Mayo Clinic creates lab for ‘aging in place’

The Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation has created a new “living lab” within a continuing care retirement community to support research and technologies that enable seniors to remain at home.

The Healthy Aging & Independent Living (HAIL) Lab is housed within the Charter House, a CCRC that is physically connected to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

“The goal of the HAIL Lab is to understand the needs of seniors and develop products and services that will help them live longer, more independent lives,” said Nicholas LaRusso, MD, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the HAIL Lab will be a place for focus groups, as well as for designing, prototyping and piloting new services and technologies with voluntary participation from Charter House residents—of which there are 400—and other community agencies.

The HAIL Lab will be supported by a consortium of organizations providing expertise and financial support. The founding consortium member is national electronics retailer Best Buy, which has recently been exploring wireless-enabled health-related devices.

“We believe technology has the potential to foster healthy, productive lives by enabling easier access to information and medical care,” said Kurt Hulander, senior director of health platforms at Best Buy. “Our partnership with Mayo Clinic will help us better understand the full potential for health technologies with patients who need them most.”

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