So it's not the first time I have had the Kindle presented as a technology for seniors -- in a recent overview I did for a senior center, one of the attendees observed that I had left the product out.
I can hear objections already -- yet another tool for adult children to avoid talking with or visiting aging Mom or Dad. But founder Neil Moore (many years in Health IT) may be onto something with Connect for Healthcare. This is a new subscription-based service that enables care providers to use a structured and secure way to communicate status to family members about their loved ones who are receiving some sort of long-term care.
The medication reminder world has had three tiers of product offerings -- telephone-based reminders, reminders linked to emergency response offerings, and electronic pillboxes. And medication errors, including those from incorrectly filling pillboxes, continue to be vexing.
Jitterbug announced a new phone this past week -- the Jitterbug J -- that I find striking -- simply because of its newly announced LiveNurse capability, offered as an additional service. Base service rate plans have risen from $10/month to $14.99 (50 minutes). The $147 phone (not cheap!) is Bluetooth compatible, sleeker looking, with a speaker for hands-free/headset use.
Last week we caught up with CEO of Consumer Cellular, John Marick, who talked about its now-nationwide service offering -- no contract service intended for the low-usage cell phone user. The firm went from being a small Northwest cell phone service reseller in the Northwest to becoming a national provider. Key to their offering:
As I try to make sense out of the aging in place technology market, new companies or companies new to me regularly surface, contacting me or being referred by others. These vendors will make their way into the July vendor update release of the Aging in Place Technology Market Overview. These are all launched (or in beta), but perhaps not well known in the marketplace as they could and should be.
I spent some quality time this weekend writing and then losing a blog entry to a software crash. Computers. Gotta love 'em. But I got to thinking about simplification, packaging, and reuse. If you think about it, how resourceful and enterprising business people are! Just think -- from one year to the next, contractors and interior designers move from new home building and decorating to renovation and retrofit. Car rental companies like Hertz get into the hourly car use business to compete with Zipcar.
For those of you in and around this industry, this is very cool. Today's NY Times has a lengthy front page feature by John Leland called "Sensors Help to Keep the Elderly Safe, and Living Independently at Home." Give it a read.
Monitor the environment. Sensor-based monitoring is not new -- QuietCare and GrandCare have pioneered home monitoring of seniors using room-based sensors for years. In both cases, sensors are placed in the room and alerts launched to a pre-determined number based on activity (or lack of activity) indicated by the sensors.
