Sept 23 2002

NEWS

Over The Edge Page 6

Watch-sized device keeps tabs on health
New monitor could help people with heart conditions

By Chris Boutet, Gateway

EDMONTON (CUP) — A
tiny wristwatch that monitors
your vital signs could change
the way people manage their
healthcare and boost research
opportunities for the University
of Alberta (U of A).

The Wireless Wearable
Physiological Monitor
(WWP\) is the pet project of
Masako Miyasaki, an associ-
ate professor in the faculty of
Rehabilitative Medicine at the
U of A. It will be a series of
sensors that can fit in a wrist-
watch or a small box, and
monitor pulse, heart activity
and breathing. That informa-
tion can then be sent remotely
to healthcare monitoring head-
quarters or trigger a personal
warning alarm if the patient is
in danger.

“Let's say you have arrhyth-
mia [irregular heart beat] and
your heart is beating faster,”
said Miyasaki.

Medical

VANCOUVER (CUP) -
University of British Columbia
students from the Faculties of
Medicine and Dentistry held a
memorial last weekend for
people who have donated their
bodies for scientific study.

Over 180 people, including
both medical students and
family members of the
deceased, attended the short
ceremony Saturday afternoon
at Mount Pleasant Universal
Funeral Home.

The ceremony was put on
with help from funeral home
employees-many of whom had
volunteered their time to help.
It lasted 20 minutes and
included a musical perfor-
mance, a poem reading and a
short speech of thanks from
students-who ran and per-
formed the entire ceremony.
Families and students were
able to meet and talk at a
reception afterwards.

Jorina Elbers, a third-year
medical student, was one of
the main organizers of the
event. She attended a similar
memorial at the University of
Toronto last year and felt it was
beneficial both for students

“If you go beyond a certain
threshold, an alarm sounds
and lets you know that you’re
running out of range in terms
of a regular heartbeat; at least
you can decide to stop running
or having sex. The whole point
is to give the patient more self-
control.”

The WWPM will most imme-
diately benefit people with
health conditions like heart
disease that require constant
monitoring and intervention.
But Miyasaki said the WWPM
will likely have a wide range of
other practical uses.

“One application would be
sleep apnea [when one stops
breathing during sleep]; that is
one of the most common prob-
lems in North America and
worldwide,” she said.

“It leads to depression and a
number of other things, so if
you can prevent that by moni-
toring it, without having to wait
for a long time to get diag-

nosed and treated, that’s
another way of applying the
sensors.”

“Other uses would be [the
prevention of] Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS), or
even military application.
Military application becomes a
lot more simplified; what you
want to know is the location of
a soldier and whether they’re
alive, dead, or severely
wounded.”

The concept of the WWPM
project was formed when
Miyasaki was the director of
the Telehealth Technology
Research Institute (TTRI), a
collaboration of several U of A
faculties that sought to create
an online medical information
network.on campus.

In 1998, TTRI broadened its
focus and, using a wireless
data transfer technology called
Bluetooth, began developing a
technology that would provide
people with a health monitor-

donors honoured

and for the families of the
deceased.

She felt that such cere-
monies should be held at the
school.

“| think that for the students
it is really good to show their
respect and also to see the
families,” she said. “Sometimes
you can get a little bit too
objective in the anatomy lab
and it gives the students a little
bit more perspective on what
they’re doing and [to] respect
the bodies a little bit more.”

Elbers also believes that the
ceremony holds value for the

families of the donors.

“| think it’s important for the
families to see the students
who benefited from [the dona-
tion], but also to meet with
other families who had donat-
ed,” she said.

All Medicine and Dentistry
students at the university
begin work with cadavers in
their first year and continue
into their second year of
school. Students who attended
were

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Stephen Hue Photo
Family members attended a memorial for relatives who have donat-
ed their bodies to science.

ing system comparable to one
in a hospital but was affordable
and simple enough to be easi-
ly applied in one’s own home.

“People who are young can
learn new technologies and
use a computer as a tool very
easily, she said. “But many
older people, they prefer sim-
ple tools.”

“So if you’re elderly or can’t
remember to monitor yourself,
someone else can watch over
you, call you and ask if you’re
okay. This will really bring the
technology down to the level at
which anybody can use it.”

The project was recently
kicked off by a $575,000 feder-
al grant from Western
Economic Diversification, a
federal program promoting
economic development in the
west. It is being furthered by a
partnership including multina-
tional Japan-based companies
such as Seiko Instruments
Inc., a microsystems specialist

and watchmaker, and MI-
Laboratories, a Sony sub-
sidiary that develops health-
care products.

Miyasaki feels the project
and the interest it has gar-
nered is the first step in estab-
lishing the university's role as
a prominent school in the field
of technological development.

“We were a new discovery
for Japanese industry and
development, [and they are
beginning] to look at the U of A
as an unpolished diamond,”
she said.

“If this is successful, | fore-
see other companies will begin
to look at strategic alliances by
coming over here to work with
us. And that would really
change the layout of the land”

A working prototype of the
WWPM_ is_ scheduled _ for
release in March 2003 and
clinical trials are slated to
begin next summer.

Government cuts
women’s crisis

By Kathleen Deering, Ubyssey
VANCOUVER (CUP) — On
January 15, 2003, the B.C.
government will no longer be
funding the 24-hour sexual
assault crisis line operated by
Women Against Violence
Against Women (WAVAW).

Geraldine Glattstein, execu-
tive director and founder of
WAVAW, received the letter of
termination of funding from the
Ministry of Public Safety and
Solicitor General Sept. 6. She
said she was stunned that the
government would cease to
fund the service, which has
provided help for women for
over 20 years.

“Our mandate is still immedi-
ate response,” she said, “so
[until] they schedule sexual
assault between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., | [will continue] to com-
plain.”

Although she was not given
exact figures, Glattstein said,
initially she was told the phone
line made up 40 per cent of
WAVAW’s funding. But she
expects WAVAW will keep ser-
vices open during business

hours after the funding is with-
drawn.

Glattstein doesn’t know
what services the government
will expect WAVAW to provide
after funding is cut.

“We're strategizing,” she
said, “and | still believe that the
government will change their
mind.”

The government plans to
fund a provincial phone line,
but Glattstein said this will
eliminate the immediate
response service provided by
WAVAW’s around-the-clock
phone line staff.

“Pm concerned about the
women who will not have any-
where to go to,” she said. “We
do police and hospital accom-
paniments-we actually go out
with women and a referral
provincial line cannot do that.”

She said the 24-hour crisis
line is necessary for British
Columbians because it serves
more than 2.1 million people
and receives 400 calls per
month. B.C. has the highest

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