Five technology innovations to help older adults – August 2017

As August winds down, startups wind up.  For some, maybe they still think that summer is winding down and all is quiet in business and beyond. But no -- back to school, back to work, and back to starting companies.  Aging 2.0 finalists have been announced, conference media organizations are ramping up, and a few leaves begin to turn – fall is in clearly the air and around the corner.  Before August disappears altogether and the media engines shift into gear, here are five announcements of new technologies designed to help older adults and/or their caregivers.  All material is derived from the websites of the firms:

• OnGuardian. "Simplify how caregivers care for their loved ones by streamlining how support is delivered with a platform that is connected to home control and health monitoring devices. Inform caregivers through dashboards and notifications about the status of the home and health of their loved ones, react to emergencies and stay updated when needed. Stay confident with our Concierge Services that provide caregivers and care recipients an added level of assurance that help is always available when needed most."  Learn more at OnGuardian.

• SayOk365.  "Notify friends and family when something is amiss. Check-in each day between 8am and 1pm (or other time that is convenient to you) and if that check-in is missed, an alert will be emailed to each person that you specify in your profile. Those alert-emails will continue for several hours until the check-in is complete, or the account is disabled automatically." Learn more at SayOkay365.

• SensoSafe smart watch.  "The first fully automatic fall detection device that monitors heart rate, respiration rate, calories burned and step count, while providing continuous fall detection. It's smaller, lighter, sleeker and more stylish, and fully programmable for medication reminders, fitness goals and calendar. Anyone would be proud to wear one." Learn more at SensoSafe.

• TruSense. "TruSense’s smart home technology (through Echo Dot and motion sensors) was designed to give the nearly 40 million seniors that live alone today an option that makes it easier to stay in their own homes longer, while providing their caregivers and loved ones with more information on their health and wellness when they cannot be there."  Learn more at MyTruSense.

• Uniper Care Technologies. "Uniper's TV app enables improved communication and deeper involvement in the family circle, and increases the older person’s level of independence while maintaining dignity and privacy. We offer a holistic solution which includes a variety of services and medical and security devices which can easily simplify daily activities and needs."  Learn more at Uniper Care technologies. 

[See you at the PERS Summit (September), ICAA 2017 (October)]. 

category tags: 

IoT and home monitoring, Family caregivers, Home Care

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-technology-innovations-help-older-adults-august-2017

Working past 70 – what are reasons and tech implications?

Trends come and trends go – but some trends generate their own trends.  No doubt you saw the news that one-fifth of individuals aged 65+ (as officially counted by someone) are still working at least part time -- some past the age of 70.  In fact, this is the highest rate of employment level of older adults in 55 years.  Perhaps this trend is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Apparently 79% of US workers expect to supplement retirement income by working for pay.  Maybe they read about the recent assertion that the definitional age of 'old' is moving up to 73 for women and 70 for men. Are older workers concerned about life expectancy? Do they know that if they live to age 65, life expectancy is anticipated to be 88.8 for women and 86.6 for men? Are they worried about outliving their money (aka plummeting retirement income)? It used to be that older adults feared nursing homes worse than death. That was in 2007.  Now the worry is outliving their money.

But is the percentage of older workers accurate or is it low?  Does that number count self-employment, cash or under-the-table payments for older home care aides?  Housecleaning?  Is that averaged across all regions, including those with significant worker shortages? What about the high percentage who receive social security payments  and work -- with earnings limited to $17K annually for those under 65? Older adults surely read projections that indicate the sharp contraction in income at age 75? They must know that 61% of Social Security beneficiaries receive at least half of their income from Social Security? In short, perhaps the 65+ population asks themselves, why not work? And what is 'retirement’ in a society where fewer have -- or will have -- pensions?

Older adults will adapt to work-mandated technologies.  For the older population, today's world involves finding a job, interacting with other workers, applying for benefits, learning how to be caregivers of ever-older parents, being a slice of the sandwich generation, living and finding housing for as many as four generations.  The older among them may resist optional technology like smartphones – it is amazing how many clamshell phones are out there when you start looking for them.  Tablets no doubt are more pleasant experiences than squinting at miniature quasi-keyboards. 

