ATU604 – Gray Matters Alliance with Vicki Spraul and Aaron Milligan

Hi, this is Aaron Milligan and I’m here with my colleague Vicki Spraul. We are the proud owners of Gray Matters Alliance, and this is Your Assistive Technology Update.

Hello, and welcome to Your Assistive Technology Update. A weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the In Data Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 604 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on December 23rd, 2022.

On today’s show, we’re super excited to welcome Vicki Spraul and Aaron Milligan from Gray Matters Alliance on. They’re going to talk about some of the great things that they do to help older individuals and individuals with developmental disabilities stay more independent. Don’t forget, if you’ve got a question, a comment, or someone you’d like to hear interviewed on the show, please drop us a line. You can email us at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Give us a call at 317-721-7124, or hit us up on Twitter @indataproject.

We want to take a moment just to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. And as always, thank you for giving us a listen. Now, let’s go ahead and get on with the show.

Maybe you’re looking for some new podcasts to listen to. Well, make sure to check out our sister podcast, Accessibility Minute and ATFAQ or Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions. If you’re super busy and don’t have time to listen to a full podcast, be sure to check out Accessibility Minute, our one-minute-long podcast that gives you just a little taste of something assistive technology based so that you’re able to get your assistive technology fixed without taking up the whole day. Hosted by Tracy Castillo. This show comes out weekly.

Our other show is Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions or ATFAQ. On Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions Brian Norton leads our panel of experts, including myself, Belva Smith, and our own Tracy Castillo, as we try to answer your assistive technology questions. This show does rely on you, so we’re always looking for new questions, comments, or even your answers on assistive technology questions. So remember, if you’re looking for more assistive technology podcasts to check out, you can check out our sister shows Accessibility Minute and ATFAQ wherever you get your podcast, now including Spotify and Amazon Music

Listeners today, we’re excited to welcome Vicki Sprawl and Aaron Milligan from the Gray Matters Alliance to the show to talk about some of the cool things that they offer for individuals with disabilities and seniors to stay more independent. Vicki, Aaron, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having us

Nice meeting you. Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, I am really excited to get into talking about everything, but before we get into talking about Gray Matters Alliance, could you tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Sure. Vicki, why don’t you go ahead?

Sure, sure. So yeah, so we’ve had Gray Matters Alliance here for a few years and we’re nationwide. We’re growing every day and we really try to be that one-stop shop for people in terms of what can we do to help their loved one stay more independent and to live more safely. And I’m more of the operationals person and Aaron is more the clinical person. He can tell you a little bit more about his side of things.

Yeah, I’ve been in the field of occupational therapy as a CODA for over 30 years now, and what got me into the field was my father was a traumatic brain injury when he was 36 years old. I was 11 years old at the time. He had a heart attack on softball field and became brain anoxic. And we spent my life since I was 11 years old in this field dedicated to creating independence and safety for those with intellectual developmental disabilities, different types of abilities, and seniors as well.

Awesome. Well, you kind of touched a little bit on the Gray Matters Alliance, but let’s go ahead and talk about when was it started and why.

I originally started it back in 2013 kind of as a side gig, actually. And the main thing we were doing at the time were driving assessments for our seniors to make sure that they can continue to drive safely, And then we just sort of morphed from that. As visiting with the families, you hear all the concerns, not just the driving. And a lot of it had to do with the seniors, their loved ones living alone and they want them to live in their homes, age in place, but they were nervous they weren’t taking their meds, or they were a fall hazard, that sort of thing, so we started to get into assistive technologies.

I thought, “There has to be something out there to help these families so that the seniors can stay age in place and give the families peace of mind.” And so that’s kind of how we morphed into the assistive technology side of things. And then Aaron joined me with his clinical background. It was just such a great fit. And then he’s actually the one that kind of got us into that intellectual and developmentally disabled population as well. So a lot of crossover between the seniors and the IDD community, and it was just a natural fit, and we just keep growing and growing as the needs arise.

Nice. And I like that you brought up the crossover between the groups. It seems like so many times, I don’t know, there’s so much that can help one side, but it only serves the other and-

True.

And so I like that Aaron was able to bring that all together and kind of see that some of the things that can help one group can be very beneficial to the others.

Definitely.

Very much the same. And originally the remote monitoring, yeah, came from the idea of seniors, and when we started to introduce the idea to the IDD world it took off. It was great. And let’s be honest, it was… When the pandemic broke out, telehealth, remote monitoring, and that stuff, which really wasn’t on the table as much really sprung assistive technology and remote monitoring and needing to create some sort of independence, really brought that around to the top of the list.

