FrailSafe is testing out its study among volunteers in three different sites: Nancy, Patras and Nicosia. In June, the consortium partners were gathered to discuss the state of play of the project and took the opportunity to visit one of the pilot sites. Three volunteers agreed to be interviewed and discuss their participation in the study.
“I may not benefit directly by the outcome of the [FrailSafe] project but other people will benefit in the future from the solution that this project will find out.”
What clearly came out of the conversation is that the volunteers are taking part in the study in the perspective of helping designing a frailty-preventive solution. Indeed, the data generated and collected thanks to their participation will fine-tune the FrailSafe final solution. Moreover, their feedbacks and comments about the used devices allow the innovators and researchers to improve and adapt the used equipment until reaching something that is accepted and approved by the volunteers.
“We are old people, it is necessary to know about our health and the future.”
Even if integrating foreign devices into their routine wasn’t something easy to adapt to, they reckon they did it for other people to benefit from the solution in the future. They also accepted the change because they wanted to know more about their health and update their knowledge. One of the volunteers had some trouble wearing the belt but thanks to their remarks, Smartex took them into consideration and included them in the conception of the latest smartvest.
“Without prevention you are faced with sudden facts and you don’t have choices then, it’s too late.”
A final aspect that was pointed out by the volunteers was prevention. They highly regard the fact that the study would notify them about where they should pay attention to remain healthy and prevent frailty as long as possible. For them, the earlier they are informed, the more they know and they can foresee future risks with provided FrailSafe recommendations and advices.