The first Sammons Center for Innovation and Research in Occupational Based Technology grant was awarded this year to Carolyn Sithong, chief health officer of Home for Life Design, a leader in home assessment software for students, professionals, hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
Carolyn Sithong
The Sammons Center provided $2,500 toward the development of Home for Life’s SPACE (Safe Personalized Accessible Cost-Effective)™, a Web-based mobile application and integrated Web portal that enables home health professionals to perform home assessments in the field and generate comprehensive electronic reports for patients, doctors, hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
SPACE has now been adapted for a student environment, providing a digital home evaluation tool that gives students real world experience as they prepare for careers in health care. The WMU Department of Occupational Therapy recently selected this software for education and classroom training of its occupational therapy students in home evaluations for the aged population and persons with disabilities. The occupational therapy program at Boston University has also selected the software.
“Western is excited about bringing our students the latest technology in health care service,” said occupational therapy professor Dr. Debra Lindstrom. “Through the use of Home for Life’s solution, we are preparing them to increase the level of efficiency and performance in occupational therapy.”
Sithong is pleased to have received the Sammons Center innovation grant and to share the technology with aspiring occupational therapists at the two universities. “Bringing new and innovative tools that help OT’s expand the quality and consistency of health care for the aging and disabled is the goal of our efforts at Home for Life Design,” she states. “By working with Boston University and Western Michigan University, we are creating a new generation of service to the health care market.”