For some elderly, it becomes quite difficult to catch up with the emerging technological world. Phone applications at best have done their job in helping both seniors and caregivers in several ways. Being informed about any basic smartphone, seniors can monitor a lot of things on their own, like their medication, heart rate, or location in case they want mobility themselves. Technology has helped family members remain updated about their loved one’s streaming vitals even manage things like fall alerts.
Internet Of (Medical) Things
The Internet of Things is the connection of devices that can be turned on and off via an Internet connection, allowing for data sharing. It has its influence everywhere including the medical world which gives rise to the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). IoMT has helped seniors with medications schedules, vital signs, and implants to assist with their health.
GPS Services
Two features of the GPS (Global Positioning System) have greatly improved in the last decade: location accuracy and the detail that the system of satellites can convey.
Elders with memory issues stemming from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease have a habit of wandering, which could mean getting disoriented or lost even though the senior has lived there for ages. Having updated GPS services and technology is helpful in this regard to locate a senior who may be lost. Some companies produce GPS trackers that can be ironed into clothing, placed in the soles of shoes, or put in handbags. These systems can be placed in seniors’ routine clothing accessories, and they can be easily found if you find something suspicious about their whereabouts.
Cameras
Elder abuse is a concerning issue for seniors. About one in 10 adults over the age of 60 faces some sort of abuse, be it physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, or some other form. Cameras can be helpful in this regard to keep away abuse. With this technology on the go, seniors’ family members and caretakers can take a sigh of relief that the seniors are treated properly. Cameras also help health professionals track the movements of elders with mental issues when they aren’t around, noticing their habits and tendencies.
The invasiveness of a camera might be annoying to some elderly. There are alternatives like sensors. The installation of these small, wireless pieces of technology, can help you keep track of how active a person is. The sensors pick up changes in activity and send an automatic notification via text, phone, or email that something may be wrong. In other words, if a senior isn’t getting out of bed at a certain time or entering the bathroom to get medication when they’re supposed to, these sensors can let you know.
Phone Apps
Just as important, apps are quite helpful for family and caregivers. The information they collect can be transmitted to doctors to help assess the impact as they age, from their mobility to how the medication is affecting them. Apps also allow family members to keep a track of their seniors and be informed about where they are at all times, which can be particularly useful if they notice a decrease in their elderly’s activities. Apps also keep seniors occupied. Most seniors like to occupy their time with reading and pursuing religious activities. There are endless apps to help seniors stay informed with news or read their favourite books.
Virtual or Robot Assistants
Some devices allow seniors to get help and also receive a better understanding of their medical duties for the day; taking prescription, exercising the best they can for instance, without a person being present to remind them. There are apps many of which come with automated voices. Such applications allow seniors to feel as if someone is around them all the time to help them. This provides a sense of belongingness to a community, which is imperative for seniors as they age, especially if they’re ageing alone. There are robots that seniors can have roaming their homes to remind them to take medications, browse digital content, listen to their favourite music and connect with family.
Emergency Response Services
Life Alert revolutionized senior care two decades ago when they started developing emergency response services (ERS) for seniors who’ve fallen or gotten hurt when they’re alone and with no help around. They, along with technology firms around the world have improved these systems vastly with emerging technologies.
Lack of mobility, sight, and hearing can put seniors in severe danger if they are away from family. ERSs have advanced with the help of GPS with locating seniors and getting someone out as quickly as possible in case they are at risk. There are safety belts available that deploy airbags around the hips when it notices a senior is falling. The belt then relays a signal to a device that gets emergency responders to their location as soon as possible.
Medication Assistance
Hundreds of thousands of seniors are misusing prescription drugs because of a medical community that often is quick to offer narcotic painkillers, anxiety medications and other pharmaceuticals for everything starting from joint pain to depression.
To reduce this misuse, companies have developed pillboxes with alarms that allow seniors to know the exact pill they need to take and when they need to take them. Companies are developing and selling smart pill bottles, connecting their medications to doctors and pharmacies for data and assessment of how often patients are taking their medication. It also sends signals, either a text message or phone call letting seniors know of their time of medication.
Patches or Implants
The health issues associated with ageing can be a lot to take care of all at once, as we noted when it comes to confusion with medications. Some of these issues can be reduced with advanced patches and implants. As people get older, they become more prone to type 2 diabetes. Elders’ bodies can feel achy or low-energy at various points of the day. Rather than being unsure of your glucose levels, there are glucose sensors that allow you to simply wave a transmitter over to let you know if you need help or not. Technology like this can help alleviate the stress that seniors face when taking care of themselves. They can also help provide vital data that can later be reported to doctors to help seniors develop the best plan of care.
VitalTech
VitalTech is a cloud-based platform that improves patient health and wellness through connected care. The emergency voice call-out and fall-detection watch provide a more subtle way to monitor for falls while tracking vital signs like heart and respiratory rate and oxygen saturation, as well as physical activity and sleep quality. It also provides medication reminders.
The company set to work on a smartwatch that would be easier for seniors to use, while monitoring for falls unobtrusively. Just two years later, VitalBand was launched. It is a water-resistant, sweat-proof and efficient that charges right on the wrist for 24/7 safety. If a fall is detected, an alert goes immediately to a certified call centre ready to dispatch emergency services. If the user chooses not to have emergency response services, the fall alert is sent to up to five preconfigured family members and caregivers either through text or email.
Technology has knitted the world into webs of care and compassion. The right utilisation of it makes the world a better place to live in, both for the seniors and their caregivers alike.