Oh, for sure. For sure. Let’s dig a little bit more kind of into that just because we do talk a lot about technology. And, well, I know you have other programs that can help folks stay independent, and I think you call it the GMA system. Is that right?

Yeah, the GMA system. So we actually have two systems. We have a one and a two. And it’s really, we try to take a holistic view, an overall view. It’s not just one thing somebody needs. They don’t just need motion sensing or medication management. If there’s one issue, there’s many issues. And if there’s one person that has these issues, then many other people have these issues as well. So our system really is designed to cover all the needs as best we can under one roof, so to speak. One system to learn and everything’s under one spot.

So our system really does everything from medication management to vitals. It keeps somebody engaged socially. Communication in order to get ahold of somebody when they need them. Educational tutorials to help somebody modify their lifestyle or provide tools to help somebody remain independent or to become independent. So there’s all sorts of educational tutorials.

We’re able to work with different therapies and have them put their input into the system as well. And so we have two of them. We have a monitor version and a tablet version. The tablet version is more portable, and so we got some individuals that are in vocational rehab. Some of our clients go to school, so it’s just a more portable way to get them the reminders and so on.

The one thing about what we’ve tried to do, again, Vicki mentioned a holistic approach, but there’s so many other things that are involved with what’s going on in the world today. So what we’re finding is that the needs we’re creating are for a huge hole in the gap of just caregiving in general. There’s a staffing crisis out there and people are turning to remote supports to help unburden some of that load, and to also… We think of our system as very therapeutic, so it’s a training product. So you can actually customize life skill trainings and things that people are working on to be independent. Anything from money management to cooking tasks to just home… just self-care needs, scheduling reminders, how-tos. So this can actually go and travel with them in not just taking care of their home and staying independent, but it can travel with them and they can work on skills while they’re trying to work on slowly being more and more independent and away from that one-on-one skill level.

And each system is customized. It’s very person-centered, so we go over the plan of action, if you will, with case managers, social workers, service coordinators, et cetera, on what that person needs and wants versus anybody else. So that system is designed specifically for that person, for that person’s goals and milestones.

Nice. And that’s kind of a little bit different than a lot of things. Whenever we think about remote monitoring, I think of someone sitting in a room somewhere watching cameras is kind of the old school way, and then sensors and things like that. But yeah, it sounds like your system’s a little bit more the person becoming more independent not just by having someone kind of watching them all the time.

Exactly.

Right, and we do offer those, that home safety aspects.

Sure.

So motion sensors and contact sensors and pathway lighting and smart knobs and help pendants, and we certainly do that. But the difference is that we’ve also incorporated the telehealth and telemedicine, along with a therapeutic aspect to actually literally helping caregivers and their clients to work on life skills and work on becoming more independent.

Nice. Nice. And like I said, that’s just that extra step that really can kind of help and I’m sure really helps foster independence for individuals. What does the training look like for them? So let’s say that there’s some life skills that I want to learn. Is it kind of video modeling, or is it just tailored to that individual? How does that work or what does that look like?

Yeah, so we can customize videos. We work with a lot of therapists, actually. A lot of speech therapists. So we can actually download custom videos or we can pull anything off of the internet or apps or anything we want and create this library of needs inside the system, and we can set those to go off at certain amount of time. So let’s say it’s time to get ready for work and you need reminders. “Hey, don’t forget your badge. Don’t forget your hat,” don’t forget whatever it is. But let’s go through these step-by-step to make sure you do it.

One great story, we were at a conference and these were younger teenagers, but they were getting ready to bridge out of that 18-year-old… They’re getting ready to graduate. So what’s next, right? They have all these life goals that they want to work on, but they need assistance. Right? They need a little help to get through their day. So that’s what we allow to happen.

Very nice, very nice. And just so I don’t get too far away from the monitoring part too, because you’d mentioned a couple things there Aaron, but I want to touch on it a little bit. What all kinds of things can be monitored? I mean, everyone always thinks about cameras and that’s kind of the old school, kind of only thing that was available there for a long time. But as far as the peace of mind from the family member or the caregiver, what all kinds of things can be monitored in the home just to make sure that someone is, well, doing the things they’re supposed to be doing and maybe not doing the things that they’re not?

Oh, all sorts of things. So did someone take their medications when they were supposed to? Checking on the vitals. The vitals are important because maybe you can catch something that becomes amiss. All of our systems will graph and chart the vitals, so you start to see patterns. You start to see 30, 60, 90 days’ worth of historical data. That helps somebody with their medical issues. Motion sensing. Did someone get out of bed when they were supposed to? Is there lack of motion? Did somebody fall? Contact sensors. Were different things accessed or opened? Was a door opened at 1:00 in the morning when it wasn’t supposed to be? Was the refrigerator accessed? Did somebody eat like they were supposed to? All sorts of stuff.

