The business of home health care is tapping a growing array of technology that grants the one wish so many elders want: To spend their last years in the comfort of home sweet home.
Panic-button necklaces have been around for a long time. The newer versions, which range in cost from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, send adult children a wealth of live streaming data to confirm the wellbeing of aging parents home alone.
Benevolent spying devices with motion detectors, strategically placed cameras, and floor sensors that detect and calculate footsteps – all these give adult children with aging parents much needed assurance Mom or Dad is alive and well. And, there are those high-tech nanny cams, which send a live feed to an adult child’s computer. Together with other technological wizardry, these spy gadgets enable an elderly parent to safely remain in the home.
Laurie M. Orlov is the author of 
In the report, Orlov discusses new technologies aimed to keep aging seniors in their homes and out of nursing facilities. One strategy is to offer unlimited video calling in housing constructed for seniors. Another is to employ various kinds of sensors, including those monitoring motion, fluid, doors and pads. These sensors are designed to detect abnormal life patterns through analyzing data collected, and comparing that data to normal life patterns. When the system detects a condition occurring outside of a predetermined normal range, or a signal that indicates a potential medical issue, help is automatically summoned.
The Exergamers Wellness Club is a public-private partnership formed by Microsoft, the Los Angeles Department of Aging, Partners in Care Foundation, and St. Barnabas Senior Services. Orlando Estrada, an Exergamers participant in his late seventies, recounted his journey from confinement to a wheelchair following multiple knee operations, to using only a walking stick. He credited the program for his amazing recovery.
Following their first experience with a personal computer, one octogenarian husband and wife went from an isolated existence at home to inclusion in a local community — The Virtual Senior Center. This program was developed with help from Microsoft Corp. It connects seniors confined to their homes to social activities facilitated by two Microsoft technologies: Kinect for Xbox 360 and Microsoft HealthVault.
The program does more than simply entertain homebound seniors. The initiative spurred Estrada, a septuagenarian, to get back on his feet. It eventually led him to engage in dancing lessons. He credits the program for returning his blood pressure readings back to normal.