Dr. Megan Jack, a neurosurgeon in Cleveland, often works 60 or 70 hour weeks. And when she’s in the operating room, she’s completely unavailable. Therefore, it is difficult to be a caregiver for her 76-year-old mother, who lives in a separate ward on the property of Dr. Jacka, 30 minutes from the hospital.
To help care for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Jack uses a number of cutting-edge tools, some of which didn’t even exist a few years ago. He manages his mother’s medications using a smart pill box. He uses the app to change his TV channels, send appointment reminders via a digital bulletin board — and, with his mother’s blessing, uses cameras to communicate and monitor.
“It’s invaluable to be able to make sure she’s safe and make sure everything’s going well,” said Dr. Jack, “but also to give her the independence and freedom she still deserves.”
America is aging fast. Roughly 11,000 people in the United States reach age 65 every day. And many of them — 75 percent of people over 50according to the latest 2024 AARP survey — hope to spend their remaining years in the comfort of their own homes, rather than in assisted living facilities or other care facilities.
One thing that could help fulfill these wishes is the budding field of “age tech,” which includes tools that support older adults. Industry experts say age-related technology makes homes for older adults safer and easier for caregivers, especially those who live far away or work away from home.
Dr. Jack said the age of technology has “really allowed me to integrate care into my life, as opposed to care taking over my life.”
Age technology boom
If older adults don’t have loved ones nearby and able to help, they may think they don’t have many options. They can live independently or, if they can afford it and are medically fit, they can move into an assisted living facility or a nursing home, with not much in between. Home help can be expensive and difficult to find without Medicaid severe shortage of home care workers.
Age-old technology can help bridge some important gaps, said Emily Nabors, associate director of innovation at the fair National Council on Agingnon-profit advocacy group. AARP is already reporting it 25 percent of caregivers are monitoring their loved ones remotely using apps, videos or wearable devices, almost double the percentage from five years ago.
“We’ve been saying that homes are the health care environment of the future, but they’re actually the health care setting now,” Ms. Nabors said. “Aging in place is very realistic.”
More than 700 companies they are in AARP AgeTech Collaborativea group that brings together businesses, nonprofits, and funders to help get new technologies off the ground. Together, the start-ups of this collaboration have raised nearly $1 billion over the past four years.
Products include smart walkersglasses with lenses that provide real-time captioning conversations for those who are hard of hearing, and concierge services which connects older people with drivers and deliveries, even if they don’t have a smartphone.
Ms. Nabors foresees some affordability and barriers to accessing older technologies, including a lack of high-speed Internet in rural areas, but said one major resource would be local agencies on agingwhich can offer advice and sometimes free support.
Janet Marasa leaned against an agency near her home in Rockland County, NYto get a free robot pet for her mother, Carol DeMaio, 80, who suffers from dementia. Pets, made by a company called Joy for allthe goal is to offer emotional support without maintenance.
Ms. DeMaio named the robotic dog Sabrina after a golden retriever who died. The new Sabrina stays at the foot of her bed at night. As soon as Mrs. DeMaio wakes up, the dog reacts. “She said it gives her a reason to get up in the morning,” Ms Marasa said.
The dog was also a blessing to her. “It provides comfort and interaction that I can’t provide every second,” said Ms. Marasa, who lives with her mother but works full-time for the county government. “It gives her something she can feel is all her own.”
In Broward County, Florida, where the population is expected to be over 85 years old almost triple local in the next few decades agency on aging used state and federal money and private grants to provide technology for free to nearly 4,000 seniors in the county.
Its offerings include a company that uses radar to detect falls and a program that allows seniors make video calls through their TVs.
“The possibilities are endless,” said Charlotte Mather-Taylor, the agency’s chief executive. “It’s great to see all the new technology coming so quickly, and I think it can only benefit our older population and our caregivers as well.”
This is where AI comes in
Even technologies that aren’t specifically marketed as age technology can help older people maintain independence, said Laurie Orlov, the blog’s founder. Tracking aging and health. She pointed to video calling and telehealth platforms; remote controlled thermostats and lights; and smart speakers, doorbells and watches.
“All technology can be adapted to help older adults stay in their homes longer and help their family members feel comfortable or at least tolerate them,” Ms. Orlov said.
This will become more true as artificial intelligence continues to spread, Ms. Orlov added. Some older adults are already using conversational AI to get answers to things like the weather or their medications. (However, over-reliance on artificial intelligence can have negative consequences, as chatbots often provide incorrect medical advice and can lead patients astray.) AI can also help with pattern detection: alerting carers to signals that could indicate a decline in someone’s cognitive abilities or mental health, such as changes his speech pattern or leave the house less often.
One age-old technological tool powered by artificial intelligence is ElliQa robot desk companion that looks like an elegant silver desk lamp with a screen. About a year and a half ago, Camille Wolsonovich got one for free thanks to a local nonprofit for her 90-year-old father, Bill Castellano. He lives alone in a senior community.
Ms. Wolsonovich, who runs a consulting business, relies on ElliQ to guide her father to exercise and remind him to take his pills and drink water. The robot also asks its father about his sleep and mood through an automatic check-in.
“Everything is just another layer that gives us more confidence from a care standpoint that he’s good,” Ms. Wolsonovich said. “I don’t necessarily have to watch everything all the time and be overbearing.
As for Mr. Castellano? He plays trivia digitally and has a daily conversation with ElliQ. The robot, which has a friendly female voice, asks questions, jokes and remembers likes, dislikes and friends. “It’s a great company,” he said. “Everyone around me wants him.
What about ethical concerns?
Clara Berridge studies the ethics of age at the University of Washington.
It has many privacy concerns, namely that most direct-to-consumer products are not subject to medical privacy laws despite being privy to sensitive health information. Although he hopes the federal government will eventually step in and regulate these products, as they have in other countries, the onus remains on the consumer for now.
And while the product of the age technology doesn’t sell the mother’s personal data to the lowest bidder, Dr. Berridge said there is still a question of whether certain tools are ethical.
“It’s really important for caregivers to realize that using these new technologies that give them more information about someone can be a bigger intervention in someone’s life,” she said.
What may be well-intentioned surveillance could reveal information an older adult would prefer to keep private, such as incontinence issues or the comings and goings of a romantic partner.
“It can lead to someone feeling infantilized,” said Dr. Berridge. “Like there’s nowhere to hide in your own house.
Her research shows that adult children often underestimate how much their parents understand technology and how much they want to be involved in technology-related decisions.
She urged caregivers to have transparent conversations about privacy implications and avoid ultimatums or the idea that any decision must be permanent. She said caregivers should put themselves in their parents’ shoes: Is this something they would want their own children to monitor?
Dr. Berridge is working on advanced directive for technologywhich outlines the wishes of older people, how technology is used in their care. Ultimately, he hopes that age-related technology questions will become a standard part of planning for the future.
“If you’re at the beginning of what for many people ends up being a long journey of supporting someone potentially for the rest of their lives,” she said, “trying to better understand the other person’s concerns and priorities is time very well spent.”
