The article:
High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents
Interesting tech approach to safety for elderly living alone.
Beclose, Lively, Evermind... basic, basic emergency warning type systems, but in reading the article. it's easy to look beyond the current technology, to see many more possibilities for even less expensive and more comprehensive ways to allow older persons to live alone with minimum oversight by in home helpers.
Time to let imagination expand on the basics to include more refined sensors, such as RFID stick-ons to monitor multiple in home activities to insure that things like picking up mail, using the checkbook, pill box, and perhaps a punch-up calendar rminder on the refrigerator...
That's the first step... expanding the monitoring... the second, is combining this with a physical presence when necessary... either by the children, a neighbor, or a contracted home healthcare service that can be 24/7 visits on call for a personal visit to the home to review the situation. A step beyond the common pendant, emergency, 911 kind of services that have been around for a long time.
The key is developing a routine that can be monitored, by a remote computer, so the caregiver can see when problems may occur. Ie., you're at home, and your computer sounds a warning that there is a potential problem. You then review the aberrations in routine to assess what might have happened.
This only scratches the surface. With the senior wearing a bracelet, it will also monitor the basic blood pressure, distance walked, temperature etc...
We have read enough here about members taking care of their parents to see that it may soon be possible to have peace of mind, without 24/7 care, nursing home, or even daily personal checkiups.
From the "patient" standpoint, less anxiety about losing their freedom. Not for everyone, but new possibilities...
(aside)... Don't understand how the monitoring system transmits the info, as the websites for the existing services say "no phone", "no internet" required.
High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents
Interesting tech approach to safety for elderly living alone.
Beclose, Lively, Evermind... basic, basic emergency warning type systems, but in reading the article. it's easy to look beyond the current technology, to see many more possibilities for even less expensive and more comprehensive ways to allow older persons to live alone with minimum oversight by in home helpers.
Time to let imagination expand on the basics to include more refined sensors, such as RFID stick-ons to monitor multiple in home activities to insure that things like picking up mail, using the checkbook, pill box, and perhaps a punch-up calendar rminder on the refrigerator...
That's the first step... expanding the monitoring... the second, is combining this with a physical presence when necessary... either by the children, a neighbor, or a contracted home healthcare service that can be 24/7 visits on call for a personal visit to the home to review the situation. A step beyond the common pendant, emergency, 911 kind of services that have been around for a long time.
The key is developing a routine that can be monitored, by a remote computer, so the caregiver can see when problems may occur. Ie., you're at home, and your computer sounds a warning that there is a potential problem. You then review the aberrations in routine to assess what might have happened.
This only scratches the surface. With the senior wearing a bracelet, it will also monitor the basic blood pressure, distance walked, temperature etc...
We have read enough here about members taking care of their parents to see that it may soon be possible to have peace of mind, without 24/7 care, nursing home, or even daily personal checkiups.
From the "patient" standpoint, less anxiety about losing their freedom. Not for everyone, but new possibilities...
(aside)... Don't understand how the monitoring system transmits the info, as the websites for the existing services say "no phone", "no internet" required.
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