The Bright Future of Rural Communities:
The MyProviderSpace Project
By Janine M Lodato
LodatoClan@aol.com
The MyProviderSpace Project
By Janine M Lodato
LodatoClan@aol.com
Motivation and Opportunity
I would like to start this project helping the 44 million informal caregivers (family and friends) who take care of the 100 million people in need of care in the USA.
And it is the same all over the world. The care recipients account for one third of the world population and their caregivers account for one sixth of the world population. Thus together they represent half the world population.
Besides this large group, other rural residents and workers can also use server of MyProviderSpace for their Web needs.
This project could improve...
...quality of life via virtual group participation
...productivity via tele-work
...medical services (lower the cost significantly)
...quality of education via distance learning and training
...environment by eliminating unnecessary car travel
Project justification
It is a well researched fact that cognitive and collaborative involvement is the best way to mind-body interaction which improves one's health. The best approach to the cognitive and collaborative activities is via the Web. But most rural communities lack the high speed Web connectivity needed to perform video conference style collaboration, virtual group interaction and related cognitive Web activities.
The project proposes a wireless broadband Web connection for the rural communities, enhanced by solar energy. It is a meshed WiFi network which can easily be installed and then grow as the need for Web connectivity is increasing in the rural community. Even pluggable hybrid cars could become nodes in such a meshed WiFi rural network.
The project proposes a wireless broadband Web connection for the rural communities, enhanced by solar energy. It is a meshed WiFi network which can easily be installed and then grow as the need for Web connectivity is increasing in the rural community. Even pluggable hybrid cars could become nodes in such a meshed WiFi rural network.
Allowing the 44 million informal caregivers to do tele-work from the homes of the care recipient is a feature which by itself could justify the project.
We need a tax break for businesses, especially for small businesses, when they hire and retain an informal caregiver as an employee. Businesses already have a tax break when they employ a disabled person. The same or similar tax break should be given to the business which hires informal caregivers or who already employ such caregivers.
The 100 million people in the USA who are in need of an informal caregiver are the frail elderly, chronically ill and the disabled. This population sector is the fastest growing segment due to the aging of the baby boomer population.
The US Department of Labor predicts that by 2008, 54 percent of the work force will be involved in caring just for an elderly person making doctors' appointments, handling emergencies, giving transportation, buying and cooking food, all the basic functions of life the elderly person has difficulties performing.
But the informal caregivers who are also full-time employed have a major problem; not everyone is able to manage the conflicting demands of working and caregiving.
A MetLife study reported that 16 percent of employees who perform as caregivers quit their jobs and 13 percent retired early in order that they could provide care to the people in need. This study found that the average life-time loss per such person was an estimated $ 566 thousand in lost wages, $ 67 thousand in lower pension benefits plus $ 25 thousand loss of Soc. Sec. benefits.
Also, many of the employees who are caregivers get passed over for promotions and are the first ones who are eliminated when a downsizing of the business takes place.
These problems of employees who are also serving as caregivers, could be almost eradicated if the employers of caregivers would let their caregiving employees perform their jobs telework-style for some or much of their workload. About only one in four businesses offers employees who are caregivers such advantages as flexible hours, telecommuting, paid leave in case of emergencies and compassionate understanding.
The legislation which would support the employers of the caregivers could also include a double or increased tax break for the employer if the business allowed the employees, who are involved in caregiving, to perform most of their work with great degree of flexibility such as telecommuting and flexible time.
We could also save the environment and lower the use of petroleum if we gave the small businesses a large tax credit if they allowed their employees to telework.
Also there is increasing scientific interest in the area of mind-body interaction based brain-immune system interactions and the physiological changes that are induced by activation of the immune system. It is apparent that behavioral and psychological factors can modify the function of the immune system and health. Susceptibility to viral infections, activation of latent viral infections, and relapses/remissions in patients with HIV positive individuals are influenced by interactions between the brain, endocrine, nervous, and immune systems. Stress and other behavioral and psychological factors may be linked to disease susceptibility and progression. This approach to medicine is called behavioral medicine, or more scientifically: PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI).
The Internet, the Web, is a great tool for PNI, for Tele-work, for Tele-medicine, for distance learning, all with the potential of getting the care recipients and their caregivers involved thus helping the people in need to improve their physical conditions.
Proposal of technical solution
Of course one needs a connection machine, like a PC or, more appropriately, a thin client, to link to the Internet. The best way to connect, the only economic and safe way to connect, in a rural community is via a community broadband connection like a Community Broadband Web Connection based on meshed Wi-Fi. The end user simply needs a thin client machine which can be any one of the following technologies: video telephone, e-book, Web connectible set-top for TV etc. But not a Windows based PC.
The end user then will connect, via the Community Broadband, to a simple, reliable, clean, low cost virtual PC running on the server running Ubuntu and equipped with a search capability, e-mail features, instant messaging features and simple document generation capabilities. That is all what is needed to get involved.
Unfortunately the Microsoft Windows based PC is much too difficult to use because they are still
....much too expensive.
....insanely unreliable.
....maddeningly complex.
....much too expensive.
....insanely unreliable.
....maddeningly complex.
These negative attributes of the Windows world makes the PCs of today useless for the truly needy most of whom live in a rural community or are about to move to a rural community:
....the aging population.
....the physically disabled.
....the learning disabled.
....the chronically ill
....and the informal caregivers (family and friends) as well as professionals working with all the above.
....the aging population.
....the physically disabled.
....the learning disabled.
....the chronically ill
....and the informal caregivers (family and friends) as well as professionals working with all the above.
They are in need of a collaborative assistive technology (AT) system which operates with telephone-style simplicity. An end-to-end AT-based collaborative system connected via the Web will allow the professionals to provide support group-style assistance in the form of a simple virtual community.
Now that Linux is available, it is feasible to approach this very large market using a low-cost, rugged and simple client system. Linux-based client systems connected to Linux broadband connections are perfect for such end-to-end AT systems offering. The reliable and simple features of Linux coupled with low cost Linux based hardware and platforms and applications are the only solution for these end users who need AT capabilities.
The work to be done
A very significant upgrade of self-supported health improvement can be achieved using assistive technologies (AT) connected via the Web. Recent scientific studies by major universities in the field of behavioral medicine including psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) indicate that getting involved with collaborative group activities has significant rehabilitation potential. In fact behavioral medicine can prevent disease, and improve quality of life and rehabilitate. Of course it does not replace the pharmaceuticals, but it does improve their effectiveness.
A very significant upgrade of self-supported health improvement can be achieved using assistive technologies (AT) connected via the Web. Recent scientific studies by major universities in the field of behavioral medicine including psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) indicate that getting involved with collaborative group activities has significant rehabilitation potential. In fact behavioral medicine can prevent disease, and improve quality of life and rehabilitate. Of course it does not replace the pharmaceuticals, but it does improve their effectiveness.
It is suggested that the collaborative virtual community systems, based on Web-connected AT clients and broadband connections, supporting the disabled and the aging can also be used for the able-bodied eyes-busy, hands-busy professionals to improve their productivity. Also learning-disabled children can make very good use of AT. This low cost set of AT platforms and associated Web connectivity could be very useful in many government and commercial employment arenas. This dual-use type approach will significantly lower the cost of the needed technologies for all groups.
Of course there is always more work to be done .But it is being done by open source groups as indicated below. Applications for AT technologies must be developed or perfected to allow collaboration between the health service professionals or social worker professionals and the many people in need. Web connected AT oriented software components running on Linux client machines connected to Linux broadband connections have to be created such as
....simple and application specific user interface such as Negroponte's XO
....voice based interaction via computer/telephone such as VoIP
....always-on and always-available systems
....a collaborative virtual community systems such as the EnergInfo-Center supported by the EnergInfo Broadband WebConnection in each rural community as proposed by this project
....simple and application specific user interface such as Negroponte's XO
....voice based interaction via computer/telephone such as VoIP
....always-on and always-available systems
....a collaborative virtual community systems such as the EnergInfo-Center supported by the EnergInfo Broadband WebConnection in each rural community as proposed by this project
Through such systems the professionals can monitor, mentor and moderate and even medicate the members of the collaborative community. For a good example: when dealing with students with learning disabilities, it is important to get their attention, to bolster their behavior and finally to improve their cognitive productivity. With assistive technology people can prevent further destruction of their faculties, improve their quality of life and can even be rehabilitated somewhat. Just the idea of being productive adds to a person's self-esteem enormously.