A Portable Low Power Health Monitoring and Assistance for Critical Patients During Natural Disasters

Durable Medical Equipments (DME) such as ventilators, dialysis machines, and patient monitoring devices are life-supporting devices which are used extensively by the patients at home. These devices are electrically operated. While convenient and economical at home use of DME is susceptible to power outages, especially the ones caused by natural disasters that occur in large area and for a long time. To overcome this difficulty there is a technology which allows the hospitals to monitor DME- dependent patients without using the current infrastructure, such as the landlines, the cell towers, Ethernet cable or the Internet, which utilizes a radio ad hoc network to automatically report the patient’s information and location, DME information and status to a nearby hospital when a power outage is detected. The system consists of two parts: a hospital-based receiving device called the Base station node and the multiple transmitting devices called User nodes, each connected to the DME at patient’s home. The two stations communicate with each other; transmit the data using Xbee radio implementing Zigbee protocol. The system is provided with rechargeable battery which can be recharged by mechanical system in the absence of electricity. The system works without relying on the infrastructure, and allows hospital staff to know the information and locations of DME and their users and provide help needed during natural disasters.