Seniors & Technology: 5 Changes That Promote Aging in Place

It's been a long winter, between the news, the weather, and news about the weather. As spring has sprung (or nearly so in blizzard-bombarded regions), let's think about some out-with-old, in-with the new, springtime changes that are easy for seniors and their families to make, and which can help them age in place, whether they live at home or in a residential senior care environment.

1. Cell phones. Before leaving the house, does everyone have a charged cell phone? They are cheap these days. You can get Jitterbug phone service for as low as $10 per month, a Clarity phone with hearing amplification (choose your own service provider and plan), or a Verizon 65+ calling plan for $29.99 per month with Chaperone (an additional $9.99 per month)—a service that allows you to track the location of up to four phones on your own phone or PC—great for locating wanderers.

2. Home assessment. How safe and comfortable are the insides, entrances and exits of the senior's home? Does the home have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, an intruder alarm, and are doorway and walkway areas of the home free of obstacles? Consider doing an in-home assessment for safety, possible retrofitting and changes to help the senior age in place. During the assessment, take a look around and assess for how much access there is to the outside world beyond television?

3. Information access. Check out startups in the simplification domain for simplified access to e-mail, the Internet, games and other computer tools and online tools like PointerWare (formerly SoftShell). All of these are a good start to accessing the world beyond four walls of the senior's home or apartment. There's a lot more out there, too, like BigScreenLive and IN2L (It's Never Too Late), for example. Overcome computer-phobia! Information starvation and isolation are not good for a healthy aging lifestyle.

4. Cognitive and physical fitness. For those who live in senior housing communities with clubhouses, meeting rooms, or other central areas, it's time to lobby for a series of fitness improvements for seniors. Adding weight lifting to help preserve muscle and prevent bone loss is a good idea; check out the virtual strength training offered on Dr. Miriam Nelson's Web site at StrongWomen.com. Get a Wii game environment and start a Wii Fitness class. Take a look at the game portion of Big Screen Live, or move up a tier to cognitive fitness with Brain Age, MindFit, or Posit Science. As I noted last week, cognitive fitness helps sharpen the mind and keep it active. Larger claims than that at this point are just what they seem: larger.

5. Time to take a course. When we stop learning new things, we're done. We don't need a study to tell us how searching the Web and learning something new can activate our minds. So spring is a time to check out (or teach) lifelong learning at the local college, exercise with a yoga DVD, study online through Retired Brains, learn about using computers at the Computer School for Seniors, or take a course through the telephone-based Dorot University without Walls.

Do you have a business that helps seniors age in place? I just posted a forum topic on my Web site for all you startups out there to post your business descriptions.

Posted in Aging in Place Technology