'Aging in place' tech helps seniors live in their home longer
It goes by different names — “independent living,” "non-assisted living,” or the preferred “aging in place” – but these phrases mean the same thing: growing older without having to move to a healthcare environment.
In fact, nearly 90% of seniors want to stay in their own homes as they age, according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Even if they begin to need day-to-day assistance or ongoing health care during retirement, most (82%) would prefer to stay in their own homes.
Today, high-tech monitoring systems and other gadgets are helping seniors age in place independently, while giving family members peace of mind in the process. What’s more, home-based tech tools could be far less expensive than moving into an assisted living environment.
Sensors
Rather than calling mom six times a day to check in, activity-based sensors around the home can discretely reassure loved ones she’s up and carrying about her daily business. If not, a remote family member, caregiver or emergency response service is alerted – via phone, email or text message — if an at-risk elderly person is doing, or not doing, something. It could detect if a senior hasn’t left his or her bedroom at the usual time or if someone hasn't opened the refrigerator door or medicine cabinet in, say, five hours. Less intrusive (and frankly, smarter) than video cameras, sensors can go on doors, windows, cabinets, chairs, under bed sheets, and so on.
Emergency pendants, fall detection
Worn around the wrist or neck, an emergency pendant can be pressed in case of an emergency, such as after a fall, and a call is immediately made to 911 and/or pre-programmed numbers of family members. Features can vary between working outside, offering two-way voice support, or including a “fall detection” feature so loved ones are notified even if a senior isn’t able to press the button.
Medication reminders, dispensers
It’s a potentially dangerous scenario for many seniors: you’re on medication but you forget to take it — or worse, you cannot remember whether you took pills or not, so you take them again. This problem has attracted lots of innovation over the past few years, and a handful of products are designed to remind, dispense, and/or manage medication.
Sensor technology products allow someone to hear an alarm and see a flashing light when it is time to take medication. Located in a tray inside the device, the pills rotate into position. Ideal for those with dexterity challenges, the user can pull the blue handle forward and the medication would fall into a provided medicine cup, and the alarm would automatically turns off.
Video cameras
Video chatting – via a camera on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer’s webcam – is great way to communicate with your aging relatives. In fact, compared to a regular phone call, video can be a much more effective way for caregivers to gauge how the senior is doing, based on how they look or act, or the state of their home in the background. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.
Services like Skype or FaceTime work on multiple devices (though FaceTime is limited to Apple’s products), and do not cost anything when used over Wi-Fi connectivity with other Skype or FaceTime users. Often, younger and/or more tech-savvy family members can set the senior up with an account and show how to place and accept a video call.
Many seniors enjoy having a virtual “face-to-face” meal with a friend or relative on a daily or weekly basis. That may be the simplest and most welcome aging-in-place technology a loved one can use.
Article was sourced from USA Today.