Forbes: App helps connect isolated seniors with their families
The app, HiLois, links senior citizens with family members during social distancing
With the coronavirus pandemic, which has shuttered elder care facilities to visitors across the U.S. in the name of social distancing, a sudden spotlight has been given to services like HiLois, a private social network designed for seniors and their families.
Brett Harnett, HiLois founder and assistant professor in UC's Department of Biomedical Informatics, came up with the idea for the app shortly after his mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2014, as a way to remotely share photos and messages with her while living hundreds of miles away.
Now, facilities are reaching out to find out how they, too, can utilize the tool and connect residents with families.
“These facilities, they’re playing tic-tac-toe with masking tape on the windows, holding up signs, chalkboards, whiteboards. This is their level of communication,” Harnett told Forbes. “They’re also bombarded by calls from families saying, ‘Does someone in there have an iPhone? I want to FaceTime with my mom.’ These organizations don’t have the resources to do that. This is what we’ve been hearing for years: that their resources are really thin.”
Featured photo courtesy of Rod Long/Unsplash.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Read more #UCtheGood stories, or take a UC virtual visit and begin picturing yourself at an institution that inspires incredible stories.
Related Stories
UC expert weighs in on current MASH treatment approaches
June 5, 2026
As MedCentral recently reported, pending broader pharmacologic approvals for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), lifestyle modifications remain the go-to intervention.
At least two weather patterns increase headaches, UC study suggests
June 4, 2026
University of Cincinnati physicians and collaborators identified two specific weather patterns that increase headache and migraine risk and found the preventive medication fremanezumab (Ajovy) can reduce weather‑associated headaches. The findings will be presented at the American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando.
Forbes highlights UC co-op as a model for corporate America
June 3, 2026
Forbes names the University of Cincinnati as a leader in co-op and work-integrated learning, highlighting UC as a model for how higher education can prove value to employers and students.