Fall risks, pathway lightings. We make sure that somebody didn’t fall, somebody didn’t trip, somebody didn’t escape. We have a lot of wanderers and elopers, so any kind of sensing like that we do, we check for the doorbells, for example. Who’s showing up at the door? Who is being let in the house when maybe they shouldn’t be let in? Were Windows left open? What am I missing, Aaron? Just all sorts of stuff inside the house can be monitored.

We do a lot of work. One of our biggest well-known products is called Angel Sense, and we deal a lot with some people with autism. And obviously, they’re higher level and they can get out in the community, but GPS location and being able to geo track and know that somebody made it off the bus to their job or to school, things like that. So the problems out there are just immense, so we take all that and basically our job, what we do is we take that picture of that person and we collaborate all of our assistive technologies and our remote monitoring systems or our teaching systems to create a very customized, personalized approach.

We also have some young folks that are living by themselves for the first time and it’s party city sometimes. They’re like, “Yeah, I’m going to stay up late and play video games and watch TV.” And we have a lot of moms saying, “Yeah, I want to make sure that TV is off by 11:00 and they’re in bed,” and that sort of thing. So we can monitor pretty much anything. And like you said, cameras are a no-no inside unless there’s a special case. But we can put cameras on the outside too just to make sure there’s nobody coming and going when they shouldn’t be. But living on their own for the first time, there’s a lot of things that the mom wants to know is being monitored. Also, too, we didn’t mention fire and CO2 safety as well. Environmental. We can monitor for temperature in the house. This holds true a lot for our seniors who can’t really sometimes tell if they’re hot or cold. They’ve lost that sensation, or they’re being frugal and they don’t want to turn on the air or the heat when they should be.

Sure. I didn’t even think about the frugal part, but yeah, that could definitely be something as well. Yeah, and I kind of imagine peace of mind for all parties involved, not just the individuals’ family members, caregivers, or something like that knowing these things are done. But also I’m sure for some folks the anxiety and things that come from being by ourselves is… can be helped a little bit by knowing that someone is kind of checking up on you a little bit.

Absolutely. Yeah. At any moment, at any time, you can do a face-to-face call with somebody and it’s two-way. So you’re able to talk to Mom or a doctor or whatever you need to do.

One of the most important things we haven’t really discussed yet is the fact that we can actually set alerts and parameters. So anytime someone would take a vital, or let’s say that door did open up at a late part of night, which is uncommon or something like that, so we set rules inside of the system that say, “Hey, if a blood pressure is above or below this, I want you to send out an alert, a warning to that particular care circle.” Or if someone went down to the basement and never came up, or it could be anything, Josh. We could go on for hours about situations-

Oh, sure.

Right.

… that we’ve worked on.

Yeah, the alarm [inaudible 00:17:31].

But [inaudible 00:17:31] on of the-

I’m sorry, Aaron.

One of the most important things too I wanted to mention is that this isn’t always just about… What we’re trying to do is also address the caregiving and assist caregivers with skills and things to work on while they’re with their client, so it’s augmentative care as well. So we can add, and managers can be in touch with caregivers, and literally within seconds. It takes about six seconds from the time you get an alert to the time you can actually be on a face-to-face call using the monitors.

Nice. And I guess when you brought up the training, I kind of did focus on the individual, but, yeah, I never even thought about the caregivers and the training that’s available to them through there.

We could give you many, many… Sometimes we’ve had clients that don’t actually use the system themselves. It’s just basically we’ve set up home safety monitoring remotely where there’s nothing for them to do. We turn off everything. Right? So all they got to have to do is really not touch the monitor, but the family is getting all the information. “Hey, somebody came to the door. A delivery happened.” “She left to go to her doctor’s appointment,” or anything like that, so it really can be for those family members or caregivers themselves.

So what about data security on a system like this? I know there’s HIPAA constraints, other things that folks worry about. How are those kind of taken into consideration?

So our systems are HIPAA compliant. They are permission-based-only system, meaning you have to have permission to enter the system. So our systems never get hacked or spammed or malware or anywhere like that. An email gets sent out, somebody has to actually acknowledge the email and set up their password, and so on. That allows them into the system and it’s a very safe system.

Very nice. Very nice. Guys, we got a little bit of time left. And Aaron, you kind of brought up one, but could you tell me maybe a story or two just about some folks that have really been able to be more independent by using Gray Matters Alliance and those things that you offer?

