Helping HANA

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/07/2016 (3346 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Luke Savoie may have only limited use of his left hand, but he has full command of the Internet of Things in his home.

He was born with cerebral palsy, is wheelchair-bound and is beta-testing a new device designed to give people with conditions such as his more independence.

Someday he wants to be a motivational speaker. To date he has provided plenty of inspiration to the professionals at Winnipeg-based Norima Innovations in their development of HANA (Home Access Network Assistant).

After about two years in development, Norima is launching HANA this week. It is a specialized home automation platform using Internet of Things technology to let those who need assistance control much more of their home environment than they ever could.

Norima has married existing technologies to a customized menu that can be activated by voice control or other shortcut activation — even with sip and puff controls that quadriplegics, for instance, use to control their wheelchairs —  to control lights, appliances, beds, phones, and televisions from a power wheelchair and/or bed.

David Kuik, the founder and CEO of Norima, is passionate about the process of developing technology that took a team of eight developers the better part of two years to launch. He’s also well aware of the challenges that will have to be met to get the product into the hands of the people who need it.

After building a high-end Winnipeg IT consultancy for 10 years into an 80-person shop (with an office in San Diego), the decision to develop the firm’s own intellectual property was measured as were the expectations — to make a return on investment and to create some good.

Asked what he hoped HANA’s success would be, Kuik said he believes it’s scalable to a global market but he would take a long-term approach just like he does with his consulting clients.

“But we feel pressure to succeed because there’s no way we want to let Luke and other users down,” Kuik said. “We have seen the impact we have made in their lives. We have to succeed. We can see that it works.”

David Kron, membership and program director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, is enthusiastic about the benefits of HANA. He said technology has been available for a while that can do one or two things, but its always been kind of clunky.

“The nice thing about HANA is that it is all-encompassing.” he said. “You can attach anything with an on-off switch to HANA.”

He said there is no doubt there is demand, especially from those with cerebral palsy, who have normal cognitive functions but little or no fine or gross-motor functions, so turning on a light switch is just not possible.

As the first test pilot for HANA, Luke is proud of the role he plays in consulting with Norima’s staff, telling them what he does and what works best. While he’s adept enough with HANA to prank his younger brother by changing the channel on the TV from another room, he appreciates the seriousness of the technology.

“It’s really helped me with my independence and my freedom,” he said. “For example, Mom and Dad can be downstairs or outside or shopping for an hour or two, and it’s fine. I have all I need in my own system. I am so grateful for people at HANA. It has made my life so much easier.”

While Luke went to another room to show a visitor how he can now operate the stair lift in the Savoie’s St. Boniface home, Luke’s parents Joseph and Nancy nod and smile in unison about the effect it’s had on their lives.

“It’s huge,” said Joseph. “Now we can go for more than 15 minutes at a time. Instead of getting called to help him 10 times an hour, often now he just tells us what he’s doing.”

‘It’s really helped me with my independence and my freedom… I am so grateful for people at HANA. It has made my life so much easier.’– Luke Savoie, who has cerebral palsy 

Norima has partnered exclusively with Reliable Mobility to make the product available. Reliable Mobility is a prominent accessibility equipment supplier in the city with a strong occupational therapist network.

At $5,800 each, all involved know financing will be a big part of the challenge in getting HANA out to the users.

Graham Todd, the director of operations at Reliable, said his company has been keen to be involved with HANA even while it was in development.

“Absolutely, it’s worthwhile,” he said. “It’s about creating independence for the end user and their parents and caregivers.”

But in the meantime, the product has to get on the radar screens of therapists and the fragmented potential funders from Manitoba Health, to organizations such as Kron’s and the Society for Manitobans With Disabilities, as well as insurers such as the Workers Compensation Board and Manitoba Public Insurance.

Todd has to tread a fine line when it comes to selling product because his business is about working closely with therapists who work with the funding agencies and end users. What they’re all looking for is a justification that the product will add to the quality of life of the users.

Luke Savoie and his family, along with David Kuik and his team at Norima, certainly believe HANA can do that.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca