The Health Year of the Upper Franconia Technology Alliance (TAO) continued in Hof with a specialist symposium. The event at the Digital Founders Center Einstein1 was jointly organized by Hof University of Applied Sciences with Coburg University of Applied Sciences and the universities of Bayreuth and Bamberg. Topics to be covered during the TAO theme year include: Digital Health Applications, Psychology and Well-Being, Nutrition and Start in Life.
After the welcome by Prof. Dr. Dietmar Wolff, Vice President Teaching at Hof University of Applied Sciences and Head of the Health Research Group, the invited audience – experts from the health sector, but also from science and society – were able to listen to three impulse lectures of 10 minutes each on each topic.
The problem of obesity in Upper Franconia
Prof. Dr. Stefan Kalkhof opened the series of lectures with studies and analyses on the topic of “Dehydration – Detection Methodology, Cohort Recording, Cause Correlation and Prevention Strategies”. He also had other interesting thematic ideas for the TAO Health theme year in store for those present.
Wolfgang Hofmann, head of the AOK in Hof, pointed out that statistically many overweight people live in Upper Franconia, which leads to a disproportionately high incidence of diseases such as diabetes or heart failure in the region. Andrea Ott, an ecotrophologist from the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK), showed how this can be counteracted. She went into detail about the eating habits of children and how parents shape the nutrition of their children. The nutrition council Upper Franconia, represented by Helena stick is important the topic bio regional community catering. In her lecture, she discussed how bioregional food can be supplied to canteens and other large-scale kitchens (as well as university refectories).
Emotionally demanding care for the elderly
Christian Wolf, Managing Director of Hophe GmbH, then gave a presentation on how employees of a company can be compared to competitive athletes. Prof. Dr. Stefan Lautenbacher was connected via zoom and spoke about the area of performance and emotional state of the elderly. In particular, he discussed studies conducted at the Bamberg Living Lab Dementia (BamLiD). Things got emotional during the presentation of the palliative network Dreiländereck, which is based in the old school in Kautendorf. Dr. Anette Stoidner-Amann gave insights into the daily work of her team with seriously ill people and their relatives. Vera Hebel from the University of Bamberg focused her presentation on current digital applications in research in the field of work and organizational psychology. In particular, she referred to a new management app that offers the possibility of meeting new challenges posed by changing forms of work in an agile manner.
As a fitting conclusion, the managing director of the Caritas Verband Bayreuth, Bozena Schiepert, gave a presentation entitled: “If you can dream it, you can do it! – Life is too short for sometime” and revealed very personal things from her life.
Exchange of information and further planning
The subsequent get-together was used by many to exchange information and to get to know each other. Healthy food was also provided by regional catering.
Image: Hof University of Applied Sciences;
The TAO – Team of the Hof University of Applied Sciences with Prof. Dietmar Wolff, Simon Steudtel and Sandra Köhle received good feedback and was therefore very satisfied with the course of the event. The next steps in the context of the TAO health year are already in planning. For example, citizens are to be involved next.
To the Technology Alliance Upper Franconia (TAO)…
