Empowered in an e-world

How does technology aid the elderly? Many who are left to fend for themselves when their children migrate elsewhere to work, say how dependent they are on gadgets which help improve the quality of their lives. Hema paati, 85, is ready to embrace e-technology. “Buy me a cellphone,” she said, and listed the apps she wanted on it. “Caller ID with his/her photo, emergency call icon, GPS, reminder alarms for my activities like yoga… and can it check my BP daily?” Make it ring like a doorbell, she demanded. She is well-taken care of, but “I want to be independent,” she said. Developers and businesses are listening to the 65+ population, which, in the next five years, will number more than the under-5 kids. “The numbers, money and domain are in age,” said a BBC programme. The aged are left to fend for themselves by their migrating children, and human help is increasingly unaffordable. Many elderly people want gadgets that seem to empower the younger generation. “Constraints brought on by age can be fended off with technology,” said Dr. Lakshmipathy Ramesh, geriatric physician. “Ideas like hearing aid amplifiers adjusted to frequency, larger fonts and computer-controlled wheelchairs for self-ambulation improve the quality of life of elders.” e-devices galore Research labs across the world are working on “Nana Technology”, developing e-devices to suit the needs of the elderly. In the next couple of years, companies such as Intel, Aurora Healthcare and Accenture, collaborating with universities, will add a bouquet of e-gifts for grandparents: intelligent phones with caller ID that carries a photo, relationship of the caller, and notes about the last phone conversation. Smart pill dispensers with letters SMTWTFS in bold, and sensors that will flash and give voice reminders at the appropriate time and place, and call a caregiver if medication is missed by 90 minutes. Remote-controlled e-walkers that will steer senior away from obstacles, canes that can detect gait, pressure and other warning signs, and ring when grandma is in danger of falling. A really cool medicine cabinet — whose mirror has an embedded camera and online computer with face-recognition software — that greets you by name, orders prescription re-fills and calls doctor for appointments. This prototype may even have a BP sleeve. A GPS-enabled wristwatch that triggers an alarm; Proteus, a patch in the body that senses and reports how food is ingested. Mymedic, tailored to individual patient's needs, has colour display, soft-touch buttons, multi-language audio announcements, Bluetooth, serial cable and infra-red — the data collected is hosted on N3. Computer programmes/games that track your performance to monitor cognition, so the effects of medication can be assessed. Robotic nurses to take you on walks. Lifeline pendant (marketed now) which sends signals to a central office, with tracking monitors for people with Alzheimer's (lifelinesys.com). Balance-booster shoes with insoles that create small vibrations in grandpa's feet and tickle neurons so he is warned clearly of impediments. Mailbox alerts so senior can walk out to get mail. Motion sensors Kinect motion sensors that monitor elderly residents in another state. Wireless sensors attached to the chest to track body systems, the data transmitted to a mobile phone or PC. A Panasonic bed that converts into a wheelchair, a robot that cooks, cleans, folds clothes, shampoos and blow-dries your hair. (No, no advice.) Remotely-controlled robots guided to help grandmoms and dads. Android-based smartphone LifeWatch-V that reads heart-rate, stress, body fat, temperature and blood sugar when pressed with a finger, and stores the information in the cloud to be forwarded to a doctor’s office. Kabochan, the robot doll, so popular with Japanese seniors. And Google glasses to augment reality. A purring car named Miss Daisy with in-vehicle camera that reports to a computer back in the office on stress/fatigue levels, how you respond to signals. Eventually, says Nigel Lewis, CEO, AbilityNet, working on the EU-funded project BrainAble, we will find a way to use our brains to drive a PC. Brainwaves (or thought) will interact with the PC, and help those with motor impairments. That is new-age geriatrics, the trend that recognises “the endless supply of youth will give way to age.” The aged want to live well, but how do you assess the value and usefulness of old-age tech research? Who will pay for it? How ethical is it to let robots be care-givers, cellphones replace people? On the BBC show ‘Aging Populations’, a woman said wistfully, “If elders lived with constant human contact, among friends, family and community, all these gadgets wouldn't be necessary. It is a sorry state of affairs, everything is left to technology.” Source: The Hindu