Technology vendors should be kinder to – even aware of -- older adults. Time to make technology easier to use and adopt a motto -- truly design for all. Time to test the products with a sample of older adults – not just those 29-year-old team members that all think and look the same. Tune up natural language spoken interfaces. Wake up to the possibility of hearing and vision limitations. Work on the definition of what it means for an app to be intuitive. Recognize that there is a shortage of workers across multiple industries and locations. Know that older adults, knowledge, service, and manufacturing workers – are needed and, ahem, valued.  Think outside the box of your cafeteria. Imagine how your robot prototypes could provide near-term assistance to caregivers, many of whom are also older adults.  Now is a good time to sort through population demographics and make products that everyone can use.

category tags: 

Learning, working, contribution and legacy, Seniors, Boomer-Senior Tech Business

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/working-past-70-what-are-reasons-and-tech-implications

Working past 65 and 70 – what are reasons and tech implications?

Trends come and trends go – but some trends generate their own trends.  No doubt you saw the news that one-fifth of individuals aged 65+ (as officially counted by someone) are still working at least part time -- some past the age of 70.  In fact, this is the highest rate of employment level of older adults in 55 years.  Perhaps this trend is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Apparently 79% of US workers expect to supplement retirement income by working for pay.  Maybe they read about the recent assertion that the definitional age of 'old' is moving up to 73 for women and 70 for men. Are older workers concerned about life expectancy? Do they know that if they live to age 65, life expectancy is anticipated to be 88.8 for women and 86.6 for men? Are they worried about outliving their money (aka plummeting retirement income)? It used to be that older adults feared nursing homes worse than death. That was in 2007.  Now the worry is outliving their money.

But is the percentage of older workers accurate or is it low?  Does that number count self-employment, cash or under-the-table payments for older home care aides?  Housecleaning?  Is that averaged across all regions, including those with significant worker shortages? What about the high percentage who receive social security payments  and work -- with earnings limited to $17K annually for those under 65? Older adults surely read projections that indicate the sharp contraction in income at age 75? They must know that 61% of Social Security beneficiaries receive at least half of their income from Social Security? In short, perhaps the 65+ population asks themselves, why not work? And what is 'retirement’ in a society where fewer have -- or will have -- pensions?

Older adults will adapt to work-mandated technologies.  For the older population, today's world involves finding a job, interacting with other workers, applying for benefits, learning how to be caregivers of ever-older parents, being a slice of the sandwich generation, living and finding housing for as many as four generations.  The older among them may resist optional technology like smartphones – it is amazing how many clamshell phones are out there when you start looking for them.  Tablets no doubt are more pleasant experiences than squinting at miniature quasi-keyboards. 

Technology vendors should be kinder to – even aware of -- older adults. Time to make technology easier to use and adopt a motto -- truly design for all. Time to test the products with a sample of older adults – not just those 29-year-old team members that all think and look the same. Tune up natural language spoken interfaces. Wake up to the possibility of hearing and vision limitations. Work on the definition of what it means for an app to be intuitive. Recognize that there is a shortage of workers across multiple industries and locations. Know that older adults, knowledge, service, and manufacturing workers – are needed and, ahem, valued.  Think outside the box of your cafeteria. Imagine how your robot prototypes could provide near-term assistance to caregivers, many of whom are also older adults.  Now is a good time to sort through population demographics and make products that everyone can use.

category tags: 

Learning, working, contribution and legacy, Seniors, Boomer-Senior Tech Business

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/working-past-65-and-70-what-are-reasons-and-tech-implications

Wearable tech and older adults – It’s 2017 – moving beyond PERS

PERS is the most recognized wearable for older adults -- but what's next?  Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) is a long-standing $3+ billion market (30+ years!) that has evolved slightly from its fear-inspiring origins. The ‘I’ve Fallen’ message is still ‘inspiring’ families and seniors to acquire one.  But 30% of the market’s sales are for mobile devices, which makes sense in this time of substantial life expectancy at age 65, that 46% of women aged 75+ living alone; and a now we can add older adults’ ‘newly-discovered’ extended middle age.  Mobility demands mobile devices which in turn these boost confidence to be out-and-about, walking the dog -- since one third of the 65+ population has one. 

