In an iHealthBeat Special Report, university, hospital and community leaders discuss their project in the Pecan Park area of Houston where people with chronic diseases are using inexpensive handheld wireless devices to monitor their health through an unusual wireless network using "mesh" technology.
The report includes comments from:
- Clifford Dacso, co-director of the Abramson Center for the Future of Health and professor at the University of Houston's College of Technology;
- Ed Knightly, professor of electronic and computer engineering at Rice University; and
- Will Reed, CEO of Technology For All, a not-for-profit organization in Houston.
Pecan Park residents with congestive heart failure will use devices called "blue boxes" -- about the size of a small handheld video game -- to measure four cardiac-related functions. The system will allow each patient to compare his or her readings to the individual's own history of "normal" readings.
The goal is to give patients the power and knowledge to determine their own status without a trip to the doctor's office (Rebillot,
iHealthBeat, 6/13).
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