The fall tech/aging circuit -- events for your calendar

Out and about in the fall. Especially for startups, going to events can reveal contacts that you may need or initiatives that you did not know even existed. Over the next few months, there are a number of events around the country worth attending if schedules permit and interest areas match. Useful, besides sessions themselves, are exhibit areas where vendors offer new and existing solutions for the target audiences of the attendees.  For those who do not attend, check the exhibit hall online after the event if the organizers make that feature available.  Here are five upcoming events to consider – the information provided is from the websites of the organizers:

Argentum Senior Living Symposium.  October 16-17, 2019. “As the rules of aging change, so do the rules of providing aging services. In order to adapt, you must embrace new innovations and technologies that can be used to transform the lives of older adults. You’ll ideate new ways of living and operating by gaining access to the latest products, services, and solutions from hundreds of companies serving our field. From the newest business technologies to innovations that foster independence and engagement, to service providers including staffing agencies and marketing firms - you’ll meet new partners to serve your evolving needs, and you’ll return equipped with fresh ideas and approaches to implement in your organization.” Learn more at Argentum.

Innovation and Technology to Support Healthy Aging for Older Adults” Poster Competition. October 17, 2019. “Healthcare professionals, social workers, nurses, care managers, aging experts, entrepreneurs. Judging on relevance to healthy aging for older adults and/or caregivers of older adults, Originality and innovative nature of solution, Effectiveness of innovation and/or technology in supporting healthy aging, Quality of poster display including, completeness and flow of information, ease of read, use of color and graphics. Dallas Area Gerontological Society (DAGS) Fall Forum.” Learn more Aging 2.0.

LeadingAge Annual Meeting & EXPO.  October 27, 2019.  “LeadingAge Annual Meeting & EXPO brings together thousands of passionate individuals who walk in your same shoes. With a program that touches on every facet of aging services, this is where you’ll join other dedicated professionals to exchange ideas, explore new strategies and master the latest best practices all while reigniting your commitment and dedication to the people you serve.” Learn more at LeadingAge.

Society of Actuaries (SOA) LTC Tech Summit. November 7, 2019. “On November 7, the Society of Actuaries, in partnership with Maddock Douglas, will host its first LTC Tech Summit at the Plug and Play Tech Center in the heart of innovation, Silicon Valley. Join leading innovators, payors, providers and investors to learn about emerging LTC technologies and participate in an intimate discussion to assemble the pieces that will address this crisis.” Learn more at LTC Tech Summit.

Innovations in Longevity Summit. December 9, 2019. “Innovation in the booming longevity economy can create dramatic savings, and new models for thinking about aging – for state, local and federal government, nonprofit partners, and companies. Learn what these are and how they contribute to the bottom line. Join us for the 2^nd Annual Washington Innovation in Longevity Summit - a high energy, high networking event where real deals happen between investors, policy makers, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs in the global longevity market.” Learn more at Innovations in Longevity Summit.

category tags: 

Aging technology, Boomer-Senior Tech Business

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/fall-techaging-circuit-events-your-calendar

A reminder -- moving beyond pilots

Search for the word ‘pilot’ on this site. That is an interesting historical search – pages and pages of Start Me Up pilots in tech, programs, initiatives large and small, all linked, no doubt to corresponding media spend and press releases.  Think back on the cycles of tech deployment.  Remember the Alpha test, when the product barely worked at all.  After those bugs were uncovered by testers who had scripts designed for successful outcomes, it was time for the Beta test – where selected prospective users are identified, put the offering through its paces, under an assumption that the pilot will be converted to permanent deployment. 

Why do pilots exist?  Today, the traditional project life cycle seems quaint.  Companies buy, deploy, cancel and forget cloud-based software at breathtaking speed. Primary motivation for pilots combines business uncertainty and a reasonable deal from the vendor.  Will this solution work well for my business? Will the participants I’ve rounded up accept the new process or tech? Has the tech firm agreed that licenses for use of the technology during the pilot will be free – and that an initial installation for a limited number will be either free or discounted after the pilot?  Are prospective sponsors enthusiastic and ready to give the tech or service a try?  Have learnings from the pilot been documented and distributed?  

But some pilots produce little -- beyond an extension of the pilot.  Business coordinators are still unsure – because the people they have involved may be unsure or uncommitted. The technology seemed charming or interesting during the pilot may be of little long-term use outside of the pilot. Funding for purchases of hardware, software or services for deployment may disappear or was not budgeted. Or the administration of the product or service is lacking. Or organizational change occurs – either sponsor or vendor. Worse, there never seems to be a follow-up press release stating that organization or company A, B, or C discontinued the pilot – so it is left to the rumor mill to speculate. The Comcast Internet Essentials pilot started in 2015 is still expanding in for low-income elderly.

Some pilots succeed and the offering is deployed, but...  When the stars align (offering, price, available training, support and service), then pilots succeed -- and deployment begins. Incentives, like that for Comcast, are in place.  The organizations committed to the pilot are stable – eventually, for example, senior housing organizations achieve a prediction of becoming WiFi-enabled and so they are candidates for use of the WiFi dependent technology.  Ideally deployment is easy – the offering is in the cloud or easily downloaded – the hardware is inexpensive, easily shipped or is a commodity – or even better, everyone already has the hardware.  Sometimes the pilot just ends, with an optimistic word about the future. So often, deployment takes too much money, may not be scalable, and offers too little benefit (consider Paro the Seal), too much organizational stability motivation and too many years. So the question is, why are pilots standard practice, or is this construct simply an excuse for vendor-funded experiments, inadequate research and poor specifications of actual requirements?  And what is the boundary between a pilot and phase one of an actual deployment? Or is deployment only recognizable in the rear view mirror of company history?

