Pria Mobile transcript

Guest:  Kimberly Naus

TopicPria Mobile

 

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Kimberly Naus, Director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Assistive Technology, and your host is yours truly Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Kim.

Guest:  Hello, Ernie, thank you for having me.

Host:  It's our pleasure. And this week, you have another exciting piece of assistive technology that can help people deal with medications but first, as always, you are here thanks to TRAID, if you could mention some things about what it does.

Guest:  Yes I'm here through New York State TRAID, which stands for Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities. It's a federally funded program, its nice because it’s your tax dollars going to work for you, enabling people to stay in their homes, or also to trial a device if you're looking to go back to work or school, or something happens beyond your control, which can assist, to make it a livable community and enable you to work and make money and you know not be on compensation or disability.

Host:  Well, Independent Living feels that anything that can help people live more independently in their home is indeed wonderful and we're very much appreciate what you do for folks. Any case you're here specifically to talk about the Pria Mobile, which to my mind sounds like a compact car from overseas, but it's something that is very useful for people who take medications. Just what does the Pria Mobile do for them?

Guest:  Okay, the Pria Mobileis actually a little robot. And it's much more cost effective, than the device I talked about last time which was the MediCube. It's a device only costing $299.99. There is a subscription with it. But with this device you will never miss a dose of medication. It is an automated medic medication dispensary. It delivers the medication on time as scheduled. It does have a subscription though that's the only difference so it's $9.99 a month. So you then have to have a smart device, because you have to be able to use the mobile app, either on your smartphone or your iPad. It does hold 28 doses of medications. When it's time for the dose to be scheduled it will alert the user, either on the app, or it will speak to you. And then it will dispense the medication, it does have face recognition, or a pin code. So again this is a device that can assist people that are struggling with, maybe memory issues, maybe taking too much medication or forgetting to take their medication, because it will remind them. You can also set it up to remind you to drink water to go for a walk. There's two way video calling so if there is a caretaker that can't be with you but is monitoring your health, that can also take place through the Pria. It's got a cute little face on it, little eyes that we can see. So it's two way calling you also have on it. The device sits about eight and a half inches by 6.2 inches. It weighs about five and a half pounds, but you can speak towards so you could say okay Pria ,wake up and have a conversation just as you can do with the Google Homes and the Alexas.

Host:  Alright, we're out of time, if you could tell people who have more questions, how they can reach you?

Guest:  They can reach me at 716-836-1350. Again, that's 716-836-1350 or you can email at ksnaus@buffalo.edu

Host:  Thanks so much for being with us Kim.

Guest:  Thank you, Ernie. Have a great day.

Host:  You too. You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Kimberly Naus, Director for the Center for Assistive Technology at the University at Buffalo, and your host was yours truly, Ernie Churchwell.