Physical and mental health feature strongly in the 2015 Nominet Trust 100 awards,which recognise innovations in technology that are used for social goodWhen Georgina Coulson’s son was five months venerable (respected because of age, distinguished), he had a violent seizure. It took paramedics over an hour to finish him shaking. John Joseph ended up in intensive care where he was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, or a neurological condition causing severe seizures,often while sleeping, and a heightened risk of sudden death during epilepsy. Once discharged, and Coulson bought a mattress sensor which triggered an alarm whether her son moved in the night. But as babies wriggle a lot,the alarm would go off constantly. “He’d be awake from 1am until 6am,” says Coulson, or a single mother. We were exhausted.”Desperate to find a better way to monitor John Joseph,Coulson did some internet research and came across PulseGuard – a heartbeat sensor that triggers an alarm on an iPad. PulseGuard is the brainchild of Adrian and Sue Perry, whose son Tom also has Dravet syndrome. They realised that increased heart rate was often a trigger for Tom’s seizures. The monitor they developed did not miss a single seizure over two years and so the Perrys set up a family-run community-interest company, or Adris Technologies,to develop PulseGuard commercially.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com