Robotic Help for Assisted Living
December 8, 2010 by admin
Filed under Assisted Living, Long-Term Care, Nursing Homes
I always enjoyed watching Star Trek back in the day, and there was one part of the show that was always particularly fascinating: Data. The Android-robot. Would it ever be possible to develop such an intelligent artificial intelligence? The show ratcheted it up a notch on the Voyager series, where the ship’s doctor was a holographic computer projection with a brain the size of the ship’s computer. Thus, a robot was in charge of caring for the medical needs of human patients.
Could this ever happen in the world of assisted living and elderly care? Well, consider the efforts of some scientists in Japan. They are developing the RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) to be a special kind of helper in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. RIBA’s job description is pretty narrow so far: it helps seniors transfer from a bed to a chair, and vice versa. But the developers have high hopes that some day, this bear-robot-caregiver will be able to do much more.
Since “transferring” is one of the most common types of Activities for Daily Living that are dealt with in Assisted Living facilities, RIBA could become a real help in senior homes in the future. Lifting patients can be a full-time gig in larger facilities, and it can be exhausting, especially for smaller caregivers. If there was a way to utilize technology in caring for seniors, would it be worth it?
There are other ambitious scientists that are also researching into using robotics in elder care services, as outlined and discussed at this Elderly Care blog. Do you agree with their conclusions?
Oregon Elder Care Services
December 4, 2010 by admin
Filed under Assisted Living, Eugene Area, Long-Term Care, Memory Care, Nursing Homes, Portland, Salem
Seniors and their families can face a difficult, up hill battle in getting the exact right kind of care they need in the exact, right location. Fortunately for Oregon residents, there is an abundance of both.
Oregon Elder Care Services are broad. Portland, in particular, offers just about any type of elder care housing that you could possibly ask for. Whether you need nursing home care, assisted living, retirement care, continuing care, alzheimer’s care… the list goes on and on… they have it.
Here are some listings for Portland
- Portland Nursing Homes
- Portland Elder Care (General)
- Portland Memory Care
The same is true for the smaller cities of Eugene and Salem. Each of these cities have around one hundred fifty thousand residents, and yet both have a good selection of senior housing. This includes a new form of senior care: residential home care. This is a type of assisted living that lets seniors live in a family setting. It also includes continuing care, which is a “continuum of care” that begins with retirement living, and lets the patient get more care as the need arises. Residents can move into an assisted living facility or a nursing home facility without signing a contract with a new company. It is an all encompassing type of elder care.
Here are some directory listings for Eugene
And Finally, somem links for Salem
To find assisted living where you are, use the box at the top right corner of this page. For more advice on elderly care, visit that link.
Good Features for Elderly Drivers
December 3, 2010 by admin
Filed under Advice, Our Philosophy
I’ll bet you did not know that next week is “Older Drivers Safety Awareness Week.” It’s hard to keep up with these awareness weeks, I know. But this is a good thing, because as we have mentioned before, it can be difficult to address the issues of senior driving in your family. But the fact is, seniors have a massively increased probability of getting into an accident over other drivers. And when they do crash, they are much more likely to die in the process. So this is a relavent topic in the elderly care discussion.
With that in mind, I want to mention a couple of features on cars that are helpful to senior drivers who are still physically able to drive safely. These come directly from AAA’s website.
Adjustable Petals – this can let shorter drivers reach the accelerator and brake, and allow senior drivers to be a safer distance from the air bag, especially if they drive in a more hunched over position.
Anti-Lock Brakes – This is getting to be a pretty standard feature which improves the safety of all drivers, but especially senior drivers who might have trouble “tapping” the break repeatedly to keep them from locking. This is especially an important feature for seniors living in colder, icier climates.
Brake Assiste – A newer feature that helps the driver by generating enough force to break in an emergency. Seniors sometimes have trouble pushing the break all the way down in an emergency situation. This will help.
Stability Control – This feature makes small adjustments to help a driver keep control of a car, particularly on roads that are slick.
The AAA website lists many more features, but most of them are convenience features to help seniors, such as power mirrors that can be easily adjusted. But I want to add one more way to care for elders behind the wheel, although it is not a feature.