We have a few of our favorite stories. So, Vicki, while you’re thinking of one, I’m going to go ahead with Justin because this one was a very sad, difficult case. But Justin was one of our first clients years and years ago, but the family had come to us. He was born non-verbal and wheelchair-bound, and he is now 38 years old, and his family has never left his side. And they were coming up on retirement age and they’ve never had a chance to have a vacation or really left his side. And they’re like, “We’d really like to be able to enjoy ourselves.”

Well, they put Justin in respite care for two weeks while they went on vacation, and when they got back he was covered in stage-four wounds.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Yeah. And here this poor guy is sitting. They didn’t move him, or put him in his chair correctly, or anything like that. Well, of course, his family’s devastated, right?

Mm-hmm.

Here they’ve never left their child for a minute, and the minute they do, this happens. So obviously, the mom was a little destroyed about this and was swearing she was never going to leave the house again. And basically, what we did was not only come up with a video library for caregivers that were there, we were able to schedule a rotation for him to be turned in bed with a reminder every two hours that would go off. Obviously, there was some wound care needs. So we were able to upload wound care how-tos from the physician. And not only that, but we were able to monitor when a caregiver was coming in and out of the house from then on. Gave Mom control so she could live her life without being in fear. She could check in any time with a telehealth call, even if it was just to go to the store.

But then on top of that, we took it to a whole nother level. So a lot of caregivers with somebody who has non-communication and non-verbal needs, it’s hard to engage because you don’t understand that person. So we were able to come up with personalized videos. He had created his own sign language and certain movements meant certain things, and we were able to video that. But we were also able to engage in some sensory techniques because he really couldn’t communicate. He liked a fan on him. So we put in a smart plug and scheduled a fan to go off at certain times of the day. And then we downloaded some sensory techniques for the caregiver so that they could give him a little stimulation and do a little more than just sit and let him sit in his chair and wonder what he’s thinking. So we were able to really take his care to a whole nother level and give Mom and Dad that peace of mind that something horrible that would never happen again.

I actually have maybe a quick one here. I’m thinking of our medication lady, Aaron. We had an individual who, she was very high functioning. She had a part-time job. She was under state’s care because she had some mental health issues that required medication. She was very non-compliant. Very non-compliant, and so there was some concerns that she may harm herself or others if she doesn’t take her meds.

She was engaged to be married, and I think she has since gotten married, but we put in certain protocols in the system where it wasn’t just, “Yeah, I acknowledge I took the pills,” but we do second and third-level kind of precautions. So we put a contact sensor where she’s supposed to get her medications, but then the third part of this was to visually watch her take her pills. Not us, but her caregivers, so they kind of kept her in check. Yeah, you can say you took your meds, but did you? Yeah, you can say you accessed the contact or the drawer for the medications, but did you? So it was that visual prompt I think that made her more compliant because she couldn’t lie about that.

It took her a while. She got used to the system, she abided by it, she was compliant, and she no longer is part of the state. Part of the state’s care. She was able to go out on her own. So, to me, that’s a success story. We lost her as a client, but that’s a good thing because that means she did what she was supposed to do and now she [inaudible 00:24:35].

Yeah, she was able to… Yeah, through our system, she was able to show the state that she could be compliant.

And that’s, I guess, the best independence because you no longer have to have the state kind of watching over you and-

Exactly.

… doing those kind of things, so that’s awesome. And I love the way that both those stories kind of show the independence of the individual, but actually what they want to do too. You know what I mean?

Right.

And really progressing on and being able to teach them new things and just move in whole new directions.

Right. Exactly.

So that is really awesome. Well, if our listeners want to find out more kind of about the Gray Matters Alliance and everything that y’all offer, what’s the best way for them to do that?

Well, several different ways. They can go to our website, of course, which is www.graymattersalliance.com. They can email us at info@graymattersalliance.com. Our phone number’s 314-266-2678. They can also call us on that and we’ll get right back to them. We’d love to hear from them if they have any questions at all.

Excellent. We will put all of that down in the show notes. Well, Vicki, Aaron, thank you so much for coming on today, telling us all the great… Well, not even, probably barely scratch the surface of all the great things-

Yeah, we could probably have two or three more talks.

I was going to say, but, well, thank you for letting me focus on the technology part just because I know that’s what our listeners kind of do. And sometimes it’s good to at least give them a little bit of an idea so they can go and check everything on out for themselves. But thank you again for coming on and telling us about some of the great things that you all do.

Our pleasure.

Thanks, Josh.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on an Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org, or shoot us a note on Twitter @indataproject.

Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or INTRAC. You can find out more about INTRAC at relayindiana.com.

A special thanks to Nicole Prietto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the In Data Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners, or this host. This was Your Assistive Technology Update., and I’m Josh Anderson with the In Data Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.