7 November 2025
Residents at three Silvera communities recently participated in a study to help reduce the risk of falls in seniors.
Led by assistant professor Jeremy Wong and student Michael Messier from the University of Calgary’s Biomedical Engineering faculty, along with collaborators Jocelyn Rempel (Mount Royal) and Surabhi Simha (Emory/Georgia Tech), the team is researching the feasibility of older adult fall risk assessments using low-cost computer vision technology.
The project included 17 residents from Aspen, Westview and Shawnessy this summer.
“We asked residents to participate from communities with higher fall rates,” says Haley Emary, Life Learning Leasure Lead at Westview. “Falls are the highest injury related cause of hospitalization in older adults. By reducing the frequency of falls, we can greatly improve seniors’ quality of life.”
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| Jeremy Wong from University of Calgary observes a resident performing exercises from Vivifrail’s mobility and fall prevention program. |
The study process
At each community, Michael and Jeremy asked participants to perform specific exercises while a special camera tracked their movements. This automated system allowed Michael and Jeremy to accurately view and measured factors like speed, head movement, and step placement.
The results
A few months after the initial assessments, Jeremy and Michael returned to each community to provide residents with general community results as well as individual participant results.
Each participant received suggestions for specific movements they can regularly do on their own to help them build strength, improve balance and incorporate exercises into their routine. These recommendations include doing stairs, balance exercises, using water bottles for weights, and functional strength mobility exercises such as pushing, pulling, squatting, and lifting.
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| A resident performs a balance exercise. | Jeremy shares results with residents. |
Uses in the future
“This technology could eventually be used for every resident to help us assess fall risk, encourage resident participation in exercise classes, and influence our class creation based on individual and group needs,” says Haley.
Michael and Jeremy would like to make this technology as accessible as possible, employing easy-to-use devices such as apps or a device that could be used in exercise rooms that gives residents access to personalized training programs, and uses custom computer vision software to track a person’s progress towards their fitness goals.
“We hope to continue using Silvera residents for future research,” says Jeremy. “It was quick and efficient, residents were willing, and the overall response was great.”
Final note
Congratulations to student Michael Messier, whose talk based on this work won the “University of Calgary Graduate Students’ Association Future Innovator Award” last week!