Tap Into Your Family’s Artificial Intelligence
I think that, for most of us, artificial intelligence (AI) has kind of moved into the category occupied by crypto currency, you hear about it all the time, but no one seems able to explain it in simple terms. While all I know about crypto currency is the fact that I should have bought a whole bunch of it 5 years ago, I have learned a little more about artificial intelligence as it applies to healthcare.
One of the areas where AI is used in healthcare is predicting the best treatment option for a specific person. The AI bot (software) creates a database from the huge amount of healthcare information on the internet and other sources that document the outcomes of various procedures and medicines as they apply to people of different ages, health, race, background, etc. It then works to match a particular patient’s characteristics with others in this database that are similar, especially from a health standpoint, and see how they responded to different treatments. AI then uses this filtered information to predict the best care approach for a particular patient. Now, while I’m certainly not an expert on AI and I might have oversimplified the process in this use of technology, you can see how valuable and efficient this process could be.
A good AI bot would want as much information about the patient being treated as is available. It would be especially interested in the patient’s heredity – the genetics of relatives. Every one of us knows there’s certain things we inherit from our linage. It could be the color of our eyes or hair or our propensity to be bald. My brother and I sneeze the same way and the same number of times when we have sneeze attacks. My wife’s mother and grandmother and her mother’s sisters all lived to be at least 100 years old, except for one who lived to be just 99. I have small ear canals like my mother. We all have these things that are common among our family. We now have ways to identify DNA mutations that raise the odds of contracting some diseases. These mutations can be inherited or happen as we live our lives. These genetics have a big impact on your health, on what treatments work best for you, and what preventative measures you can take to stay healthy. A good AI bot would find people in its database that match you as closely as possible, find what treatment worked for these matches, and make a recommendation as to what treatments you should have or what preventative measures you should take. We still have a way to go before we will be at the point where we can gather and structure all this data such that AI can make recommendations, so . . . I have an approach that can help us now.
We have many tests that can tell us about our propensity for different diseases or health problems. We have the opportunity, as we approach the holidays, to gather even more information from our relatives about things that seem to be common in our family, like things we should watch out for and preventative measures that we should take. We also can take the opportunity to communicate with our family about desires for our care as we grow older. I think the holidays are an ideal time to talk about both these subjects.
This health sharing time is usually led by the older participants since they have more years for their tendencies to come out. However, it should be an active back and forth discussion. You know you’ve hit on something when someone pipes up and says, “hey, you know I’ve had that happen to me.” I can tell you it can make a difference in your life. Two of my siblings, within 5 years of each other, had a detached retina. One of them lost some sight in one eye because of it. My brother, who had this happen to him, was visiting me 8 years ago and described the symptoms that warned of his detached retina. Two weeks later, I experienced those symptoms, and I went immediately to an ophthalmologist. After a long examination she finally found a horse-shoe shaped tear, which is a common start for the retina detaching and two hours later I was in a doctor’s chair having the tear lasered shut which prevented the full detachment. I’m a believer in sharing medical information. These conversations also establish the groundwork for sharing health information more often than just once a year. It also gives you valuable information that you can tell your doctor.
Most of the time we don’t discuss how or who should care for us as we grow old until we actually have the health problem that requires care. It is even less often that we have the dreaded end-of-life conversation. None of us wants to talk about these negative things or have an uncomfortable discussion about things like which of our children we would like to care for us. It’s just hard to be honest in these conversations. I have found a great template that helps guide you through this discussion. This document is created by APlan2Age, they are a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free education across the United States for people as they age. This website guides you through the process by asking questions and building on your answers. It gets into your desires for your care, the legal aspects that should be considered, and your financial situation. It’s just a good idea to prepare before events dictate the agenda.
Since the holidays are usually when our families get together, take the time to talk about your health and to discuss your future needs of aging and care. I think it can keep us healthier and give us peace of mind as we grow old.
Best, Thair