PERS has evolved to look more like wearables – and become involved in elder care and health.  Gait analysis to help predict decline; the PERS role in predictive analytics, multiple variations in fall detection capability; plus  non-motion detection can be found in one product or another in the PERS market. PERS devices can be worn around the neck, on the wrist, and in newer concepts, can enable geo-fencing with smart soles in a shoe – warning a responder if an individual has left a perimeter or has not moved. And wearables can also track individuals with dementia. Other offerings like Anelto’s use beacons (‘Mom has left the house’). UnaliWear has focused on a voice-interface wearable to appeal to older women. The Limmex offering (outside the US) offers attractive emergency watches in a variety of colors.

Newer wearables can care about all ages, including older adults.  Consider the Lively Wearable which combines fitness challenges with the capability to reach a call center if needed.  Consider the in-pocket wearable like iTraq or Pocket Finder (‘children, pets, seniors, vehicles’) Is this the direction all PERS companies should take?  Yes, we have a ‘medical alert’ device for women aged 82.  Yes, we have a fitness tracker for women aged 52 that can be augmented with a link to a response center.  Yes, we have a fitness tracker that can note a fall when out alone with the dog in winter.

What’s next in wearable tech?  Yes, we have a fall detection app for lone workers that may someday soon support fall detection for older adults.  Yes, we are a large company whose smart watch may someday support fall detection. Yes, we have a voice-first interface. And when all that has emerged, what is a PERS company anyway?  Yes, we know that boomers have all the wealth and that the oldest is 71. Yes we even have the ability to provide a concierge service for individuals who have our wearable. Call me crazy, has the future (spelled out on page 21) arrived?

 

category tags: 

Mobile PERS, mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/wearable-tech-and-older-adults-it-s-2017-moving-beyond-pers

Five Tech and Aging Blog Posts You May Have Missed - Aug 2017

Summer lingers in that August lull before all are back-to-business.  Broadcasters are substitutes; columnists are away; the world is awash in out-of-office emails.  So it is seems to be the right time to recap the last month of blog posts before heading into the forward-look at conferences and events that businesses targeting the older adult market.  For example, you may be looking at attending, sponsoring, exhibiting or just learning about LeadingAge, Aging 2.0 Optimize, DigitalHealth Summit At CES or Aging in America  While mulling those over, check out the July white paper on social isolation sponsored by GreatCall.  And here are those five blog posts you may have missed. 

Startups and pitches – for funding and more.  July featured a a boomer-senior two week marathon – the 2017 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit, Business Plan Competition and associated pre-conference Boot Camps – to be followed this week by TechDay at IAGG 2017.  Here are seven that played a role at the Silicon Valley event in Berkeley, some just (barely, and not yet) starting, some related to the needs, including manufacturing, for startups. The material is extracted from the content of these companies.

Health tech future: do we really want to share our health data with Google? Apparently at the time no one really noticed the 2016 Rock Health report on ‘willingness’ to share health data.  But times have changed. So Mary Meeker’s report, which everyone now quotes, cites that data as though it were important input for brands.  And now it is really and inaccurately famous. She opines, that of the 'brands well-positioned for digital health’ – the leader is Google.  The oft-quoted answer (see Tech Crunch “Pretty neat” insight): "Meeker’s report says a full 60 percent of us were willing to share our health data with Google in 2016."  That does sound pretty neat, huh? 

Technology and Aging – One Full Day Component from IAGG 2017.    The International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) held its World Congress symposia (73 member organizations from 65 countries) last week in San Francisco, "key opinion leaders in health & social services, housing & income support, research & education, public policy, administration & other areas, disciplines, and professions that impact older people and affect their quality of life." As part of the symposia (billed "as the largest world conference on aging"), July 26 was 'Tech Day' and included a pitch event from the following companies.  The winner of the pitch event was Kinesis Health Technologies, and the 'people’s choice' winner was Life Assist Technologies.  Descriptions are from the companies' websites.

A virtual assistant that can misunderstand you more effectively.  So perhaps you never liked asking Siri questions, partly because the answer was often a website you peer at on a phone.  How dumb is that?  Siri was created a long time ago, but it really got its name when it was introduced into the iPhone in 2011 and dubbed an ‘Intelligent Personal Assistant’. Maybe there is a Siri improvement you wanted that will be available sometime in the fall in iOS 11.  Maybe you want Siri’s English to be in Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.  Maybe you don’t care because you are too embarrassed to speak to Siri in public settings, like meetings, and prefer the auto-correction of your mediocre typing.  Or maybe you are excited now, because Siri may, just possibly, soon work with other apps. Woohoo! 

