High-tech ways to care for the elderly

By Barbara Mahany
Chicago Tribune

Posted: Tuesday, Sep. 27, 2011

More Information

Technological innovations approved by nurses who spend their lives looking out for the elderly.

Skype (skype.com): This free, Internet-based two-way video conference service tops the list for ways to keep in daily touch. "That face-to-face contact is really important, especially if you're concerned about social isolation," says Lesley Boaz, a geriatric nurse practitioner and professor at Marquette's College of Nursing.

Cellphone with GPS device: Needn't be anything fancier than a flip phone that's tucked in the pocket of an elderly person, with the GPS connected to the caregiver's smartphone. That way you can track from afar, and know whether an elderly person has made it to, say, the dentist's office, or somehow boarded the wrong bus.

Lotsa Helping Hands (lotsahelpinghands.com): Great website for anyone who is trying to coordinate a battalion of family and friends who will all be pitching in with various assignments. It's free, and caregivers set up a members-only community. When there's a job that needs to be done - say, a ride to the doctor, or a trip to the grocery store - it's posted on the calendar and an email alert goes out to all the community members.

Philips Lifeline (lifelinesys.com): One of the tried-and-true home-monitoring systems; provides basic but essential features for about $38 a month. If there's an emergency, users push the button on a necklace pendant or wristwatch, alerting the Lifeline call center. An operator talks to the client through a speakerphone to find out what's happening. If there's no answer, the call center contacts caregivers and emergency services.

AVOID: Tracking devices, worn around the wrist, or - worse - microchips, "it's like a dog; definitely slips into the penal," says Boaz, who disapproves. Ditto on video cameras in the bedroom or bathroom: "Complete invasion of privacy."

CHICAGO Used to be, the phone or good neighbors were the best bets for keeping tabs on someone you love who's elderly and living alone - especially if you lived too far to buzz over every day.

Now, a host of technological devices and Internet-based solutions are crowding the elder-care landscape, making it more convenient, and less worrisome, to know that all is well with an aging relative or friend.

We talked to gerontology nurses and gerontologists to get the lowdown on what's smart, what's dignified, and what's best avoided. Far more important than all the high-tech is the simple act of talking about it to make sure any high-tech monitoring is seen not as an invasion of privacy but rather a means of allowing a person to more safely live alone.

"Sometimes in our eagerness for safety, that whole aspect of a person's autonomy - and dignity - is being trampled," says nursing professor Margaret Bull, who specializes in elder-care issues at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

"As much as possible, match what's in that person's comfort zone," advises Dena Schulman-Green, a gerontologist at Yale University's College of Nursing, who often opts for low-tech elder-care solutions but certainly not always. "Some older adults are very into technology, and using such devices makes them feel part of the modern world and less of a burden to their kids."

Subscribe to The Charlotte Observer.