The Bolzano newspaper “METROpolis” features gAALaxy in it’s January edition and talked to Mr Carlo Alberto Librera,  Director of Local Community Services at the municipality of Bolzano, about the potentials of gAALaxy.

For the city of Bolzano, including AAL technologies – and in particular the gAALaxy-system – to assisted living facilites maintained by the municipality is a project of high priority. “I would like to equipe all housings managed by Assb (Azienda Servizi Sociali di Bolzano) with gAALaxy as early as next year“, Mr Librera says. “I know very well that this is an ambitious goal, but all our work goes into this direction. Home automation is an important tool that we have available. We must be good at making it accessible also to the elderly, and by that significantly improving their quality of life within their own homes.”

What Mr Librera finds most convincing about the gAALaxy approach is its ability to adapt to a local context: “The first element really decisive is that gAALaxy allows to establish contact with local emergency service providers. If something happens, an emergency call is taken by a local White Cross operator and not by a technician in Rome or Milano. This makes the system more reliable and shortens intervention times.”

For the city of Bolzano and Mr Librera, the potential key benefit of all research in the AAL field in general and gAALaxy in particular is to allow older adults to delay or even avoid a transition to a care home, which he sees as an advantage for both individuals and administrators: “Without doubt, this would be a considerable step forward. Not because the city’s care homes are bad, but because everyone prefers to stay in their own homes. Having an effective prevention and intervention system is the key to achieving this purpose. This is also why the municipal council, with mayor Renzo Caramaschi in the lead, observes the project gAALaxy with great attention.”

Finally, the Director sees also a social value in the involvement of elderly people in a project like gAALaxy, dealing with modern and advanced information technology systems. “This ‘meeting of cultures’ is useful for everyone. The developers are able to refine their technologies to make them accessible for all, the administration promotes an innovative project very close to the needs of the users. And the elderly become familiar with the most modern technologies without remaining excluded. It is a circle revolving around a core that does good to everyone.”

You can read the whole article in our news section (Article in Italian).