Moving in later can mean greater care needs, but same staffing levels. This article caught my eye – ‘Significantly more difficult’ to care for today’s assisted living residents. The gist of the story is that people are moving in later, now in their mid-80’s and often because living at home is untenable. Which means they need more help and care than the organizations used to expect. According to AHCA/NCAL: ”Four in 10 are living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. After a median stay around 22 months, roughly 60% of residents will move out of assisted living to transition to a skilled nursing center.”
Conversation is becoming more interesting with ChatGPT 4.0. For one thing, with its memory feature enabled, it easily inhales everything the conversationalist has ever said online, or even excludes the speaker’s previous remarks upon request. How can this be helpful to older adults? A tool that learns from multiple sources, aggregates if desired into a summary, incorporates links to sources, and then remembers the whole interchange – maybe that moves it into another tier of utility. The conversation could have been about travel possibilities, about transportation options, about more comfortable walking shoes – or brainstorming places to go on a future trip. Next interaction – do you want to hear what’s new in locations you viewed previously?
Some have said the concept of ‘AgeTech’ can be a bit depressing. It is especially bleak when you look at the startup portfolio which aggregates a variety of tech categories to help older adults in their later years, Making Aging Easier for Everyone, and includes offerings that tackle deficits like issues with mobility, fall detection/prevention, caregiving, Alzheimer’s, vision, and many aspects of health. AgeTech tools include a few for the heavily-invested category of Digital Health ($3 Billion in Q1 2025). All these products, all very useful, fill gaps in the general consumer market. Consumer product designers tend not to start the day thinking about the older adult as a market segment. Instead, older adults are segmented into their roles -- older adults are the care recipients (B2B healthcare and senior living), as well as individuals with disabilities and needs for greater accessibility and/or services. All useful.
Strength-related tech for stronger women? With all of the digital health startups and corresponding $10 billion in investment, I was curious as to why none are helping women gain strength, which is known to be a direct link to maintaining balance and improving bone health, not to mention helping to prevent falls. I remember a book published years ago called Strong Women Stay Young, specifically focused on older women. The author, Miriam Nelson, noted the importance of strength training and bone health – and in particular, avoiding osteoporosis, suffered by one in five women aged 50+. It turns out, none of the 2024 digital health investments that are focused on women ($1.1 billion) tackled this dimension of women’s health.
Moving in later can mean greater care needs, but same staffing levels. This article caught my eye – ‘
Some have said the concept of ‘AgeTech’ can be a bit depressing. It is especially bleak when you look at the startup portfolio which aggregates a variety of tech categories to help older adults in their later years, 
Strength-related tech for stronger women? With all of the digital health startups and corresponding