Seniors Live Independently
COLUMBIA, Mo. – After back-to-back hospital visits for congestive heart failure, Eva Olweean figured her health was back to normal. But the nurses at her retirement home knew better: Motion sensors in the 86-year-old?s bed detected too many restless nights.
Tiny sensors hover unobtrusively over the toilet, shower and doorways to detect Olweean?s movements inside her apartment. Pneumatic tubes tucked in the mattress and beneath her easy chair measure weight shifts. Caregivers and researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia study the data, noting changes in behavior that could signal medical problems.
Recognizing the coming ?silver tsunami? of graying baby boomers, tech companies are racing to help aging Americans spend more time living independently instead of in nursing homes. For the first time earlier this month, the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas featured a special section devoted to high-tech senior living.
Delaying nursing home living
?We?re talking about an important paradigm shift in how we think about aging,? said Majd Alwan, director of the Washington-based Center for Aging Services Technologies. Alwan led a panel discussion on smart-home technology at the Las Vegas event.
Delaying institutionalization by a year or more, is a significant financial savings, he added. ?Let alone the benefits in quality of life for the senior and for the caregiver.?
Alwan previously led the eldercare technology unit of the University of Virginia?s Medical Automation Research Center, which developed the passive sensor technology used in Missouri.
Unlike medical warning badges worn by seniors, the motion sensors? success doesn?t depend on the cooperation of patients. Elderly people can be prone to forget the badges when dressing, or who might resist the devices as too obtrusive, said University of Missouri nursing professor Marilyn Rantz. more…
