The number of seniors is growing rapidly every year. For decades, even centuries, seniors have been taken care of with the help of a doctor and a caregiver – a family member or a nurse. Seniors today may just be aging at the best time ever as technology has never been more advanced.
With the increasing development of smartphones and GPS technologies, senior care has tremendously improved due to the technology connected with these progressions. Here are a few high-tech solutions that are designed exclusively to help you take care of the seniors at the comfort of their homes.
Smart Security System
These days, safety is such a major concern for elderly people living alone. A smart security system provides protection both from intruders and disasters such as fire and flooding. It can be installed to monitor doors (since it is connected to the door locks), windows, and specific motion, and is set to trigger an alarm that can notify family or caregivers if there’s a problem. This system also works with smoke alarms, flood, and temperature sensors. The system is connected to a smartphone via an app so that a caregiver or a family member can have non-stop access to the vital parameters, and get notified in cases of an emergency.
Voice-activated Visual Assistant
A smart speaker with a voice-activated virtual assistant can be very helpful to seniors living alone as it provides any needed information needed, companionship, and an easy connection to the outside world. It can be used both as a tool and a digital companion you can interact with. These systems can be connected to smart lights, door locks, and many other gadgets, which allows a senior to easily control the majority of their home by voice. Voice control is, in fact, the key to making the smart home more suitable for seniors as it eliminates the learning process needed for most technology that is usually a big barrier to seniors.
Emergency Response Services
Emergency response services (ERS) for seniors are designed to help in situations if a person has fallen or gotten hurt when they’re alone and with no help around. It is unfortunately very common among elders, as the lack of mobility, sight, and hearing can put them in severe danger. These systems have significantly improved with the development of new technologies, including GPS. That’s why according to CPOE.org, locating seniors and getting someone out as quickly as possible to help are the essential benefits of these systems. Using their smartphones, in cases of emergency, they can send signals, which are then detected by the caregiver or the nearby emergency services.
Smart Sensors
Sensors are tiny, low-powered devices that can be placed anywhere and connected to anything in your home. They monitor activities in the background such as motion, the change of intensity of light, and temperature. They can even capture the patterns of daily living and point to the anomalies which then alerts caregivers. Smart home automation is a system of sensors connected that provides shutting the lights off or lock the front door by voice or via the smartphone app, turning down the thermostat when someone gets into bed, and many more.
Meds Reminder
One study showed that over 40% of the seniors had to take five or more prescription drugs daily. Keeping track of the medication use can be complicated, as not every pill has to be taken at the same time every day. There are various solutions that recent advances in technology offer to help seniors manage their current prescriptions. Many companies are developing pillboxes with integrated alarms that allow individuals to know exactly what pill they need to take and what time they need to take them. There are also apps available that track your pill intake, with alarms and reminders set to inform you when and which pill needs to be taken.
Implants/Patches
The health issues linked with aging can be a lot to take care of, especially when it comes to confusion with medication intake. Some of these issues can be eliminated by using advanced patches and implants. For example, there are glucose patch sensors that allow you to monitor your glucose level constantly and with high precision. It is easy to use as all you have to do is wave a transmitter over to read a glucose level and let you know if you need help or not. It is fast and convenient and doesn’t require taking a blood sample or going to the doctor’s office.
While all of this technology may seem a little overwhelming, they are more than helpful in alleviating the stress that seniors face when taking care of themselves. Hopefully, learning about the solutions mentioned in this article will give you helpful ideas on how to improve the life of your loved ones in their golden age.
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