People are living longer than they ever have before. This has led to a large portion of the population being elderly individuals. Managing senior care for this growing population has been increasingly difficult over recent decades, with many unsure of how to manage the needs of these seniors. Luckily, technology is constantly working to keep pace with the needs that these individuals have. Cloud technology is one of the most helpful fields for the concerns that come with caring for elderly friends and family.
1. Fostering Social Connection
As seniors age, it becomes more difficult for them to maintain their social relationships. This is due to a variety of factors, including difficulty getting out of the house and distance from friends and family. It can even involve the heartache of other elderly friends and family passing away. While technology can’t fully replace human interaction, it can help close the gap between people who cannot physically be in the same room.
Technological communication platforms have made it easier for seniors to stay in contact with their loved ones regardless of their mobility status. Video chat services like Skype allow people who have video conversations even if they’re thousands of miles apart. Social media allows seniors to view and post photos and status updates that keep up with the lives of their loved ones. By using these technological advancements, seniors can have the social connections they used to, without the strain of having to travel to get it.
2. Improving Senior Safety
Seniors are at a high risk of having serious falls and a situation like this can become a disastrous scenario very quickly. Most people want to stay living in their home independently for as long as possible but this can put them at a higher risk of having a fall with no one around to help. Due to their age, seniors are also more likely to experience strokes, heart attacks, and other health events. These can be just as if not more fatal as falls and require immediate medical help. Check out this video and get knowledge about giving fast medical help to seniors.
Technology has helped to reduce this risk through medical alert devices. These necklaces or bracelets are worn by the senior and can be activated in the event of a fall or other medical emergency. When activated, these alert devices contact emergency services that are then dispatched to the owner’s home. This can prevent someone from waiting hours, or even days, for someone to come by and notice they need help.
3. Storing Data in the Cloud
The overall death rate for boomers is dropping, but the average cost of hospitalization is skyrocketing. In a world where both of these are true, hospital administrators and governments are looking for ways to lower the cost and burden of patient care. The highest costs come from emergency room visits and multiple day stays in the hospital. In an effort to reduce these costs and keep patient care at a high quality, there is a push to look into how technology can achieve these goals.
Cloud based file sharing has made it easier than ever before to manage senior care. Storing data in the cloud makes it easy to store and access health information, doctor’s notes, schedules, and plenty of other factors that go into senior care. There have also been advancements allowing for distance monitoring of patients. Rather than having patients taking up hospital beds, they can be remotely monitored from the comfort of their own home. The doctor would easily be able to see if the patient was doing well, based on their vitals in the cloud. If there was a problem, the patient could come to the hospital only when necessary.
4. Medication Management
One of the biggest problems facing seniors is medication management. Many forget to take their medications regularly, while others forget that they’ve already taken their medications and take a second or even third dose. Both of these problems can create serious health problems, either from medical conditions that go untreated or from the effects of taking too much of a medication.
Apps and electronic schedules have made it easy for seniors and caregivers to manage medication regimens. There are apps that are made specifically to keep track of each medication that needs to be taken daily, with the ability to mark off when this has been done. This can help prevent seniors from taking a medication again if they can’t recall whether they had already taken it. Similarly, this sort of scheduling prevents seniors from forgetting to take important medications. Alerts can be set for certain times of the day to prompt seniors to take what they need and when they need it.
5. Reminders to Exercise
Seniors are less likely to feel the severe effects of aging when they have a healthy lifestyle. This includes not only a healthy diet but regular exercise as well. Despite the obvious benefits of regular exercise, many seniors lead quite sedentary lifestyles. This can be for a variety of reasons including existing medical conditions and general lack of motivation or forgetfulness. A sedentary lifestyle can put seniors at a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, making it important for them to maintain a regular exercise regimen.
Technology has helped to get seniors more active through video games that utilize motion sensors. Games for systems on the Wii or Kinect are played by physically moving the controller. Seniors can use these systems to play sports games or do yoga, allowing them to play baseball or do tai chi from their living rooms. This can open up a whole new world for patients who are not able to go out and do these things in real life.
With the population of seniors growing, technology is being used to ensure that seniors get the best care available. These advancements have allowed seniors more social connections, better health management, and easier access to health information stored in the cloud. While not the only technological changes
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