Mar 6, 20232 min read

Vulnerabilities and Fragilities in the Elderly

Updated: Jan 21

Shaping Connections Founder and Director, Associate Professor Bernardo Figueiredo explores how older adults are using technology on his recent study tour to Europe.

Today, Nil Toulouse took me to meet two Professors from VulnérÂge in France.

Beuscart Jean-baptiste is a Hospital Practitioner in the Acute Geriatric Medicine Department, Specialist in the Course of Care, Drug Interactions and Artificial Intelligence, and Director of METRICS). Professor philippe sabot is a Major Specialist of the work of Michel Foucault and President of the Michel Foucault Centre. VulnérÂge is a research program conducted within the University of Lille by a group of researchers from several research units in health and human and social sciences, committed to making an original contribution to contemporary questions related to demographic and social changes in our developed societies. They seek the development and structuring of an interdisciplinary and participatory research program relating to the vulnerabilities and fragilities linked to the experiences of illness and care in the elderly. Together we all went to meet Professor Éric Boulanger who is Professor of Geriatrics and Biology of Aging at the School of Health and Sport, University of Lille.

Eric is the creator and mastermind behind https://tempoforme.fr/ The tempoforme® is a health prevention program aimed at identifying, evaluating and supporting (pre)frailty in people advancing in age. It starts with a fun digital health application for regular self-assessment, then a follow up with teleconsultation, and a visit to a dedicated space led by a network of professionals trained in frailty. While there I had the chance to test the different devices and realize its potential in the preventive detection of frailty. I am looking forward to exploring possibilities of collaborating with the VulnerAge group.