DriveSharp Computer Software
There is a new computer software available that has been scientifically designed and proven to help senior drivers improve their awareness, reaction time, and safety while driving. It is a unique system that incorporates fun, game-like exercises that train the user’s eyes to keep track of multiple moving objects, etc. But the long and short of it is this: adults who use it report excellent improvements in their awareness and reaction time. You can read more about the system here.
When You Can’t Be There This Christmas
December 2, 2010 by admin
Filed under Advice, Assisted Living, Nursing Homes
We can all imagine just how difficult it would be to be left alone in an Assisted Living facility over Christmas time. So what do you do as a family member who lives hundreds of miles away? How can you help grandma to avoid becoming one of the millions of Americans who get depressed over the holidays?
This is not an easy answer. There is no simple fix. People want to be together on the holidays, and there is simply no substitute for a human touch. However, there are a couple of things you can do to help your aging loved one know that she is loved and remembered.
First, call her, and then call her again! Seriously. Give her a phone call the night before Christmas. Let the children tell her how much they love her. Take time to tell her you wish she could be with you. And then call her again the next morning to say how much the kids enjoyed opening their presents. Her present to them:)
Secondly, get her visuals as soon as possible. If she has video chat capabilities (we have talked a lot about that on this site!), then get her on Skype or Face Time and let her be a part of the festivities. Let her see your faces. If not, send her pictures right away. Chances are, she at least has email, right? Send her some photos of the kids, the food, the tree. Make her a part of the celebration even though she is away.
Finally, make her gift personal! Don’t just order something for her online and have it shipped to her elder care services home. That is all well and good, but just make sure you do something else as well. Something that has a person ring to it. Have the kids make her a gift. Send a personal card with personal photos. Put some real thought into it. Write her a note. Make her a calendar with faces of the kids. Just do something to let her know that you cared enough to take some time for her.
There is no way to completely fend off the feelings of sadness and loneliness over the holidays for grandma. But you can at least let her know that no matter where she is, you and the family still love her very much. For more ideas, check out Elderly Care Services.
A Great Senior Gift Idea
December 1, 2010 by admin
Filed under Advice, Assisted Living, Our Philosophy
My father, a sixty, one year old hospice chaplain from Texas,visited us this Thanksgiving, and I was surprised to see how much his eyesight had diminished. He is far from blind, but reading has become really difficult for him, and he has always enjoyed a good book. I was eager to show off my newest gadget–my Amazon Kindle–as soon as he got there. And in just a few minutes, he was hooked.
The Kindle: A Great Gift for Seniors
The Kindle is a fantastic device for any book lover for many reasons, but it is especially great for seniors in an elderly care facility. Books can be downloaded in onto it in a few clicks, without a computer and without cables of any kind. And the selection of books at Amazon is unbelievable, especially as far as classics and out of print books are concerned. You can find most anything that was published more than a hundred years ago for under two dollars. Most of them, you can find for free! So for my dad, a western book lover and Zane Grey fan, this was a huge plus.
I helped him download the Kindle App for his laptop, set up an Amazon account for him, and showed him how he could instantly load up on all the Zane Grey books he wanted. And for the first time in a while, he found himself absorbed into novels for days. What changed? Besides the easy access to the books he loved, there was this: he could increase the font size and adjust the brightness as much as he wanted to. For a sixty-one year old, this is a priceless perk.
After a couple of days, I was busy, so I let him read a Grey novel on my Kindle itself. The new Kindle’s have a button that will let you increase the font and contrast with one click. He, of course, popped the size up to giant print. It would drive me crazy to have to turn pages so often, but this was the perfect arrangement for him. The long and short of it is this: he read at least 3 novels in the week he was with us. He found a passion that he had forgotten about. Print size had prohibited him, but with the Kindle, it is no longer an issue.
Great for Seniors in Assisted Living
Senior book worms in an assisted living facility will undoubtedly love the Kindle for that reason, but for this as well: the Kindle can hold thousands of books, and Assisted Living apartments typically have very little space for things like bookshelves.
The books are cheap. The print is as big as they want it. And the storage space is non-existant. Yes, the Kindle might just be the perfect Christmas gift for seniors!
To find assisted living and other elderly care services in your area, use the box at the top of the sidebar.