Senior citizens have a different set of needs than younger individuals do. Because of advanced age, they can be more frail, have more mental or cognitive issues, and they are in a unique place where they might be facing abuse–and they might not even know that they are being abused. And because the elderly have these unique needs, it is important that they get the attention that they need. This means both medical and supervisory care should be more than adequate to not just meet their minimal needs, but that steps should be taken to try and ensure their happiness.
Sometimes, all that it takes to help your elderly mom or dad to have a higher quality of care is to have the right tools for the right jobs. Technology has helped us to come a long way in this respect, but there’s still a long way to go. For example, an iPad can be used as a way for homebound seniors to communicate on a daily basis with not just family and friends, but to speak to a trained caregiver or to a doctor, if needed.New tech products for seniors can fulfill other functions in their lives, too. There is so much good that technology can do, and teaching our loved ones how to use these products can help us to provide better care and a higher quality of life for them.
Take Ontario, Canada, for example. If you look at data from 2015, you see that more than 73 percent of individuals over the age of 75 visited the emergency department at some point during the year. That’s a staggering number, especially when compared to the 39 percent of the general population that visited the ED during the same time period. Now, the 75 and older group heavily influenced this number, and it’s important to remember that Canada’s healthcare system is different than the United States’, but any way you look at it, this shows the fragile health that many seniors have. If some of this pressure can be alleviated through better technology, then that would reduce the stress that is placed on hospitals as a whole, and save the people that we love the mental anguish of needing to go to the emergency room.
To be sure, many seniors absolutely need to go into the emergency department from time to time. But if there were a new tech item that could determine whether someone that you loved was having a heart attack or if they just had bad indigestion (to oversimplify a little), then this would prevent a lot of stress.
Right now, researchers are working on items that can provide us with similar outcomes. Some have already been developed. These items are revolutionizing senior care and in-home care, and as they become more mainstream, technology will play a bigger and bigger role in how we make sure that our elderly parents are happier and healthier, all while living the lives that they want during their retirement years.
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