What does it mean when offerings and consumers aren’t aligned? For older consumers and their families, the technology market and senior housing industry are two cases in point. Consider the slower-growing 8(8% occupied) senior housing industry – where in ten years, 81% of couples will not be able to afford the $60,000 average cost of assisted living (a number that does not reflect higher cost memory care). Or mull over the technology industry, which is releasing new versions of every category faster than you can Google them, filling voids like adding mouse for the iPad. Why did it not have a mouse in the first place? Oh, yes, and it is an accessibility feature. Still no headphone jack on the phone. Or creating a folding phone (without much testing) with a screen that breaks within days of announcement. Did anyone ask for a phone that folds? So in that vein, here are five blog posts, mostly rants, from May, 2019:
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:
Once upon a time, in a language far, far away…We used terms like long distance, remote, and telepresence to describe services and experiences that were taking place somewhere else. We were guided on how to cope with these remote processes where we were not present to manage or experience. And for the care recipients being managed, they were unable to communicate problems in their on-site, 'real' experience. Consider dementia care and the still-startling lack of cameras in these settings – despite family willingness to pay. These limitations seem so yesterday. Even a telepresence player like Beam threw in the towel and refers to the world it now navigates as ‘virtual.’ Let's take a longer look into this virtual world as it relates to care of older adults and consider such offerings as:
Las Vegas, NV – January 7, 2019) VRHealth, the healthcare technology company providing specialized virtual reality (VR) technology solutions and data analysis, today announced the launch of the first telehealth-VR medical platform that includes apps specifically designed for consumers to use at home. VRHealth is participating in AARP Innovation Labs. As part of the company’s collaboration with AARP,
What does it mean when offerings and consumers aren’t aligned? For older consumers and their families, the technology market and senior housing industry are two cases in point. Consider 
Once upon a time, in a language far, far away…We used terms like 