North Texans create device for patients to call for help: "Dignity on Demand"
DALLAS — If you dare, imagine this: you're hospitalized and need help, but you're unable to push a call button to alert a nurse.
"Until you actually experience the reality that you're helpless, and there's no dignified way for you to get your help... until you actually see that and feel that, you don't get it," said Bobalu Kaiser.
And Kaiser gets it. The local engineer, marathon runner, and doting younger brother wants others to get it too: not just compassion, but a solution to the situation.
"It happened about a year ago," recalls Kaiser. "Will (his older brother) fell out of bed. Busted his head open. Really bad. He needed, like, 30 stitches. Was funny when I walked in the room, he said 'You should see the other guy!' He had a little sense of humor about it."
But the scare revealed a need that few of us have had to consider.
"And I sat there with him," said Bobalu. "I said, 'Well, we have to figure a way that you can call for a nurse, okay? Because there's no dignity in screaming out loud 'help me.'"
Bobalu and his brother Will once ran marathons for fun. Then three years ago, the vaccinated Will caught COVID-19. As he fought to recover, doctors say the COVID-19 caused a stroke. Will was left with quadriplegia—unable to move his arms or legs.
"The first challenge was finding a call button that would work for me," said Will, "because my hands were no good to push the regular call button."
Bobalu and Will knew there had to be a better way. And together, the brothers set out to find it, turning to a team of biomedical engineering students at UT Dallas.
"He brought this project idea to us, and kind of gave us a rundown of, you know, what the issue is," said Daniel Duncko, a UT Design Capstone senior. "There's over 11 million people living with some sort of limb loss, limb difference or paralysis in the United States, and in nursing homes and hospitals, they can't use these traditional nurse call buttons."
UT Design Capstone routinely takes real-world problems from the business community and creates solutions as part of its academic journey. But this project was extra special. The UT Design Capstone seniors working on the project—Duncko, Marissa Ortega, William Lashley, and twins O'Naysha and Te'Aysa Bunton—took the brothers' idea and, with a lot of work and trial and error, refined it. The team created a voice-activated alert system that does not require the internet.
During a demonstration, team members took turns showing how the device would respond to any of their voices saying "help me" or "I need help." It also uses the existing call button plugs that are already installed in all hospital and nursing home rooms. And of course, the device's name is "Will Call."
"So we actually got to meet him in the beginning," said Duncko with a huge smile. "And that's kind of what inspired us. Seeing firsthand how important this project would actually be for people. We knew that what we're doing is important."
Indeed. The team hopes to one day see the device installed in every hospital and nursing home room in the nation. Will has already gotten to try it out.
"It's a big help. A big, big help," said Will. "There's really nothing worse, Robbie, than needing to push the call button and not being able to, or needing assistance, and not being able to have someone come to your room to assist you."
And now, without bitterness, Will—once a CPA—is delighted to once again be able to help others.
"A lot of people are worse off than I am," he added. "It really makes me thankful for just having a stroke and not having much worse."
The brothers' time together is much different now. Instead of running marathons, on sunny days Bobalu pushes Will around the parking lot at his rehab center to enjoy the fresh air. And on his daily visits, there's always a fast food treat for lunch.
"Every day of the week, we've named a day after the junk food!" said Will with a laugh. "This is Chick-fil-A Friday, and tomorrow is usually a pizza day. He'll surprise me every now and then."
When we met, Will was wearing his shirt from the 2017 Boston Marathon and confessed to being awfully proud of that accomplishment. Younger brother Bobalu is just as proud of him right now.
"I'm amazed," said Bobalu, his eyes filling with tears. "I mean, he is so qualified to make a difference."
He apologized for the emotion of the moment, but then continued, sharing how much his bedridden brother still brings him joy. "I think about me being in that circumstance. How would I deal with it? And I see his ups and downs. I see his challenges. Not every day is a good day. But when you see at the end of the day that he's still here and he's still making a difference and he cares about people, it just makes you want to do whatever you can for him."
Mission accomplished. Just call "Will Call," dignity on demand.
