An expert on caring for both children and aging parents.
She has been a delegate to the last two White Conferences...
Motivational Speaker, Author and Personal Power Expert
DeLores Pressley, Motivational Speaker and Personal Power...
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Technology is constantly changing. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next iPhone can enable time travel, spin straw into gold, and wash my cat.
Luckily though, each advancement usually makes life a little easier by giving us a new tool that can relieve certain stresses of our lives. One area that is particularly benefiting from this is assistive technology for seniors. On our March 28 show, Award-winning Professor Andrew Carle introduced us to the idea of nana technology, which is basically technology designed to improve the lives of aging adults and their caregivers.
Medication Management
One of many new technologies is robotic pill dispenser that can be plugged into a phone line. This dispenser can hold up to a month’s worth of pills, remind your family member to take the pills, and use the phone line to alert you if the pills aren’t taken. While some of these innovative pill dispensers can be costly, Carle suggests that it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind. Many different types of dispensers can be found at EPill.com.
Emergency Alert
New emergency alert pendants, available at Wellcore.com, look and work like a pedometer by keeping track of steps and sensing motion. If the device detects a fall, it will call for help automatically, which can be hugely important if the fall resulted in unconsciousness and a button could not pressed.
Elopement and Wandering
In the last two years, shoes have been developed that include a GPS chip. The shoes are designed to coordinate with satellites and cell towers to track the location and movement history of its wearer, proving very effective in helping locate Alzheimer’s patients that have wandered off. The shoe can be purchased at GPSShoe.com.
The Future of Nana Technology
Carle rounded out the show by discussing about some amazing possibilities that the future holds for aging adults and caregivers, including articles of clothing that can track vital signs and send them to the wearer’s primary care provider. Tune into the show to hear more.
o It is amazing the strides medical technology has taken in ensuring that the elderly are safe while remaining active and independent as long as possible! Many companies offer alert systems that monitor seniors and provide a wearable “panic button” to ensure that trained emergency responders are available in the event of an emergency or a fall.
Tyler,I work at Navigating Cancer, a patient partol for oncology clinics that connects patients and caregivers with their healthcare team, their health records, and the right information at the right time. We conducted a cancer caregiver survey in the Fall of 2010 that shed some light on the needs of caregivers. The survey results revealed significant emotional, financial and physical strain on the cancer caregiver community, as well as a lack of comprehensive resources to support their needs. You can read a summary of our survey results at the link.The AARP survey Rich mentions also has good information about caregiver needs across all disease types. Google AARP caregiver Survey .