Oct
31
When I first registered the name “60 in 3″ it was all about losing 60lbs in 3 years. I thought this was a great symbol for my fitness philosophy, slow and gradual. However, someone pointed out to me that it may be interpreted as “60 years old in another 3 years.” In fact, I have had a few people make that mistake, which is why I occasionally get questions and inquiries about senior health care. Unfortunately, I can’t always answer those, so it’s a good thing that someone like Emmy Pei has come along with her guest post.
This post is especially important to me as I have a grandparent in this exact situation. It’s difficult to tell someone who has been independent all of their lives that they may need someone else to take care of them. So it’s nice to hear that there may be alternative solutions.
Without further ado, here’s Emmy’s post. If you have any further questions for her, please post them in the comments.
Assistive Technology to the Rescue: Helping Seniors Stay Home
Due to advancements in medicine, technology, and our increased knowledge of fitness and nutrition, people are living much longer, healthier lives. In 1900, the average North American life span was roughly 47 years. Today that number is closer to 80, and according to Jeanette Takamura, dean of Columbia University’s School of Social Work and former assistant secretary for aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, by the year 2030, the number of Americans over 65 will have increased to 72 million.
For most this is wonderful news, but for seniors with disabilities this number can be worrisome. In the face of an ageing population, fewer and fewer workers are willing to take care of them in hospitals and nursing homes. Low wages and tough working conditions are making it difficult to recruit and retain qualified staff. On the other side of the coin, fewer and fewer seniors want to be looked after by nursing home workers. So the big question remains: Who will take care of them? Well, thanks to technology, it looks like seniors will be able to take care of themselves.
Assistive Technology
Assistive technology has been defined as “any item, piece of equipment, or product system…that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.” So if we are to accommodate the increasing number of disabled seniors who wish to remain at home, as well as those who are forced to stay home due to limited nursing staff, we need to focus our attention on smartening their homes with assistive technologies. This can be a little tricky, as each individual has a unique set of needs requiring a unique set of solutions. The following systems are a great start, and offer a wide variety of elderly care.
For those who are perfectly capable of living at home alone but who have medical conditions, are at risk of falling and injuring themselves, and who could benefit from the peace of mind knowing that help is easily accessible in case of emergency, personal response systems like Direct Alert provides valuable assistance. In the form of a watch, a bracelet or a necklace, help is only the push of a button away. Once pushed, you will access an emergency response team who can assess the situation and respond accordingly. A notification is also sent to your emergency contact, as well as a neighbour, so that help will arrive as quickly as possible. 70% of North American women over 85 live alone, but with Direct alert technology they don’t have to feel alone.
For seniors whose well being requires a more vigilant watch from the outside, there are home systems like QuietCare. Home monitoring assistive technology helps loved ones and professionals keep track of specific activities. Sensors are placed all over the home, near the medication, on top of the fridge, in the bathroom where most falls and accidents occur, and they essentially “report” back in the form of computer data. Sleeping habits, medication schedules, what temperature the home is kept at, is all information analyzed by a central computer, and should any significant changes occur, a notification is sent to a family, a doctor, or a neighbor by phone, email, or text message. You can even track their movement patters on a website. This may seem intrusive and seniors might not like the idea of Big Brother always watching, but sometimes a caring eye needs to be kept on them for their own good. Complicated medication schedules can be easily forgotten, high home temperatures might go unnoticed and falls can happen at any time.
Everything from walkers to magnifying glasses, from enlarged touch tone telephone numbers to computer software, all fall under the category of assistive technology. And, as these technologies advance, smart homes equipped with emergency response systems and motion tracking sensors will help to keep seniors healthy and at home for many years to come, making the number 72 million without enough workers, a little less scary.
EDIT - Please note that it seems like Emmy Pei does indeed work for Direct Alert, something I was unaware of when I chose to post this article. I have gone ahead and removed the links from the article since I refuse to have 60 in 3 used this way, but I have kept the text of the article since it does have some useful information. Thank you to the readers who pointed all this out to me in comments and emails.
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Hope you enjoyed this guest post from Emmy. Next week, we’ll be back to our regular 60 in 3 articles. Have a happy halloween or (if you’re not a halloween fan) enjoy your weekend!
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Comments
4 Responses to “Guest Post: Assistive Technology to the Rescue, By Emmy Pei”
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Great article. Emmy Pei… hmmm… is she a college student from Canada? Does she work for Direct Alert? Does she work for Quietcare? Or does she work for Netvibes.com an ad agency scam company that alleges to help companies by planting their product information in blogs around the net.
Hello Larry,
I’m not sure who she’s employed by. I get a lot of guest post requests and try to weed out quite a few obvious PR attempts. This one did not seem like PR scam to me and it had some valuable information, so I posted it.
I’m a firm believer in “innocent until proven guilty” so unless you have some evidence to the contrary, I’m going to assume Emmy is legit based on her post and my conversation with her.
Please note that 60 in 3’s policy is to not officially endorse any product and to always clearly identify things like guest posts and / or requested reviews. My apologies if that was not clear.
Regards,
Gal
It was extremely subtle if it was a ‘planted’ post, and actually quite informative. It didn’t get my antennae twitching and I read a lot of these sorts of things in the course of editing items for my free once or twice weekly Telecare Aware news service for people interested in this type of technology. Hmmm… now I guess I’ll be accused of plugging my site! (But actually I don’t need to.)
Ah yes, Well spotted Larry! If you Google “Emmy Pei”+”Direct Alert” you will see she does indeed work for them.
Steve