CaringFamily is major participant in ground-breaking research initiative
$5.5M Federal and private grant to study new technology's effect on the disabled
Louisville, CO - October 7, 2004: CaringFamilyLLC announced today that it is a key industrial participant in a $5.5 million research initiative recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The grant's purpose is to establish a new center at CU-Denver to study the effect of future technologies on those suffering from cognitive disabilities.
New Center to study breakthrough technology
The new Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies at CU-Denver Center, the first of its kind in the nation, will bring together engineers, scientists, and educators to study and help perfect tools to help people with impairments cope, and to help their loved ones stay in touch. An elite group of private industrial partners, including CaringFamily, will supply the Center and their research subjects with innovative new technical solutions to specific medical challenges within the grant's scope.
"The money is so critical, in order for us to realize these amazing technologies," principal investigator and new Center director Cathy Bodine said. "Ultimately, through the work of this center, people with cognitive disabilities will be able to live more independent lives." Bodine also heads Assistive Technology Partners and Physical Medicine Rehabilitation at CU-Denver and Health Sciences Center.
New technology for critical health challenges
CaringFamily will contribute prototype versions of its as-yet-unannounced system for enhanced family communication to the effort. The new Center will apply these systems in structured research to observe the effect the company's solution, as well as other tools, have on the cognitively disabled. Specifically, the center will attempt to quantify the benefits Alzheimer patients and their caregivers experience when more closely and effectively connected through the use of the CaringFamily system.
Bodine will coordinate the Center's research efforts with CaringFamily's product development timeline. "We're pleased to that CaringFamily has agreed to participate in our research initiative, since the company's upcoming offering ties so directly to our Center's mission," she commented. "We believe the research will bear out my belief that CaringFamily's solution represents a revolutionary advance in the quality of life for the disabled and elderly and the families that support them."
A new era for the disabled and elderly
"We're thrilled to be a participant in the CU/NIDRR initiative, and the many important research efforts it represents," CaringFamily President and CEO Paul Davoust commented. "CaringFamily's charter is to dramatically enhance quality of life for the elderly and disabled through innovative solutions to the challenges they face in staying connected to family and social groups. In conjunction with Cathy's new Center at CU-Denver, we anticipate dramatic advances in the understanding of appropriate support systems for the disabled." 
About CaringFamily
CaringFamily provides the first service that brings the therapeutic benefits of family communications to elder care. The service enables assisted living and other care professionals to encourage active dialog between seniors in their care and their families, regardless of location-every day, with virtually no additional effort. Scientific studies point to dramatic therapeutic outcomes from such communications, including enhanced physical and mental health and, ultimately, longer life spans—as well as substantial profitability gains for the senior care companies that provide it. Located in Louisville, CO, CaringFamily is privately held. More information is available at www.caringfamily.com.
To contact us for more information:
CaringFamily, LLC
1003 Turnberry Cir
Louisville, CO 80027-9594
303-442-2607
