Alix, a digital tool dedicated to caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease, has arrived on the market to provide answers to all these individuals who are doing their best. A way to allow them not to feel abandoned. One of the co-founders, Lydie Catalano, agreed to answer our questions.
- Alix is a chatbot (conversational tool) that provides help and support to caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
- Alix is completely free and requires no registration, therefore no confidential data.
- New features will appear such as the possibility of having access to recipes concocted by a chef from the Paul Bocuse Institute in order to improve the nutritional state of patients.
We are not born a helper, we become one by force of circumstances and we have to deal with it. And Lydie Catalano and her team understood this and decided to improve their lives. For this, they created Alicea chatbot (or conversational tool) designed to accompany and support caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Lydie Catalano, former caregiver turned self-employed and co-founder of AI-Medical (the start-up) and Alicethe virtual assistant, tells us a little more.
When asked the reason that pushed her to create Aliceshe simply tells us that she and her associates (her brother, 2 other IT specialists, 2 psychologists, 1 person from personal services) have, for the most part, themselves had to accompany close relatives who have suffered from the disease. of Alzheimer’s and that ” it was an obstacle course “. For the team, this is a project that was close to their hearts with the possibility of “ putting technology at the service of users in the field of care pathways “.
Alice : a tool dedicated to caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients
Alice is a tool, of which artificial intelligence (AI) is an essential component, designed with caregivers and which makes it possible to respond to 3 issues according to Lydie Catalano. Firstly, it can resolve problems related to financial aid, but also provide information on local information points and services (for example, who to contact when the diagnosis has been made, where to go for guardianship , which can help to arrange an apartment…). And the 3th mission ofAlice, not least, is to allow people to recognize themselves as a caregiver. Indeed, as Lydie Catalano points out, “caregivers are often told that they must take care of themselves. But there is actually a mixture of guilt and priesthood.” She emphasizes “that we must recognize the impact that helping has on the life of the caregiver, whether in terms of finances, time for friends and for oneself, work and, among other things , medical appointments to be ensured.” Alice is therefore used to take care of yourself and your sick loved one.
Alice : new features in development
There are 2 versions of this conversation simulator which can be used either by clicking on the preconstructed sentences (click version), or by writing the request directly in the “write here” space (companion version). The answers are drawn from a database that the teamAI-Medical took 2 ½ years to develop with professionals in the field and caregivers to provide a tailor-made response to the needs expressed.
And when we ask Lydie Catalano if it is a chatbot that learns from our requests and gets enriched thanks to them, she tells us that “ to learn there must be errors but to date there is no error rate “. Initially Alice has constantly evolved based on feedback and suggestions from users and partners, in order to guarantee ever more effective support adapted to each situation. Lydie Catalano tells us that it is more the development of new features that are currently in demand. For example, offering adapted menus taking into account the malnutrition frequently encountered in this type of patient. As such, the development of “ Greedy senior ” is in progress “ allowing us to offer recipes that can be adapted via artificial intelligence and the advice included in Alix, from very simple recipes that take between 15 and 30 minutes to prepare and which were concocted by a chef from the Paul Institute Bocuse. »
Alice : no application download but free and open access
And on the question “on which platform it is possible to download the application”, Lydie Catalano’s response is categorical: “ There will never be an application because that would require going through a “store” [(google play, apple store…)] with collection of personal data “. The IA-Medical team does not want users to be forced to register and therefore give their names, and above all that it remains free. Caregivers can therefore “ consult Alix without having to register and the chatbot can thus collect verbatim comments from people who, if they had had to enter their name, would perhaps not have dared to ask the question “.
This chatbot is dedicated to a single pathology, Alzheimer’s disease. A necessity to be effective. And AI-Medical is starting to receive requests for such a tool to be accessible for other neurodegenerative pathologies such as ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Reflections are underway.
And while one of the elements of the Carers Plan has just been revealed with 6,000 additional places expected in day care, over a weekend or a week, we hope for improvements in this area. Especially since there are between 8 and 11 million caregivers in France.
