Only 5 percent of Americans ages 65 and older live in group quarters like nursing homes. In recent years, this share has been steadily declining (based on 2008 American Community Survey data). Numbers do not total 100 due to rounding. In a series of reports, NPR explores the quiet revolution — both high-tech and low — that aims to make it easier for seniors to age at home.
In Chevy Chase, Md., Betty and Jack O’Connor are part of a growing number of people banding together to help each other grow old at home. Betty is 80, Jack, 85, and it’s something of a triumph that they’re still living independently in their suburban house, with its backyard garden and pool. Jack suffered a brain injury in a fall five years ago. Since then, a hip replacement has left him frail, and an allergic reaction to the anesthesia in that operation stole even more of his memory. NPR Radio emission by Jennifer Ludden.
Lida and Chris Bridgers created Adaptive Home, an elder care monitoring system that uses sensors to track movement around a home. Their company grew out of their own need to monitor Lida’s mother, Flora Roberts after a stroke.
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A New Paradigm: High Tech to help people to age in place. This article shows how the boomer generation that has grown up with e-mail, cell phones and video cameras is now using all of these things to help care for their aging parents. A NPR radio emission by Jennifer Ludden
As Americans live longer than ever, some will find it difficult to stay in their beloved homes: Steep stairs or a slippery shower can pose dangers, and standard houses are not wheelchair accessible. One solution? With 78 million baby boomers about to hit retirement age, some say the time is ripe to overhaul the way homes are designed. A NPR radio emission by Jennifer Ludden
89% of Americans do not want to leave their homes when they age. Most of these people will be live alone and receive support from a variety of health and community-based providers, family caregivers. How will the long-term care system provide care to a growing number of seniors living in increasingly scattered locations? And more importantly, how can that system continue to provide quality care in the face of workforce shortages, rising care costs and decreasing resources? Technology has the potential to play a critical role in launching a new model of geriatric care that allows older people to live independently for as long as possible, supports family caregivers in the important work they do and gives health care providers the tools they need to deliver high-quality care at a reasonable cost. The just released article Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents on The New York Times, states that these technologies “…are godsends for families. But, as with any parent-child relationship, all loving intentions can be tempered by issues of control, role-reversal, guilt and a little deception — enough loaded stuff to fill a psychology syllabus. For just as the current population of adults in their 30s and 40s have built a reputation for being a generation of hyper-involved, hovering parents to their own children, they now have the tools to micro-manage their aging mothers and fathers as well…”
We, at Living Well Assisted Living at Home, believe the provide a safety net for the elders, an option to stay at home while providing peace of mind to the adult children and family members.
Aging in Place: You do not need to leave your home!
Given that 89% of people do not want to leave their homes, this statement featured on the article The Technology for Monitoring Elderly Relatives on The New York Times (July 28, 2010) about new technologies to help people stay at their home, makes total sense.
The purpose of many of these technologies is to provide enough supervision to make it possible for elderly people to stay in their homes rather than move to an assisted-living facility or nursing home — a goal almost universally embraced as both emotionally and financially desirable.
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