Session 3(a): Innovative Technologies to Enhance Healthcare Access and Safety in Northern Communities
October 23rd, 1:00pm - 2:00pm | Virtual, link to come
This session will feature a series of oral presentations highlighting current research, evaluation and quality improvement projects. Each speaker will have 15 minutes to share their work, followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion. Join us to hear in-depth presentations, gain new insights, and engage directly with presenters during the Q&A.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Title: Evaluating the Drone Transport Initiative Roundtable Event
- Speaker: Madison Landry
- Description: The Drone Transport Initiative (DTI) is a partnership between UBC, Stellat’en First Nation, the Village of Fraser Lake, and health system partners exploring how drones can improve access to care in rural communities. A roundtable event in Prince George, guided by the Partnership Pentagram Plus (PPP+) model, brought together researchers, providers, industry, community members, and policy makers to co-create a shared vision for the next phase of the DTI. Pre- and post-event surveys (n=30 and n=31) showed high satisfaction and a statistically significant increase in participants’ clarity about their role in the DTI and willingness to advocate for the project. Findings highlight the PPP+ model as an effective approach for fostering engagement and building advocacy, informing future DTI activities.
- Title: EPFL: An Ensembled Penalized Federated Learning Framework for Fall Detection
- Speaker: Sajal Saha
- Description: This presentation introduces EPFL (Ensembled Penalized Federated Learning), a novel framework for fall detection that integrates federated learning, penalized local training, homomorphic encryption, and personalized ensemble inference. Using wearable sensor data, EPFL achieved superior performance compared to centralized and traditional federated models, with a recall of 88.31% and an F1-score of 89.94%. By addressing data privacy, non-IID distribution, and individual behavioral diversity, EPFL offers a scalable, privacy-preserving, and adaptable solution for real-world fall detection in healthcare.
- Title: Social Robots for Promoting Physical Well-Being for Community Health
- Speaker: Shruti Chandra
- Description: This presentation explores the development of an intelligent human-robot interaction system designed to promote physical well-being in remote and rural communities. Using a social robot, tablet interface, and heart rate monitoring, the system guides users through cardio exercises while providing personalized, real-time feedback. Early technical testing shows strong performance and readiness for pilot deployment, with upcoming studies set to evaluate usability, user experience, and impact. This work highlights the potential of socially assistive robots to enhance health promotion and support community well-being in underserved regions.