Tour the exhibition floor

From people watching them fly, pink gifts to a demo ambulance where you can build with lego. A tour of the Care & ICT exhibition floor shows just how diverse the healthcare innovation landscape is again this year.

Catching butterflies

On the exhibition floor, visitors wearing glasses make strange movements in the air with their hands. In a Mixed Reality they have to catch butterflies and bring them to the right flowers. Holomoves gives a whole new dimension with this Mixed Reality software, says Christine de Wit. "Think especially of geriatric and dementia patients who can use this for very functional rehabilitation. They are reactivated thanks to this software. Also patients in wheelchairs can catch butterflies."

According to De Wit, eight rehabilitation centers are already working with Holomoves' Mixed Reality. What that yields in terms of results is now being studied, De Wit says. "We have a research project going on right now. What we do see already is that the intensity goes up as patients practice, without them realizing it. Implicit learning sticks better, we see."

Plenty of presents

One of the eye-catchers at Care & ict is Momo Medical's booth. A huge pile of pink gifts and bunches of presents surround a hospital bed. Mike van Wieringen of the relatively young company Momo Medical, winner of the National Care Innovation Award two years ago, explains that the gifts represent a new functionality in the Momo Bedsense App. This app allows care workers in inpatient elderly care to better organize their work by remotely checking how residents are doing. As a result, they need to make fewer rounds, and experience less workload. This form of e-health also offers advantages for the elderly. They get more rest because they are less disturbed.

So starting in the summer, the app will gain new functionality. Care personnel will also be able to find aids within the elderly care facilities. Think of wheelchairs or hoists that have been placed somewhere by colleagues. Thanks to a small blue transmitter button attached to the aids, employees can quickly find them via the app. The functionality has been tested and developed further, and will be launched after the summer. "Then we will implement the functionality playfully in the healthcare facilities," Van Wieringen says. "We're going to hide gifts that they can then find using the Momo app."

According to van Wieringen, the new functionality was really developed together with the care staff. "Often the ICT person determines what the care needs. We determined that precisely with the employees. We focus on what they really need. We are obsessed with care."

Winning wheelchair

In addition, the Ezer, the stand-up wheelchair, with which J58 won this year's National Care Innovation Award, was much in demand on the exhibition floor. This fully mechanical wheelchair, with a unique standing function, works on the basis of smart gas springs that are tuned to the weight of the user. With this wheelchair, the user can both stand and move around in a standing position. Thijs den Engelse of J58 explains how the idea for this wheelchair came about. "A friend of our CEO ended up in a wheelchair after an accident and wanted to stand again. He developed a prototype. To work that out better and he came to us. The Ezer is the first product we developed. We have now sold the first three Ezers, and are now going to approach more hospitals, rehabilitation centers and private companies."

IT first aid

PQR offers IT first aid. The company that also describes itself as a "rest maker in IT" is on the exhibition floor with a real ambulance. In front of it, people are creating dolls with lego. Fiona Soomer explains how the conversation originates. She and colleague Pim Roest in the ambulance show how they, together with partners, offer a whole IT system for healthcare institutions. "We show the digital workplace of the future for the doctor and nurse. With the demo ambulance we drive past events, but also past customers on location."

For example, a physician logs into a workstation in the morning. The digital work environment that contains X-rays, for example, can be accessed at a variety of workstations throughout the day thanks to a Tap&Go system on a variety of devices, from tablets, phones to wearables during surgery. "By removing the IT clutter, doctors and nurses can focus more on the work at hand; you get more hands at the bedside."

Platform without vendor clamp

Software manufacturer IQ Messenger keeps a close eye on trends in healthcare. Their vendor-independent open platform helps healthcare organizations bring together multiple systems and associated protocols, into applications. "That's really our strength," states marketing manager Femmy Reijnders. "We have no vendor lock-in because we can interface with anything. This allows us to respond well to trends such as AI video detection and personal security.

"We are looking at how we can deploy labor-saving technology with our open platform," continued head of sales Eloy Holster. "The advantage of our platform is that you can immediately apply the latest innovations, without first having to install other applications on your smartphone or answer difficult adoption questions. The open platform also offers added value in mergers, Holster says. "For example, you see when nursing homes merge that different institutions work with different brands. That's difficult for staff to exchange. Using one uniform interface makes it easier for them to work together."

There are no gadgets to score for visitors at the IQ Messenger booth. They all throw those away anyway, said Femmy Reijnders. "We have coffee with syrup waffles on sale. And on the fair Wednesday we always have our bartender mixing blue cocktails and mocktails. So you missed that one, unfortunately. So next year plan this tour on Wednesdays!"