Bayside Health Peninsula and Monash University have opened six research simulation facilities across Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula to help older Australians and people with disability live more independently at home.
Researchers will use the facilities to test how technology, accessible design and health care can support people as they age, while helping reduce the risk of avoidable hospital visits.
The facilities sit within the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, a partnership between Bayside Health Peninsula and Monash University.
They include an Independent Living Laboratory and Mobility Garden, Intergenerational Playground, Ageing Well Clinics, Smart Ward, Multipurpose Research Facility and Digital Library.
A home-style lab with new technology
The Independent Living Laboratory looks like a typical home, but researchers have fitted it with assistive technology and accessible design features.
The lab includes robotics for group rehabilitation programs, AI-enabled glasses to assist people with memory issues, and detection systems that can help identify falls or unusual behaviour patterns.
Clinicians, researchers, disability providers and aged care providers will use the space to help people test technology before making decisions about their care, home set-up or support needs.
Professor Velandai Srikanth, Director of the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, said the facilities would help build evidence for future care models.
“We are excited about the transformative impact these facilities will have in generating evidence to inform government, industry, education, technology and service sectors,” Professor Srikanth said.
“With industry and government partnerships, this approach could be replicated in more communities across Australia, unlocking even greater national impact.”
Testing how people live at home
Professor Mel Dodd, Dean of the Monash Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, said the project brings health research, technology and design together.
“This project shows how architecture, technology and health research can come together to create co-designed environments that genuinely support independence and quality of life as people age,” Professor Dodd said.
“To support healthy ageing, we have to look beyond just clinical care and start looking at the lived experience of the home.”
Professor Dodd said researchers and health practitioners could use the modular environment to test how home layouts and digital tools affect people in real time.
Helping people make informed choices
Associate Professor Libby Callaway, from the Monash School of Primary and Allied Health Care, said many older Australians and people with disability want more say over where and how they live.
“There have been major reforms in both disability and aged care to support people to live at home rather than in institutional settings like group homes or aged care, but many people don’t know where to start,” Associate Professor Callaway said.
“The Independent Living Laboratory helps close that knowledge gap by letting people try, test and learn in a realistic home environment before making decisions that affect their everyday lives.”
The National Centre for Healthy Ageing has foundational investment from the Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
Building 4.0 CRC, Fleetwood Australia, Frankston City Council, St Kilda Football Club, Belvedere Community Centre and Wallara supported the establishment of the Independent Living Laboratory.
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