Spring has sprung for new and improved tech. Companies in the tech arena of supporting seniors and their caregivers are sporting fresh features and new companies have decided to shake off winter and launch at the Chicago ASA Conference. Each of these announcements is a significant one -- viewed collectively, 2010, as predicted, is already an interesting year -- and it's only March! >>> Read more . . .

CHICAGO – Emota, a technology startup company based in Menlo Park, Calif. that develops software and services for care of elderly patients, has announced its new "emotional networking" product, which it says will help clinicians, caregivers and families support wellness for the aged, enabling connectedness over long distances.

Emotional networking complements existing telehealth solutions, seeking to address not just clinical health, but emotional and social aspects of elder care. >>> Read more . . .

Home Instead now has 60,000 clients: "Business is about relationship before task."

$102 million proposed to help agencies that provide respite, training, other services to family caregivers.

The year of the 'care'. As one VC executive, Andy Donner of Physic Ventures, noted recently, this is the year of the 'care'. There seems to be a growing list of vendors who are trying to offer some sort of 'keep in touch' product that connects an older person with family members who may live elsewhere.  The basic element is to provide some means to signal 'concerned about you' from family members and obtain the response 'I'm all right' from the older family member back to them -- accompanied by the ability to react in the event that the response is not received. >>> Read more . . .

Wellcore Announces Automatic Fall Detection and Wellness Monitoring System
New Wireless Belt Clip Keeps Seniors Safe, Independent and Always Connected to Caregivers and Family >>> Read more . . .

There are multiple ways to view the technology market for aging in place -- in the 2009 Market Overview, relevance is described as matching stages of frailty, and products are categorized by role in successful aging. Recently we took a look at life stage decision-points and how they trigger a need or desire for a technology that may be in the market. Today let's match a few of these decision points with 2009 tech trends, recent Microsoft-AARP Baby Boomers and Technology coverage, making a few recommendations. >>> Read more . . .

Caregiver helps her mother in decision to move into a retirement community.

It seems as though there is a seasonal cluster to everything -- conferences (spring and fall), concerts (fall through spring), and... communication about surveys and studies. During the fall of studies announcements, we've seen some interesting and sometimes ironic juxtapositions: >>> Read more . . .

Caregiving -- by older women, for older women. The new report, Caregiving in the U.S. 2009, sponsored by the National Alliance for Caregiving, AARP, and MetLife (and funded by MetLife) is a comprehensive survey of 1480 caregivers, defined as those age 18 and over who provide unpaid help to another person. The most intriguing aspect of the study is the comparison to the last published version from 2004.  Seventy percent of those surveyed care for someone over the age of 50; of these 66% of the caregivers are female and their average age has gone up from 46 to 49 -- with the average age of care recipients who are age 75 and older up from 43% to 51%. Average time in the caregiving role -- 4.6 years. Takeaway: all are aging, caregivers are in for the long haul.  >>> Read more . . .