Consider this a heads up about new technology-enabled options for older adults.  Sometimes it is helpful to know about offerings before or just as they are being released, if only to look for their availability in the future.  The five interesting offerings that are noted below are all going to be available within the next six months, possibly sooner.  Each in its own way strives to solve a problem experienced by older adults or those who serve them:

An age-friendly event in young Boston. Last week, LeadingAge returned to Boston after an absence of 23 years, now that the city has a convention center that can hold the 8500 attendees. Perhaps more remarkable, is the desire of the city to become age and dementia-friendly, as opined by the Mayor, Marty Walsh, who received a citation for such efforts. For convention attendees, that may need some more work. The pedestrian walk time duration near the convention center was just enough time to (walk quickly) and only reach the road's median. No surprise – as the town is for the young, and this new area was likely designed by them: Boston's median resident age is 31.7. The event exhibition hall was the expected mix of food service providers, furnishings, bathroom supplies, technology suppliers, and health-related products for the senior living industry.  There were quite a few sizable technology companies known in the CCRC/Senior Housing market, including CDW, Stanley Healthcare, Panasonic, LG CNS, Hamilton CapTel, IN2L, SimpleC, Care Innovations. Here are just five new technologies drawn from the event, with the material from the company websites:

New, newer, and newest startups to help older adults. Typically it has made sense on this site to not discuss companies until they are in the market, in production, with customers and funding.  But crowdfunding has changed that paradigm. Some startups chose to surface through crowd-sourcing campaigns, gaining visibility and ideally some funding. If all goes well,  they gain some funding, credibility and even bug-fixes. And as one executive from Lively observed prior to its launch, they get feet on the street and customers.  In this post, check out a few of these companies that have launched or recently moved onto media and funding notifications. As always, press releases -- with actual text! -- might help, as do notifications through Indigogo, Kickstarter or other funders. One more thing If any new, newer, or newest startups plan to be at the AARP Ideas @50+ event in San Diego in 2 weeks, let's get together!

What's new and tech-related for helping older adults? Every few months this site attempts to sweep up and refresh a few of the announcements about technology in the market that can be helpful both to older adults and to those that care for them. These five announcements meet the criteria older adults remain safe, healthy, secure, and well-connected in their homes of choice. The information in this list (alphabetical order) comes directly from the websites of the individual companies themselves and includes:

Online searches – not always helpful -- underpin the caregiving role.  The latest Pew research about health information and family caregivers reinforces what we know.  Family caregivers search online for information to help them provide care.  Information about medical problems, treatments and drug information top what they seek – and I bet they find.  The Internet has become a 'neighborhood' for asking what might be difficult to ask your next door neighbor. In this online neighborhood, you find that others have symptoms like yours, experienced relief from medications or found a cheaper pharmacy. Yet these resources are not quite like the neighborhood of old: Given that 84% of family caregivers have gone online seeking information, only 59% of caregivers with Internet access indicate that online resources have helped them with caregiving, and only 52% indicated that they help with caregiving stress.

For med management – are blister packs the state of the art? Recently I heard about a presentation in a senior housing provider family meeting that should not have surprised me. A pharmacy exec was presenting the benefits and savings of switching residents from pill bottles to blister packs - warning of the sizable penalties associated with continuing with labor-intensive pill bottles. Wal-Mart is deploying this cardboard packaging for a multi-drug regimen across 4600 stores. Medication management is a big issue for senior housing (AL and SNF) and there are state-by-state regulations for its proper oversight.  But just like the presentation I heard about, is technology use for its dispensing and management considered?  Perhaps seeing that, check out how Philips is bundling several technology-enabled services for senior housing organizations to deploy… in private homes, that is, for the folks who may never move in.