Ford researchers develop series of in-car health and wellness apps, services

Researchers at Ford have developed a series of in-car health and wellness apps and services aimed at monitoring people with chronic illnesses or medical disorders so they can manage their condition while on the go.  Ford's senior technical leader, K. Venkatesh Prasad, will be discussing these innovations on a "Health and Wellness Connectivity Services on the Go" panel discussion with Anand Iyer, COO of WellDoc, and H. James Dallas, SVP at Medtronic at the Wireless Health 2011 Conference being held Oct. 10-13 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.

Leveraging Ford SYNC® and its ability to connect devices via Bluetooth, access cloud-based Internet services and control smartphone apps, Ford is developing voice-controlled in-car connections to an array of health aids from glucose monitoring devices, diabetes management services, asthma management tools and web-based allergen alert solutions.

Ford will be providing demonstrations of in-car accessibility to WellDoc's cloud-based services at the Wireless Health 2011 Conference, and will be highlighting in-car health and wellness connectivity solutions including:

• Glucose Monitoring. Working with Medtronic, a leading manufacturer of glucose-monitoring devices, Ford researchers have developed a prototype system which allows Ford SYNC to connect via Bluetooth to a Medtronic continuous glucose monitoring device and share glucose levels and trends through audio and a center stack display and provide secondary alerts if levels are too low.
• Allergy alerts. Ford is working with SDI Health and www.pollen.com to SYNC-enable its smartphone Allergy Alert app through AppLink, giving users voice-controlled access to the app that provides location-based day-by-day index levels for pollen; asthma, cold and cough and ultraviolet sensitivity; as well as four-day forecasts.
• WellDoc. Ford and WellDoc, a recognized leader in the emerging field of mHealth integrated services, have joined forces to integrate in-car accessibility to WellDoc's comprehensive cloud-based personalized solutions for those with asthma and diabetes through SYNC Services. Using voice commands, SYNC users can access and update their WellDoc profile to receive real-time patient coaching, behavioral education and medication adherence support based on their historic and current disease information.

Bringing mobile health and wellness solutions inside the car in a safe and meaningful way, Ford researchers are first looking at two populations with the most need for a constant connection to potentially life-saving medical information – people with diabetes and those with asthma and/or allergies.

For people with diabetes and their caregivers, constant knowledge and control of glucose levels is critical to avoiding hypoglycemia or low glucose, which can cause confusion, lightheadedness, blurry vision and a host of other symptoms that could be dangerous while driving. As important, those with asthma and allergies need to have a clear understanding of their environment and potential symptom triggers – such as pollen levels in the air – that can quickly lead to an attack. Growing in popularity among this group are web-based alert services and smartphone apps that can help flag dangerous pollen levels based on location.

The Wireless Health 2011 Conference, organized by the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, is where researchers from global institutions such as MIT, University of Edinburgh, UCLA, and other leading universities share the best new research and significant advances in wireless health technologies with thought leaders from academia, medicine, government and industry. In addition to the scientific discussions, keynote presentations from Qualcomm's Paul Jacobs and other global organizations will highlight the four-day conference.