How Technology Benefits and Improves Senior Housing

It’s hard to imagine a time when a cellphone wasn’t just an arm’s length away. However, this age of technology has paved the way for us to forge connections, learn new things, and work from anywhere. What’s interesting to note is that it isn’t just millennials who are benefitting from all this technological innovation.

The results of a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of adults over 65 have a smartphone. It has also shown that 56% of adults over 50 use YouTube and Facebook regularly.

Technology is already set to benefit seniors, and senior home care is no exception. Older adults and their loved ones are using technology to keep connected, stay entertained, and remain safe.

Technology also gives the senior home care industry the opportunities to keep older adults safer and more comfortable while living in senior housing.

Internet of Medical Things

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is created by having medical professionals in different fields and from all over the world connected to each other through the web and technology.

The medical world has started to use the information gleaned from this knowledge exchange to help seniors with their medication schedules, vital signs, and implants to assist with their health.

Here are three examples of technology that have proved beneficial for senior housing residents.

GPS Services

In the last decade, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has greatly improved location accuracy. Primarily, GPS can help locate a resident in an assisted living facility who becomes lost.

For example. seniors with memory issues stemming from Alzheimer’s disease have a habit of wandering. This could leave them disoriented or lost even if they know the location well.

The Alzheimer’s Association notes that “more than 60 percent of those with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia will wander.” If they are not found and picked up within 24 hours, they could suffer serious injury or even death.

Cameras

The National Council of Aging (NCOA) says that about one in 10 adults over 60 faces some sort of abuse, whether it’s physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, or some other form. The NCOA added that only one in every 14 cases of abuse are usually reported to authorities.

Cameras allow seniors’ families to make sure seniors are being treated properly. Cameras are also useful to health professionals as it allows them to track the movements of elders with health and mental issues. Doctors can study their habits and tendencies even without being there physically.

A less invasive alternative for a camera is sensors. Installing these small, wireless pieces of technology, lets you keep track of how active a person is.

If the sensors pick up on changes in activity, they can send an automatic notification (via text, phone, or email) that something may be wrong. For example, if an elderly resident isn’t getting out of bed at a certain time, these sensors can let you know.

Richmont Senior Living is proud to serve Ashland, NE and the surrounding cities: Memphis, Springfield, South Bend, Greenwood, Murdock, Waverly, Murdock, Ithaca, and Chalco