Activities of daily living, and where to live.
Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash As part of our “Smart Home Features for Older Adults” series, we are sharing some specific recipes and “kit lists” for individual smart home features — organized on a “room by room” basis. Overview This article covers several smart bathroom features that author Frank Engelman has found useful for family members … Read more
Photo by Steve Philpott on Unsplash Normally, I visit my Aunt 6-7 times a week. I count on these visits to “check up” on her, get her things she needs, and generally make sure she is OK. BUT, . . . In Wisconsin we have snow! And, I travel for work. I live in … Read more
I have a suggestion that involves using an Alexa Routine to prompt your mom when she enters the bathroom.
My mother (with dementia) wakes up often in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and forgets to wash her hands/flush the toilet. She often forgets during the day as well.
Hi there! I want to start off by saying that if it wasn't for this community and the instructions on how to use the Amazon Echo and set up the device for a person without a smartphone, my family and I wouldn't have been able to interact with my father this past year while he … Read more
We have started to see the term “smart home for seniors” mentioned in the media recently. What is a “Smart Home for Seniors“, we wondered? And how is it different from a normal smart home? And who would want one, and why? And, can you just get some specific smart home features relevant to you — … Read more
Here are some high-impact, gerontechnology product concepts that do not yet exist as commercially available products — although the technology to enable them already largely exists. Our hope for products like these: to significantly postpone the time at which frailty and functional disability get in the way of “living life”.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema There are a lot of things that have been memorable about 2020. Many of them have been pretty horrible. But, in the area of innovation as it relates to the lives of older adults, we actually see some positive developments, and room for optimism about the future. When looked at through the … Read more
Amazon has a new “feature” in its Alexa artificial intelligence (AI) — called the Alexa Care Hub. It has the potential to help quite a lot in a situation where you are worried about, or caring for, someone who lives at a distance, and on whom you can not just “pop in” yourself — like your … Read more
Photo credit: Pavan Trikutam How do you have rich and engaging interactions with your parent who you can’t visit in person? Especially if they cannot, or will not, adopt mainstream consumer technologies. That’s the challenge we are exploring in this article. After months of enforced isolation during COVID, video calling as a solution … Read more