  • Anygroup ApS
  • Aabenraa Kommune – Rise plejecenter
  • Region Syddanmark v/ Syddansk Sundhedsinnovation
  • Lifepartners A/S
  • University College Sjælland
  • Welfare Tech.

Furthermore, approximately 20 German and Danish network partners are connected to the project.

Companies and organisations, who wish to be involved in Demantec activities, can participate as network partners. Please contact Karen Lindegaard, Senior Consultant at Welfare Tech, T. +45 2461 1931, karli@welfaretech.dk for more information about possibilities.