Some called me crazy. Maybe an analyst who sees the non-tech world of aging through a tech-focused set of tinted glasses. When this blog began and I ranted about the importance of describing and shaping a business market of technology to help boomers and seniors successfully age in their own homes, I received virtual quizzical looks from many experts. I am a determined (some might say obnoxious) sort, however, and as I began to interview people, go to conferences, speak to industry experts, and write what I'd learned, I became more and more convinced.
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.
Seniors do their best to live and stay well. If you live in Florida and go to a concert at 4:00 pm on a Friday, it's not surprising to be surrounded by seniors in their 80's and beyond, dressed up and slowly climbing the steep stairs up to the balcony. These concertgoers likely live in their own homes, drive their own cars, and enjoy concerts and perhaps a nice meal in a restaurant afterward.
Today, most ALFs and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) have not invested broadly in home monitoring technology. But some new CCRCs are designed from the ground up. Some, like Lutheran Home Association of Minnesota, have invested in wireless broadband, providing an opportunity for Minnesota-based Healthsense™ to implement its eNeighbor™ product line throughout as a means to facilitate aging in place.
With my ombudsman hat on yesterday, I spent a morning doing an assessment of an Assisted Living Facility. As is usually the case, the nurses showed us a thick patient chart book with its hand-written status observations, penciled medication tracking dosage X's and yellowed-out discontinued drugs.
Is the PERS device -- press a button around your neck and a service is dialed -- eventually headed for obsolescence? Parks Associates has predicted a basically flat growth path for PERS devices through 2013. Maybe that's so if security companies -- not healthcare companies -- set the replacement and extensible path. Here's another established and financially healthy security company, Visonic, that's been around for a long time -- now in the "PERS-and-beyond" market, aka the home monitoring market, with its Amber line.
