SCIENCE 7

3rd QUARTER | ARTICLE READING

High-Tech Devices Keep Elderly Safe From Afar

First thing every morning, Lynn Pitet, of Cody, Wyo., checks her computer to see whether her mother,
Helen Trost, has gotten out of bed, taken her medication and whether she is moving around inside her
house hundreds of miles away in Minnesota.

Last summer, Mrs. Trost’s husband had a stroke and died, but she wanted to stay in the house, in
Mankato, where she had lived for 36 years. She did not want a live-in helper, and she cannot drive. At
88, Mrs. Trost has macular degeneration and takes medications for seizures, memory loss and restless leg
syndrome.

“She’s a feisty gal,” Mrs. Pitet said of her mother. “She is fine when she takes her medicines, but, even
so, I was terrified of leaving her alone.”

Mrs. Pitet and her sister decided to become part of a small but growing number of people who have
installed motion sensors and a remote monitoring system to keep aging relatives safe. Sensors attached
to the wall are able to register when Mrs. Trost gets out of bed and whether she stops at her medication
dispenser, and to alert her daughters to any deviations from her routine that might indicate an accident
or illness. The family is updated by electronic report every morning.

Monitoring systems like these, which go far beyond the emergency response buttons that have been
around for years, are not found in many homes yet. Privacy is an issue for some older people, and the
basic package can range from $50 up to $85 a month for the motion sensors and remote monitoring
system like Mrs. Trost uses. More comprehensive packages can include devices to track blood pressure,
weight or respiration.

Experts on aging say the systems will become commonplace as the 76 million baby boomers approach
ages when disabilities or conditions like diabetes and failing eyesight jeopardize the ability to live
independently. The population of those 65 years and older is almost 40 million today, and the federal
Census Bureau says that will more than double, to nearly 87 million, by midcentury.

Right now, there is little federal health care reimbursement for such devices. And private insurance
coverage is evolving because the area is new, said Dr. Jeremy Nobel, a professor at the Harvard School
of Public Health who co-wrote a study on the feasibility of such technologies. “We are at the beginning
stages regarding the availability of such services and before business models are developed,” said Dr.
Nobel, a medical doctor. “I expect we’ll see a significant increase in the adoption of such systems in two
to five years, and widespread adoption in 10 years.”

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Experts on aging say motion sensors and other high-tech devices will help cover the shortfall, allowing
older people to live independently for longer.

The growing number of Alzheimer’s sufferers, which is expected to more than triple from the current four
million by 2050, may also spur wider adoption of technologies like motion sensors to alert others to
deviations in routine, trackers to assure medications are taken and emergency response buttons.

Technology systems to underpin living independently, or what some call “aging in place,” are still years
from being rolled out in a big way, awaiting adequate financing for research and other incentives, like
coverage by insurance companies, according to Mr. Nobel’s study, which was released in March by the
Center for Aging Services Technologies, a program of the American Association of Homes and Services
for the Aging.

But projects are under way around the country to test high-tech gadgets for home use, including wireless
sensors and devices to regulate temperature, lights and appliances, and sophisticated medical monitors.
And some care providers have begun to equip clients with devices that fit their needs.

NewCourtland Elder Services, a care provider for some 2,000 people in Philadelphia, started a yearlong
pilot in 2006 that equipped 33 patients living on their own with remote sensors that tracked changes in
their health or living patterns that required early medical intervention, said Kim Brooks, the vice
president for housing and services at NewCourtland.

One of the patients is Cleora Coley, 77, a retired pharmacy technician, who is in a wheelchair after losing
a leg to diabetes. Two years ago, Ms. Coley moved to a living complex for the elderly because she could
not maneuver the stairs in her family home.

In her apartment, she checks her blood pressure with a cuff that automatically sends the reading to a
monitoring center, which notifies her and her doctor of any change. Sensors placed in each room keep
track of her movements, and she has a button to summon assistance, which she used in April when she
fell.

“I’m alone but I know I’m not all by myself,” Mrs. Coley said, adding, “And I really like my
independence.”

NewCourtland is starting a trial in cooperation with health insurance companies and home health
agencies, installing medical monitoring devices in 1,000 residences over the next six months.

One major roadblock for wider adoption of in-home monitoring has been concern that older people,
unused to everyday technologies like the Internet, would resist their use. That was true for Mrs. Trost,
who said she was apprehensive about having electronic gadgets around but said she had found that
“they are really no bother.” A survey by AARP found that older people were willing to use high-tech
devices at home, and to pay about $50 a month.

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“What convinced me was that there are no cameras,” said Mr. Fowlkes, a retired postal service
distribution clerk who lives by himself in an apartment building for retired people. “I get peace of mind,
but no one is looking at me.”

Some exploration into future technologies is being financed by the National Institute on Aging, part of
the National Institutes of Health, which has been giving grants to entrepreneurs to develop devices like a
video data collection system to analyze an elderly person’s activity level.

But most research dollars have come from private companies like Intel Corporation.

Intel researchers are developing devices like a “memory bracelet” that vibrates at a specified time to
remind the wearer of a doctor’s appointment or to take medication. Also in trials are sensor-infused
carpets — Eric Dishman, Intel’s director of product research, calls them “magic carpets” — and wearable
sensors, which would measure changes in gait, to help avoid falls.

Intel invested $3 million with the Oregon Center for Aging and Technology, which runs what it calls a
living laboratory, with 225 volunteers. The project, which also received $7 million from the federal aging
institute, uses sensors on walls, doorways and appliances — and computer games — to detect cognitive
decline.

“There is going to be a major transformation in health care because of these technologies,” said Dr.
Jeffrey Kaye, director of the center, at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, who
oversees the project. “It’s more a question of when rather than whether.”

Recognizing the commercial potential of technologies for the aging, dozens of companies, including GE
Healthcare, IBM and Medtronic, two years ago formed the Continua Health Alliance to develop products
to aid older people. Despite the projects, trials and commercial interest, Mr. Dishman said the United
States was “missing in action” in aging technologies, compared with Europe.

“There just hasn’t been enough research and development yet to prove these technologies work,” he
said. “None of us wants to put a bunch of technology in homes of frail elders unless it does.”

He said the European Union had committed $1.5 billion to developing independent-living technologies.

Last year, Intel partnered with Ireland’s government to open the Technology Research for Independent
Living Center, known as Tril, in Dublin, to invent and test independent-living technologies in the
households of hundreds of older people.

So far, he said, a dozen other countries and 30 universities have approached Tril for advice and
assistance.

Reference:
Olson, E. (2008a, May 25). High-Tech Devices Keep Elderly Safe From Afar. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/us/25aging.html

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