The Campaign

Arising from the need to constantly monitor the well-being of the beneficiaries, we created Ella, a messenger chatbot with a heart. Designed to interact the same way a human does, Ella greets the user, checks in on their mood, reminds them on their medication, and even pushes interesting news articles for them to read, based on their response. When Ella does not receive a response from the user for 48 hours, she will alert the Red Cross to check in on the person.

Creative Execution

Ella was first tested in April 2017 and has been in use since among selected ElderAid beneficiaries from the Singapore Red Cross and with plans to have more languages added and functions as we gather behaviour response from the beneficiaries.

Ella has opened a new and innovative way of monitoring elderly beneficiaries using existing technology, and filled the gap left by a lack of volunteers and social workers. More importantly, Ella allowed Red Cross volunteers to monitor the well-being of the beneficiaries, and have their presence in their homes without being physically there. This has helped alleviate some loneliness among the elderly in the program and increased direct engagement between the Red Cross and volunteers.

In line with the Red Cross’ dedication to relieve human suffering, protect lives and respond to emergencies, we rolled Ella out on smartphones to selected beneficiaries who live alone, and were keen on experimenting with this new technology and method of communication. This equipped us with an avenue to not only connect with the elderly, but collect valuable data about how they are feeling and alert us in the event of an emergency.