Tuesday focus: Gadgets

Recognizing the coming “silver tsunami” of graying baby boomers, tech companies are racing to help aging Americans spend more time living independently instead of in nursing homes.

For the first time, the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month featured a special section devoted to high-tech senior living.

Among the advances at the show were motion sensors that can help caregivers figure out what keeps someone up at night. At Oatfield Estates in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, Ore., residents’ movements in the private retirement home are tracked by what employees call “bed bugs.” Those are embedded motion sensors that detect when someone’s behavior could trigger a medical alert.

Sensors like those, “smart carpets” and other tracking devices will be the norm in private homes and group settings within the next decade, said Jason Hess, chief executive officer of Elite Care, the Portland company that owns Oatfield Estates. He said that will especially be true as insurers start embracing the cost-saving devices.

“You will see a lot more places implementing these,” he said. “It comes down to cost and out-of-the-box thinking.”

Researchers are also fine-tuning a more advanced monitoring system using virtual-reality silhouette images to allow observation of posture, gait and other movements. The silhouettes are considered a preferred alternative to more invasive video cameras.

The Las Vegas show displayed talking pill boxes that remind seniors to take their medicine at regular intervals and that can notify out-of-town caregivers if that doesn’t happen.

There also were robotic companion pets that mimic the real thing for lonely seniors in need of a psychological boost.

Delaying institutionalization by a year or more creates significant financial savings, said Majd Alwan, director of the Washington-based Center for Aging Services Technologies.

“Let alone the benefits in quality of life for the senior and for the caregiver,” Alwan said.

Associated Press