Stroke patients to get Wii therapy over the NBN

NBN Co CEO donates $2 million to fund the project

The NBN Co has begun selling the National Broadband Network’s (NBN) benefit to the health sector, announcing that stroke patients will shortly receive Wii-based therapy over the network.

The initiative, run by the NBN Co and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), will see the NBN used to deliver remote rehabilitation therapy using Nintendo’s Wii gaming device.

The therapy will see participants take part in ten one-hour sessions at home over a two-week period. During this time a therapist based in Sydney will supervise patients using video images and sensor data relayed over the NBN to analyse the patient’s movements and provide feedback.

According to NeuRA’s Dr Penelope McNulty, initial tests of Wii-based therapy to improve stroke-affected hands and arms indicated that stroke patients could gain significant improvements to their ability to move after just two weeks of treatment.

According to NBN Co chief executive officer (CEO), Mike Quigley, the research project was an example of the way in which health services could be delivered to patients in remote and regional areas.

“As our population ages, neurological diseases will be a big cost to the community, and cost-effective, broadband-based health solutions will be of growing importance,” he said in a statement.

The project will be funded through the donation of $2 million by Quigley himself – equal to his first year’s salary as NBN Co CEO.

More about: etwork, Nintendo, Quigley

Comments

1

D Newman

Tue 29/06/2010 - 09:15

I also noted that Mike Quigley is donating his first years entire wages of 2 million dollars to the stroke charity, now this is either a very generous man, (or my cynical side says) a very shrewd polictical move.
Either way anyone that interferes with Mr Quigley, ie should the coalition win, will have to be carefull after that public decalaration for the next 18 months.

Now dont get me wrong, i,m not bagging the move its a win/win for a deserving charity, and goes a long way to show the human side of something, and lets be honest, not many of the average public finds soft warm and fuzzy the concept of computers and the internet.
My own mother is a classic technophobia victim, who still rings me up with some basic question about windows, ie "Its ask me do I want to restart", and she types like she is defusing a 200lb bomb and with the same amount of grim determination on her face.
Now she will find this story akin to "kitten rescued from tree" and will look apon this NBN thingie in a slightly different light, will still call it a thingie, but small step, small steps.

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