The title should not surprise. The month of April had only one subject – no matter where you looked or what you read. Covid-19 and its impact and implications, starting early in the month following event cancellations, travel bans and stampedes, telehealth insurance changes and senior living visitation lockdowns. That was followed by a collection of companies offering free services for use of their technologies in the context of an increasingly isolated older adult population in senior living communities, nursing homes and at home. But it was a conundrum: so many of those older adults lacked access to or knowledge of technology, let alone the ability to acquire it, learn how to use it or participate in family Zoom sessions. In case you missed them, here are five Covid-19 blog posts from an April that was unlike any other:
No understatement, these are very difficult times for nursing homes. First off, thousands of residents have died, and news media organizations are now obsessed with counting and re-counting, totaling up the numbers (more than 10,000 as of today) and then counting some more. So many of the 1.5 million residents of nursing homes were already very frail people, needing help with 3 or more ADLs. 72% of residents are women, most are age 85+, and as noted, 'many also have only a small group of family and friends for support.' Yet there are people who should know better lined up to bash their performance at managing this virus: "If there was any type of senior-care facility that should have been most equipped to manage the COVID crisis, it should have been skilled nursing facilities," said Brian Lee, a former Florida long-term care ombudsman who currently is a member of an advocacy group called Families for Better Care." Right.
Megilla, the video-storytelling platform designed to bridge generations and record treasured stories, announces they are making an early version of its platform free for everyone to connect with family and friends, in a deep and meaningful way, during the quarantine.
With the global spread of coronavirus, many people are being asked to help protect themselves and their communities through self-isolation. This can be an especially frightening prospect for elderly people that live alone.
Iamfine is announcing that as of today, it is waiving its fees for new customers as its way of supporting the fight to cope with the spread of the virus.
Hearing aids should appeal to those with significant hearing loss. It’s a given that hearing loss interferes with communication – which itself is a risk for social isolation – as well as fall risk and dementia. Ironically, according to the recently published and comprehensive MarketTrak10 survey, the decision to wear them is so often delayed years – the delay resulting from excuses like “hear well enough; can’t afford; too expensive; no coverage.” Given the associated risks and isolation from delay, it is surprising that until recently, the devices were well-matched with the excuses. What’s changed to overcome all of these excuses?
AUSTIN – Clocr (short for “cloud locker”) today announced the launch of its secure, cloud-based service to provide a better option for people to store and share important documents. New users of Clocr are eligible for three months of free use.
"When tragedy occurs, people need quick and easy access to wills, medical proxies, and other important documents,” said Apoorva Chintala, president and co-founder of Clocr. “Our service is different than others because of the level of security and control we provide to our users.”
In 2017, it was clear that virtual reality technology had evolved beyond the point of experiments and was having a number of limited introductions into the world of older adults, including senior living environments (Rendever) as well as pain mitigation (FirstHand). Virtual reality has made its way into the 'future of healthcare delivery' consulting, as firms like Care Innovations and Deloitte publish their how-to white papers. For 2019, here are five VR offerings that specifically note benefits for older adults. The content is drawn from the firms’ websites and/or articles about them:
No understatement, these are very difficult times for nursing homes. First off, thousands of residents have died, and 
Hearing aids should appeal to those with significant hearing loss. It’s a given that hearing loss interferes with communication – which itself is a 