I am a baby boomer. At this stage of my life, there are many things important to me that were not on my mind even a few years ago. Like so many seniors, I want a place to call my own and plan to do anything I can to remain there. The popular vernacular is I have a "feet first" home. That is, I want to stay in my home for the duration. And I am not alone. AARP reports that 92 percent of older adults live alone in their own apartments, homes, independent living facilities or assisted living facilities, and about 50 percent of those are 75 years of age or older. The need and the demographics combine to create a great market opportunity for developers and a great opportunity for elders to take the leap to embrace technology.
There are many so-called "nana technologies" under development, so a review of them can be somewhat overwhelming. The information below is about newer devices introduced over the past two years. Most of all the devices mentioned can be researched on the Internet. General categories include:
1. Personal safety devices--aides for helping you remain safe while going about your daily routine.
2. Home security devices--sensors to regulate, temperature, lights and appliances.
3. Healthcare devices--vital sign monitors of all types, medication aides.
4. Recreational devices--computer games and other fun technologies to get up and get moving.
5. Cell Phones--a primary way to help to keep elders connected.
Personal Safety Devices
Personal safety pendants have been around for some time. Basic devices wirelessly connect you to a call center so if you fall or have an emergency in your home, operators at the call center contact someone nearby to help. Pendants are small and can be clipped onto your belt or clothing. New products are GPS enabled, have a panic button and two-way voice features. The GPS enabled pendants can be programmed to create a "wireless security fence." If a person wanders outside the boundaries of a defined area, the system sparks an alert.
Reminder systems for seniors are most commonly used for mediation compliance. Some use low-tech pagers simply sound at times when you need to take medication, others include electronic pill dispensers that both remind and record compliance with medication routines. When investigating reminder systems, it's important to consider how much help you will need in setting up the device, setting up the medications in advance if that is required, and if you can read/change the alert messages. All systems need programming to suit your individual needs. Seniors change prescriptions often, so reprogramming will be needed just as often. Be sure you can do it yourself or that someone will be available to help you.
Aside from the variety of traditional walking aides, new technologies are available to help prevent falls. Special shoes embedded with sensors that pick up on high risk weight bearing while walking or on balance problems are designed to detect problems before a fall occurs. One such product is the ishoe, pictured above. Information about this orthotic can be found at www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38420/113/.
Home Security
Smoke and temperature monitors are available in both wired and wireless forms. Modern sensors are able to detect if the stove has been left on too long, if the homeowner has passed through the house during normal routines, and humidity sensors can tell if the bathroom has been used regularly. All these sensors are capable of monitoring without the use of invasive cameras. There are sensors for just about any measure--including monitors for the floor that can detect a fall and if you have locked your doors.
Healthcare
Telehealth is currently experiencing explosive growth in both the professional and consumer health care market. One new system that combines advantages for the homeowner and the physician is now in use at St. Jude Medical, Inc. The St. Jude program includes wireless transmitters that send patient vital sign information from a patient's home to the physician and into the electronic medical record. This sequence represents an enhancement over more traditional home healthcare monitoring devices that typically are wired and do not communicate with the medical record. New monitoring equipment is wearable in some cases, and is unobtrusive.
Recreation
The virtual gaming industry has discovered the baby boomers! Researchers have proven that exercising your brain can help keep your mind sharp. So, the technology development community has responded with a variety of "neurosoftware" designed to combine fun, learning and mental exercise. Four examples to investigate include Dakim, Posit Sciences, Congnifit and MyBrainTrainer.com. Do try these at home!
Phones
Big buttons, large type fonts and new software features designed especially for the elderly are now (finally) coming to market. The most recent entrant can be found at jitterbug.com. As recently as two years ago, no vendor offered special featured cell phone devices for the visually impaired.
In 2007, a public research study was published that summarizes many other new technologies now in the market and available for consumer use. For further information, download the study at www.agingtech.org/documents/bscf_state_technoloy_phase1.pdf.
