Seniors, The Elderly, and Technology: Improving lives every day-Part III.
Welcome to our four part series entitled: Seniors, The Elderly, and Technology: Improving lives every day.
Senior Protection Device Ocala
Part III – How Does Monitoring Technology Impact Family Caregiving?
In a 2007 study entitled “What’s Mom Doing Now? Impact of Monitoring Technology in Family Caregiving,” the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio had monitoring systems and other assistive devices installed in test subjects’ homes for 24 weeks.
At the end of the study nearly all the families responded that the technology “made life easier (provided peace-of mind, reduced vigilance)” and that it gave them more free time.
The study also found that regardless of previous experience, the caregivers learned to use the new technologies and said the advantages of them outweighed the disadvantages. One advantage the study noted:
- the cost of the technology was modest compared to nursing care or
- nursing home placement.
The study concluded that technologies can play a significant role in supporting in-home care and the partnership of the individual being cared for, the family and professional service providers.
Used in tandem with caregiving, technology enables individuals to maintain as independent a lifestyle as possible, while providing family caregivers peace-of-mind that they can take breaks from the stress and responsibility of caregiving—knowing their loved one is still being watched over. Current technologies help in various situations:
- Reminding individuals to take medicine as prescribed
- Providing individuals a quick way to get help when they are alone
- Enabling long-distance family members to have a greater role in caregiving
- Monitoring persons who wander due to Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia-related conditions
Technology has been proven to help enhance health outcomes of seniors. For instance, electronic medication management systems promote optimal health by automatically dispensing pills and reminding seniors to take them.
The failure to follow prescriptions properly is one of the leading reasons seniors need additional, and more expensive, health care.
Inability to follow prescriptions is attributed to:
- 10 percent of hospital admissions
- 23 percent of nursing home admissions
Emergency response systems also help improve health outcomes for seniors. With the push of a button on a pendant or wrist band that they wear, users can quickly summon help if they fall, become ill, or encounter other emergencies.
Falls are one of the greatest concerns of the elderly. The Centers for Disease Control reports that more than one third of American adults 65 and older fall each year — and falls are the leading cause of death by injury for seniors. But when a fall takes place, if the response time to the emergency can be shortened, it helps reduce the complications that may result. The shortened wait time usually results in quicker and fuller recovery—a much better outcome and improved chance of returning to independent living.
Other technologies are being developed to protect seniors from the initial fall. Monitoring systems, the use of pressure-sensitive mats and sensors can detect changes in a senior’s ambulation, alerting caregivers that the senior is becoming more at risk for falls and may need assistive devices or changes in the home environment.
Web-based video monitoring systems also can help family caregivers — even distant ones — look in on and visit with their loved ones to make sure everything is alright. In an August 19, 2007, article, The Dallas Morning News quoted a woman who uses such a system in caring for her 86-year-old mother 800 miles away: “I can see in an instant how she’s feeling. One evening I noticed she was limping around her place, and I asked her why. If I had simply called her, she might not have mentioned she had fallen.”
An often-stated concern about monitoring systems is their intrusion on privacy; however, the woman’s mother said, “The fact that my family can see me and how I’m doing gives me a sense of security.”
Technology provides away-from-home safety and security when a professional caregiver or family caregiver isn’t present. Through the Internet, family caregivers can look in when they can’t be with their loved one. And technology providers have their own professional staff who continually monitor the devices. Through this technology, seniors have constant protection.
At Comfort Keepers, we support our caregiving services with our Safety Choice devices to ensure that all of our clients have the security they need to stay in their own home. Comfort Keepers is located in Ocala, Gainesville and The Villages, Florida and we strive to provide the highest quality senior care and elderly assistance in Central Florida. Call us today 866-333-4737!
