What Accessories Will You Use to Age in Place?

A growing number of seniors want to age in place. Instead of moving into an assisted living facility, they’re staying home. Some plan to spend their post-retirement years in their own house, while others may move in with family, or remodel and have family move in.

The technology marketplace has stepped up in a big way to help older adults pull this transition off. Companies have put out a flood of “silver tech” devices, apps and accessories for seniors. As you figure out your budget and any necessary remodeling, what technology will you work into the plan?

Smarter Home Living

If you’re planning to age in your current home, you may struggle to keep up with household tasks. How will you maintain that big lawn or keep all those rooms vacuumed? What about the daily checks: checking that doors are locked, lights off, security system on, etc?

A smart home may be your answer. These houses have a network of smart devices that work together. They often can be controlled from the same hub, which could be a phone app, a voice-activated system, or something else. Smart homes can include:

• robotic vacuums and lawn mowers
• security cameras and smart doorbells
• programmable dishwashers that run at night as you sleep
• motion-activated lights that come on when you leave bed

This may sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. A smart home can have as many or as few features as you want. You can also get many of these devices on their own without having to connect them to a network hub.

Monitoring Your Health

Wearable emergency pendants like Life Alert systems don’t just connect you to emergency services. Many also have GPS capability, biometric tracking and fall detection. The biggest advantage of dedicated devices built for purpose is often their greater reliability, and certainly in how easy they are to operate. However, they may limit the range of health-monitoring features you would like.

Seniors who need more detailed information about their health may find smart watches a great fit. Big brands like Samsung, Google, and Apple are working with their customers to offer affordable smart watches that give seniors data on an ever growing list that currently includes measuring heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen saturation, and walking steadiness and fall detection.

Staying Connected

How will your caregivers and loved ones check in on you? What if you need to ask your nurse a quick question? Do you have a convenient way to video-call friends, or is it a confusing hassle every time?

Staying connected to other people is a key part of maintaining your health and independence. Many of the devices we’ve already touched on can help you here. For instance, if you already have a security system, you can look into WellCam for Seniors. WellCam allows your loved ones (and only them) to check up on you through the cameras. You can talk to them with a simple button press. Meanwhile, subscription services like Alexa Together extends this to video calls, medication reminders, activity feeds, and more.

Finally, if this tech sounds awfully complicated and fiddly, look for simpler solutions. Facebook has developed the Portal Go, a dedicated video-calling device that you can carry to any room in the house. It allows easy video-calling via Facebook Messenger and other apps. This lets you chat with people on-the-fly without log-ins and excessive buttons.

Aging in Place the Smart Way

Maybe it’s time to work smarter, not harder? Smart devices and senior-friendly tech can do a lot of the work for you. Silver technology is easy to use, feature-packed, and best of all scalable – which means you can grow it or downsize it over time as needs or stakeholders increase or decrease.

If you don’t want a fully integrated house that practically does it all, you can pick and choose the smart devices that have the most to offer you. Never really took to smart phones? Smart watches and dedicated video-calling devices may be more your style. There’s tech on the market or coming soon that will help you keep track of your health, stay on top of chores, and keep connected with others as you age in place.