The Wall Street Journal offers advice to well-to-do older adults.  This time the advice comes from Glenn Ruffenach, a frequent writer for the WSJ retirement section.  The query comes from a healthy couple in their early 70s who wonder if it is time to move into a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community). They hesitate, observing that the residents seem decidedly older. A good observation – they are!  Glenn says to move now, rather than wait. Really? For people in their early 70s? The median age of move-in to CCRCs is climbing – noted as of 2016 to be age 81 – and the residents’ average age is now 85.  The CCRC has been a buy-in offering combining independent living homes, assisted living and skilled nursing facility (SNFs). Many faith-based non-profits are structured that way. But the nation’s largest for-profit firm, Brookdale, offers a ‘rental’ model -- Caring.com’s 2017 description – why? People are deferring the move. In 2016, CCRC occupancy has reached 90% in only one quarter. 

 

NOTE: If you read via a feedburner email, also click on the blog source, Aging in Place Technology Watch. 

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, assisted living, voice technology, mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-tech-and-aging-blog-posts-you-may-have-missed-aug-2017

The WSJ offers bad advice – move into a CCRC sooner vs. later

The Wall Street Journal offers advice to well-to-do older adults.  This time the advice comes from Glenn Ruffenach, a frequent writer for the WSJ retirement section.  The query comes from a healthy couple in their early 70s who wonder if it is time to move into a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community). They hesitate, observing that the residents seem decidedly older. A good observation – they are!  Glenn says to move now, rather than wait. Really? For people in their early 70s? The average age of move-in to CCRCs is climbing – noted as of 2015 to be age 81 – and the residents’ average age is now 85.  The CCRC has been a buy-in offering combining independent living homes, assisted living and skilled nursing facility (SNFs). Many faith-based non-profits are structured that way. But the nation’s largest for-profit firm, Brookdale, offers a ‘rental’ model -- Caring.com’s 2017 description – why? People are deferring the move. In 2016, CCRC occupancy has reached 90% in only one quarter. 

The CCRC conundrum and WSJ advice sounds like the LTC insurance dilemma. The CCRC rationale -- hedge against changes in future needs (independent to memory care). Hedge against future costs (average price increase for assisted living rose 2% in the past five years). Hedge against change in circumstances (from married to widowed, for example.)   So it sounds practical and smart to plan for the future – and insurers thought so too, selling long-term care insurance policies to people in their 50s.  See what happened to the crumbling long-term care insurance market and the consumer’s experience -- hedging in your 50s against future risk in your 80s or 90s. Every life expectancy assumption was wrong, many insurers left or are leaving the market, and some consumers wish they still had their money from all of those recently quadrupled premiums.  

So should the reader listen to WSJ and buy something 14 years before it is needed? If the real need doesn't arise until the mid-80s, why advise people to buy in their early 70s?  Are there no other options?  Here are six that he did not mention.  1) Sell the house and move to a 55+ community. 2) Sell the house and move to an rental assisted living community at age 81-85. 3) Work together to form a NORC.  4) When needed, ask adult children for an in-law apartment or buy a home that has one and move with them. 5) Form a village that coordinates home care, transportation and food delivery options near the current home. 6) Consider co-housing options – now there is even an association of them!  

WSJ: the CCRC is a place, not an investment strategy.  And moving there doesn’t even imply just one place – consider the scenario of a couple moving into a shared apartment -- later the wife must move into the locked memory care unit, another place. Or both to assisted living in another part of the campus – that counts as another place – mroe downsizing and moving yet again.  Perhaps this is appreciated up front. Iif a couple has substantial financial assets, wants what a CCRC is offering – and recognizes themselves there when visiting.  But like long-term care insurance, there may be a mismatch between what’s been built and what people really need when they move in.  And assisted living (with memory care units) is similarly opaque. There is no nationwide regulation of either CCRCs or assisted living. Practices and services such as restricted access to dining rooms may be poorly understood at time of move-in, and many residents in assisted living sections of CCRCs may already have some form of dementia. 

category tags: 

assisted living

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/wsj-offers-bad-advice-move-ccrc-sooner-vs-later

Stretching To Prevent Back Pain

 

There are many people with lower back pain that don’t realize that their mid and upper back are probably suffering also. But if you think about it, if you’re getting back pain from sitting too much, you’re probably getting a rounded upper back and your head protrudes a little forward.
This is natural for anyone who is behind a desk or a steering wheel all day. There are some exercises that you can do. Some are discreet and you can do them at your desk. Then others you may need a little more room for.

