Games for Health Goes to Capitol Hill
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 06-04-14Thanks to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Connect Program, Games for Health was the featured program at two receptions and other meetings held on Capitol Hill this week.
During the two-day event various projects were demoed at receptions attended Monday by House staff and on Tuesday by Senate Staff. You can find a photo gallery online here.
The two-days also saw the project meet with over a dozen committee and member staffs to brief them on the games for health field. The feedback was very promising and in general comments were insightful. Most of all staff appreciated seeing how wide-ranging the opportunities were and understanding some of the basic research that is beginning to be gathered.
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The projects that were shown included:
FreeDive! from Breakaway Games which is being tested as a pain distraction environment.
Yourself! Fitness from Respondesign which is a personal trainer product for Xbox/PS2/PC
Ben's Game -- which visualizes cancer and was developed with support from the Make-A-Wish Foundation
Sony Kinetic - an EyeToy based workout program with trainers and games that was co-developed by Nike Motionworks.
New Dawn Manor from Pulluin Software that is a game-based approach to assisted living staff training.
EyeToy Play which is among other EyeToy games being looked at by researchers for helping stroke victims, and amputees.
Konami's DDR with pads supplied by Red Octane that showed off everyone's favorite dancing exergames. We showed both the PS2 version and Nintendo's DDR Mario Mix which is awesome if you haven't yet checked it out.
Immune Attack from Federation of American Scientists which is a game developed at USC for teaching K-12 students about the immune system.
PowerGrid Fitness' Kilowatt device driving Need for Speed on the Xbox and showing how this controller provides an isometric based aerobic and strength conditioning workout.
DS BrainAge from Nintendo which is a cognitive exercise game that has taken Japan by storm.
Pulse!! a next-generation game-technology based 3D virtual world for nurse, medic, and doctor training being developed at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi by Breakaway Games. The rendering shown focused on the ICU at Bethesda Naval Medical Center.
Second Life from Linden Lab demonstrated their build-your-own MMP technology which is being used by a number of therapuetic and training projects in the health arena.
Steve Downs and David Morse from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation spoke and explained the Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio and how it is designed to explore breakout ideas that bring new thinking to the health and healthcare field. Ben Sawyer from Games for Health spoke about how games are being used in a variety of efforts - not just one specific area and Dr. Bruce Jarrell a dean at the University of Maryland School of Medicine spoke about the importance to use new technologies like games to enhance both teaching and patient interaction.
Over the two days over 350 Capitol Hill staff and guests played games, asked questions, and took in our brief presentations and trailer (which we're currently posting on YouTube and Google Video so stay tuned).