 

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, senior living

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/reminder-moving-beyond-pilots

For older adults, consider that transitions are going to take longer

The baby boomer generation’s later years will be unprecedented.  Each time the population aged 65+ is counted, it’s a bigger number. That onslaught, now at 52 million, bears repeating.  The boomers, turning 65 at a rate of 10,000 a day, are pushing and prodding assumptions, deadlines, and pundit predictions. As they do so, they will force industries to change offerings – and drive considerable change in technology that underpins their lives. Consider signals from today's older adults that will only become more pronounced as the boomers move past today's upper age of 73. Innovators should nderstand and and match their offerings to clear trends indicating that:

• Older adults will live and work longer.  With life expectancy for those aged 65+ now in the mid-to-late 80’s for women, mid-80’s for men, living to 90 and beyond is no longer unusual. And working longer is a result.  At age 65, 20% are still in the workforce – and they are twice as likely to be working as those who were at the same age in 1985.  Today, however, those working longer are typically college-educated and have jobs that are not physically demanding.

• Older adults will stay longer in their own home. Only 10% of the senior population moves to senior living, and to preserve their savings, those who move do so at a later date.  The remainder will remain longer in their own homes -- ‘aging in place’ and utilizing services like home care and home health care.  Many will also utilize the services of Continuing Care at Home (CCaH), lower-priced offerings from senior living companies like Friends Life Care in Pennsylvania or Kendal At Home (available across 30 states).  Or those living alone may opt to share their homes by obtaining roommates through organizations like Silvernest or Roomates4Boomers.

• Older adults will to interact differently with health providers.  Studies are showing that older adults who have Internet and broadband may be willing to use telehealth.  Better-educated and in higher income demographic, they may be working longer. They also may be interested and willing to consider self-care approaches, as well as being more willing to use patient portals. Those who do may also find that their health status is better than those who don't. Perhaps that's because they are more interested in and aware of their own test results and upcoming appointments.  These boomers are also signalling that they are more interested in self-care, whether that involves testing their own hearing or vision, buying devices or eyeglasses online, or finding ways to take care of themselves before someone else has to help them.

category tags: 

baby boomers, senior living, mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/older-adults-consider-transitions-are-going-take-longer

Wearables for health and wellbeing

How do wearables contribute to health and wellbeing of older adults? Did something happen recently propelling sales up 51% that pushed consumers out the door to buy a wearable, like a fitness band or a smartwatch? Was it the coolness of the Apple Watch? Was it fear of ailments that worsen with lack of exercise? Or to put the question another way, what is it that these devices do that can help maintain or improve health, noting that 32% of baby boomers today get no exercise whatsoever, according to the CDC. However more than 50% are striving for 30 minutes per day and want feedback about how they're doing. Today’s wearables have functions that are relevant because they:

Measure your heart rate.  Tracking heart rate is one of the most basic functions of wrist-worn wearables – and a basic element of tracking includes knowing the target (and maximum) heart rate ranges for your particular age group. The objective is to exercise to the point where your heart is beating at up to 85% of its capacity, which in the example chart would be 78-132 beats per minute for a 65-year-old with a max of 155 bpm. As note in the link, medications can impact heart rate, and for those starting out, lower end of the range is better.

Track your exercise.  Are you walking, running, swimming or doing an exercise that devices can detect as motion -- and even count, as with steps?  Whether you are doing the exercise to lose weight or become and stay fit, the combination of motion and measured heart rate can be compared against goals and even recommended fitness levels.  The goals can be entered into a smartphone app, for example, on Apple Health or Samsung Health, and the Bluetooth-synchronized device coaching feature will buzz and/or display encouragement as you move and as goals are achieved.

Help you get help if you fall.  Fall detection has been a feature of wearable Personal Emergency Response Pendants (or Medical Alerts) for the past decade. However, it is a relatively new feature of wrist-worn wearables like watches, but from a safety standpoint, may turn out to be one of the most useful in retirement, especially for people who live alone and/or take a dog for a walk alone.  These devices have a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope which may be activated in a fall.  Depending on whether the feature is available and also turned on, the device may place a call to emergency services.

Electrocardiogram (ECG). Checking for heart arrhythmia is an even newer feature of wearables, and is included in the Apple Watch Series 4 and likely in a future Samsung Galaxy Watch Active.  For individuals who are worried about abnormal heart rhythms, or AFib, which mostly affects those age 65+, the device could be useful. Examples where it was helpful have already been noted.  

Help you find where you’re going – and also be found.  We have grown increasingly dependent on GPS Location-tracking as part of mapping and directions, trusting it sometimes over common sense.  And GPS location can be enabled in newer wearables, like Samsung’s or Apple’s. They can also help with directions and your location even when away from a smartphone or the phone is turned off. But a GPS-enabled device can also be a lifesaver.  When enabled and integrated with a service, for example, it enables responders to find your location and display that on a map. And if you lose the watch, its GPS location capability can enable the watch to be found with a Find my Phone feature.

category tags: 

wearables, smart watch, mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/wearables-health-and-wellbeing