Research
Who gets heard when care moves too quickly?
I follow what happens to people with limited money, family support, or mobility when they need care, public services, or a way through everyday space in Taiwan.
A five-minute appointment can record what someone did not do. It may never record what made that instruction hard to follow.
Where this started
What I learned while caring for my parents
I put my screenwriting career in Europe on hold and came home to care for my parents, who were both being treated for cancer. We spent a great deal of time in hospitals. The appointments were short, and the things they needed to explain were not.
Pain and daily constraints did not always fit into a short appointment. Some of what happened afterward could be recorded as non-compliance, with little trace of the circumstances behind it. I want to study the moments when a person's own account disappears from the record.
Beyond the appointment
When I accompanied my parents, appointments often lasted five to ten minutes. I had to keep track of what was said and which questions still needed answers after we left the consultation room.
People also have to travel to appointments, deal with welfare offices, and carry instructions back into homes that may not be set up for them. I study those encounters together because a person lives through all of them.
My doctoral question asks how people who are economically vulnerable, have little family support, or have limited mobility can be met with dignity across care encounters, welfare contact, and everyday space in Taiwan's super-aged society.
Deployed work
Laguna Companion Service
A companion service in Kaohsiung for medical visits and older adults' everyday outings. I also build small tools for preparing questions and keeping a visit record.
What it does
In a medical visit, I help prepare questions, accompany the person, and write a plain-language summary. The digital prototype helps explore how people prepare and carry information between encounters. It does not make medical decisions.
laguna.ailunhuang.comWhat I am studying
Whether a person has time to say what matters in an appointment, and whether the record afterward is clear enough for the people who need it.
The next question
How can economically vulnerable, kin-poor, or mobility-limited people be met with dignity in care encounters, welfare contact, and everyday space in Taiwan's super-aged society?
Laguna gives me a place to listen and learn in the field. Its tools are one part of the work. The wider question includes the clinic, the welfare office, the street, and the person moving between them.
Methodology
I spend time alongside people in medical, administrative, and transport settings. A long afternoon can show me things that a short interview cannot.
Accompaniment and field notes
I accompany older people to appointments and on everyday outings, and keep notes on delays, the help they need, and where services assume a family member will come. I want to develop this practice into systematic research under doctoral supervision.
Developing handoff tools together
I work with people on the notes and tools used to pass on information after a visit. This practical work is a starting point for learning formal participatory research methods.
Narrative reframing
Screenwriting trained me to ask what a situation looks like from each person's point of view. I use that habit when a record calls someone non-compliant but leaves out their circumstances.
Technical prototyping
I prototype digital tools when a question needs one. The Laguna PWA and private service tools let me test how information is prepared, carried, and understood.
I would welcome the chance to discuss how my work might contribute to yours.
ailun@me.com