Alafia Vest is designed as a portable heated vest that provides instant heat for chest and back pain relief with minimal effort from the affected wearer. The visual design provides an understanding of the garment's functionality and quick wear.
With a corresponding storage bag and user manual, Alafia Vest, equips Sickle Cell Anemia patients with the confidence to live their lives unaltered by pain.
BACKGROUND
Regular versus sickled red blood cell
Sickle Cell Anemia
Heating pad current experience
Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA) is a severe hereditary form of anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts the red blood cells into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels. As a result, SCA manifests in a tremendous amount of “bone-chilling” physical pain for SCD patients in the chest, back, and legs and is most common among those of African descent.
Heat is the only pain management tool for Sickle Cell crisis' outside of prescribed medication. Thus, every sickle cell patient owns a heating pad they use in time of need. The problem is that existing solutions require them to take time out of their day and lay flat on the affected area.
V1 PROCESS
V2 PROCESS
Electronic components
Design for SCA Patient who :
User journey mapping
V1 accomplishes the vest’s main goal of transmitting heat to the user’s back and chest however it is too delicate for long term use due to the nature of the prototype’s current set up.
Moving into V2, I sought the expertise of Patrick T. McGann, MD, who is the director of the new combined pediatric and adult sickle cell and hemoglobinopathy program at Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital. He is also a pediatric hematologist within the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Program at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. From my research and insights gathered, I narrowed in on who I am designing for:
Already uses heating pad
Is accustomed to administering their prescribed medication and managing their pain themselves
Knows how to use electronic devices like phone/ipad/tablet that include touch sensitive sensors
Partakes in Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
For use in “an on the go situation”
ie. in public spaces in the car, in the classroom, in the workplace, in the grocery store, at a gathering
Secondary use is in home for up to 1hr or more
(pain varies in intensity and can last for a few hours to a few days)
Worn as a second layer over a relatively thin top
Intuitive and simple to assemble
Stylish yet low profile
Scenarios of components / configurations mapping
MORE WORKS HERE
SPECS
WEARABLE TECH
PUBLIC HEALTH
AIM
OUTCOME
Alafia Vest
Portable heating vest for people with Sickle Cell
Portable heating vest for people with Sickle Cell, UV Printed exterior
A rechargeable heated vest intended for daily-use, infused with a soft-circuit system, that’s designed to manage the unexpected and excruciating pain caused by the effects of Sickle Cell Anemia.
Entering the concepting phase required me to hone in on set physical design requirements based around the day to day lifestyle of an active SCA patient.
Through research, I became aware of Loomia, an innovative E-Textile company that spceializes in low profile electronic layers made for a wide use of creative applications. Thus, I prototyped the heater and button elements of Alafia Vest with their Heater and LED Button components.
The sensation you feel throughout your body if you were to enter an ice cold pool in the middle of winter is similar to the “bone chilling pain” sickle cell patients feel as a result of their condition. Alafia Vest aims to bring attention to this lived experience and contribute to an improved quality of life for people with Sickle Cell.
Dedicated to Alicia and Oluwakemi Makinde
Physical Design Requirements:
PROTOTYPING PROCESS
Sketches
Alafia Vest began as a final project for my undergraduate Computation, Technology, and Culture class called Ambient Interfaces final project where I created a system of electrical components responsible for heating the back of a wearable heating vest for people with SCA.
The components used were two Force Sensing Resistors (FSR) acting as switches to turn on the electric heating pad elements.
V1 has two heating elements and one FSR in the chest area and the back has six heating elements and one FSR. This was a month-long project so I wasn’t able to fully resolve the “self-power” aspect of the vest since it’s meant to be portable and self-triggered.