Remote monitoring

The 'inventive' Japanese who brought you the web-connected tea kettle in 2005, have something to offer for fall detection and prevention beyond motion sensors. A Japanese company has invented an airbag that inflates in 0.1 of a second if it detects a person falling backwards.

Not so very long ago -- 5 years --  an inventor I spoke with received funding from a VC firm to create a remote-controlled telephone, one that would record messages and remind seniors to take a pill and press a flashing button when they took it. However, after focus groups were conducted, the project was dropped. Seniors objected to the privacy invasion and interference by their adult children.

GE Heathcare announced this week "that it will distribute and co-market Living Independently's QuietCare products globally." QuietCare "alerts caregivers to behavioral changes that may signal potential health issues or emergency situations." My view -- this represents an intersection between the health and aging in place marketplaces. How it gets categorized may significantly influence market adoption.

For those interested in technology for aging in place, the 2008 AARP Healthy@Home Survey by Linda Barrett, Ph.D, of AARP Knowledge Management, is a remarkable resource and should be carefully studied - I have only begun to absorb some of the key points in it and will return to this again many times.

Mom is in Florida, adult children are far away. I see it all the time --  frail elders who want to stay where it's warm. and of course, they have adult children who can't or won't live near them. And technology vendors, as I saw at the AARP convention, and described in this well-written NY Times article, want to fill this nervewracking void.

Yuk. A study in today’s NY Times reports that percentage of elderly people who fall drops by 11% if the doctor actually asks them if they are prone to falls — then takes their blood pressure lying down and standing, treats it properly, and then reduces their other medication. How ironic that the doctor who did the study notes she can’t estimate the cost of this ‘prevention’ program because it ought to be part of standard care. Exactly.