Not so surprising, and despite the Beatles and the under-30 set, the Pew generation gap study observes that for those in middle age, old age begins at 70, but that when you're over 64, you think old age begins at 74. Moreover, 60% of those over the age of 65 feel younger than their actual age. Cool.
So let's say you live in an isolated location, leave the house to go out to a garage or walk the dog, how useful is a PERS pendant or watch? I am not impressed with how forthcoming PERS vendors are with little details like how far from the base station the wearer can travel. Here's the big player, Philips Lifeline: "Works from anywhere in or around the home, including basement, garage and yard.
A while ago I considered the question of monitoring a person (wearable devices) or monitoring the place in whcih someone resides (remote sensor-based monitoring). From that entry: "Each requires someone to educate seniors on the role of the devices on or around them so that they can actively participate -- and opt in to the idea of being monitored." I am glad that I wrote that. Here's an example where that did not happen:
Just wrapped up a fascinating day at the Boomer Venture Summit at Santa Clara University. High point for me was listening to the top guru of the age-related media world, Ken Dychtwald -- who sees our future as a series of life cycle changes that marketers have yet to understand and correctly target -- not the least of which is the 'tipping point' of
I am exhausted thinking about my later years. So many studies -- it makes you breathless -- show a correlation between reduced incidence of dementia and certain behaviors. Do people who remain sharp choose these activities? Or do these activities help people remain sharp? Oops, sorry. Nobody really knows.
But as we anticipate the future, and newspapers capitalize on their and our impossible-to-calm fear of dementia, prepare to hustle.
The medication reminder world has had three tiers of product offerings -- telephone-based reminders, reminders linked to emergency response offerings, and electronic pillboxes. And medication errors, including those from incorrectly filling pillboxes, continue to be vexing.
Jitterbug announced a new phone this past week -- the Jitterbug J -- that I find striking -- simply because of its newly announced LiveNurse capability, offered as an additional service. Base service rate plans have risen from $10/month to $14.99 (50 minutes). The $147 phone (not cheap!) is Bluetooth compatible, sleeker looking, with a speaker for hands-free/headset use.
It's a great move forward for seniors to connect to the Internet and find purpose in their lives, as this Times article describes. The 14 hours a day spent on Eons and PoliceLink.com -- I guess that's good.
It's always hard to tell whether something is observation or insight (or just plain wrong). But I've done 13 interviews in the past few months about home health technologies, with vendors ranging from A (Advanced Warning Systems) to Z (Zume Life). I am beginning to see a pattern about product offerings that seems to have three dimensions. These may be related to product success long term -- cost, capital, clinician involvement.