“They can be especially useful for those aching back pains that come on from sitting for long periods, although they can be useful for sciatica – that is, leg pain, tingling or numbness that originates from the nerves in the back. It is best to be seen by your physiotherapist or physician before commencing [with these exercises] to ensure that they are the best thing for you.”

As with pretty much all exercise, if you experience pain when doing the stretches, stop and get checked out by a physio to ensuring you’re not compounding any major issues.

See more…

Here Are 9 Exercises You Can Do at Your Desk

With the advent of the standing desk, posture pro tips, and even a new study that suggests sitting is the new smoking, there’s a plethora of information that confirms spending hours upon hours in a chair is a big no-no for health reasons (we even touched on a few points ourselves in a Be Well post of yore). But if you’re reading this from behind your desk, you know the dilemma. As a full-time working professional, sitting is quite literally part of the job.

So, what do you do to make sure your desk isn’t negatively affecting your health? To start, we suggest trying the nine exercises below, which can all 100 percent be done at—or around—your desk. Together, they will work the muscles that suffer most during your 8-hour work day.

Make sure you read the whole article as I couldn’t include all the exercises here.

 

See original post here: Stretching To Prevent Back Pain

from Back Pain Relief, http://www.xbackpain.com/stretching-prevent-back-pain/

Voice First: what do we really need – a virtual assistant or something more?

A virtual assistant that can misunderstand you more effectively.  So perhaps you never liked asking Siri questions, partly because the answer was often a website you peer at on a phone.  How dumb is that?  Siri was created a long time ago, but it really got its name when it was introduced into the iPhone in 2011 and dubbed an ‘Intelligent Personal Assistant’. Maybe there is a Siri improvement you wanted that will be available sometime in the fall in iOS 11.  Maybe you want Siri’s English to be in Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.  Maybe you don’t care because you are too embarrassed to speak to Siri in public settings, like meetings, and prefer the auto-correction of your mediocre typing.  Or maybe you are excited now, because Siri may, just possibly, soon work with other apps. Woohoo! 

Following Siri, which Microsoft must have thought was a hit, arrives Cortana in 2014. And in case you couldn’t figure out what to do with it, or felt silly talking to your laptop, you could always type commands into a box, like ‘Remind me to…’ Initially, people were confused by its utility, and accent-insensitive capability, including the Microsoft CEO in a widely viewed failed demo, but apparently it has fielded 6 billion voice queries to date. No word as to the satisfaction level with the answers. So chalk one up for an Intelligent Assistant. 

Samsung watches this farcical feature creep and wants to be in on it too. Apparently, Samsung observed all of the palaver about Siri for the past year, and said, we can do this too! Make a Virtual Assistant that is even more annoying – Voilà, we will sell the Samsung Galaxy S8 which people love, but we can’t quite master English, – so after you bought the phone and liked the way it works, we will force an improved, sort-of-working Bixby Virtual Assistant on you! And the joke’s on you, the buyer of the $720 phone. It updates itself at will, and takes up a screen, a button, and five apps that cannot be permanently deleted!  Presumably, context will make this virus, uh, software, better than the others -- able to answer a question that is related to the previous question.

Amazon enters – and on its own platforms, wins the sociability race, for now. Like Siri, Alexa can tell you a joke – what a relief. Jokes are apparently an important demonstrable and comparison-ready feature. But Alexa can also play your music, particularly everything you bought for yourself or your mother.  It can read you a book – you don’t carry it with you in a laptop or a phone, it is in the home, and as far as that goes, is outselling Google’s also-ran, the Google Home.  For those that are persistent, master the setup and integration with all of this-and-that Internet steps, it does not have to have a software update on a device to become smarter (unlike Bixby, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana).  Perhaps the demos of the future for all of these will be about helping aging boomers remain longer in their homes. (Ha!) Perhaps that is the test in the senior-related market – can Amazon’s Echo Show (pun intended) blend into the older adult home -- or is it a security risk?  Maybe those that follow -- will be more purposeful, like Nucleus Life, and thus will develop a greater understanding of the older adult market.

category tags: 

voice technology, Boomer-Senior Tech Business, IoT and home monitoring

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/voice-first-what-do-we-really-need-virtual-assistant-or-something-more