for your
health
Gray
Tools for elder care
keep high-tech pace
technology
By Andrea Downing Peck
BABYBOOMERShavechangedpopularcul-
ture, shaped housing markets and fueled
commercial trends. In the coming years, their
generation may use technology-driven
advances to change traditional notions about
growing old.
Home monitoring systems, medication
reminder aids and household robots are
among the high-tech gadgets that may allow
an aging population to live at home and
remain independent longer. In doing so, how
people care for aging parents and relatives
also may be revolutionized.
Dadong Wan, senior researcher with
Accenture Technology Laboratory in Chicago,
says a “perfect storm” of technology breakthroughs, consumer demand and a national-health-care debate are combining to usher
new technology into consumers’ hands.
“I really think in two, three or four years
you will see a lot of this technology start making it into the marketplace as people have more
control over their health care,” says Wan, a
Costco member. “People will be able to control
where their money is spent, and there will be
more consumer acceptance of the technology.”
Among the products being developed in
the Accenture lab is the Online Medicine
Cabinet, which combines sensors with the
power of the Internet and embedded com-
puters to create a device that can monitor
vital signs, remind a person to take medicine
and record what medication is taken as well as
notify the person’s doctor via the Internet if
problems are detected.
The Virtual Family Dinner, also developed by Accenture, is a video monitoring system using microphones and cameras that act
as sensors to alert family members when a
parent—perhaps living hundreds of miles
away—is sitting down for a meal. This “smart
technology” checks through a list of preregistered family members and friends to find who
is “available for dinner” and projects that person’s image and voice, in real time, onto a
screen. Likewise, the parent’s image and voice
are projected back. Unlike video conferencing
with a webcam and PC, no computer know-how is necessary.
The first wave of high-tech products
hitting the marketplace already is changing
what it means to grow old in America.
QuietCare, a motion-based sensor detection
system offered by Living Independently
Group Inc., uses lipstick-size sensors to collect data that can indicate changes in daily
activities. Daily computer readouts alert caregivers to changes in habits that may indicate
health or other problems.
Kathryn Roberts, CEO and president of
BLINKSTOCK/MEDIA BAKERY
Urine trouble
Bladder weakness is
no laughing matter
Resources for
those who care
DESPITE ADVANCES in
technology, caring for an
aging parent or relative
can seem like a daunting
task. Here are places to
turn for support.
Care Managers provides
a nationwide directory
of professional care
managers at www.care
manager.org.
QuietCare, a home health
security system, go to
www.quietcare.com.
■ AARP offers advice on
subjects ranging from
caregiving from afar to
legal and insurance questions at www.aarp.org.
■ The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging offers
consumer information
as well as news on
emerging technologies.
Go to www.aahsa.org.
■ For details on the
Online Medicine Cabinet
by Accenture Technology
Labs, visit www.accenture.
com and search “Online
Medicine Cabinet.”
■ The National Association
of Professional Geriatric
■ Virginia Morris’
Web site is at www.care
foragingparents.com.
■ To learn more about
By T. Foster Jones
WHEN I WAS assigned this story, there
was a lot of snickering in the office (
admittedly, on my part as well as my co-workers’). Beyond giving you an idea of
the level of maturity around my work-place, it was indicative of the public’s
view of this subject. Until you’ve experienced it, bladder weakness is something
to giggle about. Once you have, however,
it’s no laughing matter.
Bladder weakness, also known as
urinary incontinence, describes the condition when one’s bladder leaks involuntarily
(my first thought: “duh, as opposed to
leaking voluntarily?”). The problem can
vary, and people with bladder weakness
can lose relatively small to large quantities
of urine at any one time. The condition
affects both men and women, and it’s
more common than you might think,
affecting 10 percent of men and 25 percent
of women, and not just the elderly.
It can be caused by weakened pelvic-floor muscles, menopause, stress (
unexpected leakage when you laugh, cough,
sneeze or exercise), a strong and sudden
urge to pass urine and overflow. Urinary
tract and bladder infections, constipa-
