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Gadgets
help baby boomers navigate old age By Fred Bayles, in
Now,
with a boomer turning 50 every seven seconds, researchers and marketers
are developing everything from simple gadgets to complex computer systems
to ease a generation into old age. At
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab and dozens of other
research centers around the country, scientists are working on inventions
that seem destined to transport the Golden Girls into the world of Star
Trek: •A
computer aid that would help older shoppers pick foods based on their
medical history. Tiny radio transmitters in food packages would broadcast
ingredients to the device, which would offer advice to the shopper. •Shoes
with battery-powered vibrating soles that stimulate nerves to improve
balance. Researchers say the technology could cut the number of
debilitating falls. One out of three people over age 65 suffer some sort
of fall each year. •Homes
that would allow residents to open doors and control shades, windows and
thermostats through a touch-screen by the beds. Other systems would call
in orders for food and medicine when supplies ran low and would summon
help when detectors sensed that the resident wasn't moving. For
those concerned about a rapidly aging population, such products and
services can't come fast enough. Between now and 2030 — the year the
last boomer will be 65 — the number of Americans 65 and older will
double from 35.6 million to 71.5 million. This group will represent nearly
20% of the nation's population — up from 12% this year. "It's
like a tsunami coming at you. You know the tidal wave is going to hit, and
it's a question of whether we'll be ready," says Ed Schneider, dean
of the Another
reason for the rush: money. The baby boomers will be the wealthiest group
of elderly in history. Although only 20% of the population, they will
control 40% of the nation's disposable income and 77% of private
investments. "It
will be hard to ignore a population of this size and wealth," says
Jack Guralnik, chief of epidemiology and demography at the National
Institute on Aging. "They are used to being heard, and they are the
ultimate consumers." The
boomers will need those resources. The incidence of disabilities among the
elderly — everything from arthritis to Alzheimer's — doubles every
five years after age 65. Walking, driving, climbing stairs become harder
tasks. Worse,
traditional care for the elderly will not be there. Finances are forcing
nursing homes to close. Baby boomers had smaller families; that means
fewer children to care for them. And the age group that follows the
boomers, the so-called baby bust generation born from 1964 to 1983, is
much smaller. It will provide fewer nurses and workers to care for the
elderly. "We
need answers today for what faces this generation because we are running
out of time to prepare for what's coming," says AgeLab's director,
Joseph Coughlin. Such
answers are being sought in labs and boardrooms across the country. Compensating for disabilities More
products are being developed to compensate for the physical disabilities
that come with age. Some solutions are already here. Retailers offer tools
and kitchen accessories with thicker handles for arthritic hands.
Manufacturers sell door levers instead of doorknobs and levered faucets
instead of spigots for the same reason. Bathroom-fixture makers offer
taller toilets to make it easier to sit down and stand up, and sell
roll-in shower stalls to accommodate wheelchairs. More
ambitious products are in the works. Research by "Somewhere
between 10% and 15% of elderly falls result in serious injury or
fracture," Collins says. "That means a lot of pain and suffering
and health costs in the billions." In
a longer-term project, AgeLab is borrowing from spacesuit technology to
create a lightweight undergarment to assist creaky joints in tasks such as
lifting and climbing stairs. Researchers envision a suit with sensors and
tiny motors at the elbows and knees. When its wearer moved those joints,
the sensors would activate the motors to aid in the motion. Transportation changes Automakers
and university researchers are testing and refining sensors, monitors and
other devices to compensate for the coming decline in the reaction time
and awareness of boomers. Some
luxury cars already sell options to make driving easier for the elderly.
Cadillac and Lincoln offer night-vision options that project an infrared
image of the road on the windshield. Other upscale cars have motion
sensors that warn drivers of objects to the side and rear of their cars. This
summer, The
AgeLab has a specially equipped Volkswagen Beetle named Miss Daisy that's
used to measure driving skills. The lab is recruiting volunteers of all
ages to wheel Miss Daisy, a driving simulator, through a virtual urban
landscape. The goal: to see how automated systems will work for drivers of
all ages. One
solution still to be tested is a "smart" intersection that would
use sensors and radio transmitters to broadcast warnings to the driver of
stop signs, red lights or pedestrians in a crosswalk. The car would pick
up the broadcast, and an automated voice would warn the driver. Monitoring health at home Researchers
also are tackling health care for the elderly. The leading idea: systems
that monitor a person's health from home. In
EDS,
a Texas-based data processing firm, is working with the AgeLab and other
research centers to develop new ways of organizing, sending and
interpreting medical information. The goal is to make it easier for the
elderly to supervise their own health care. One
idea: a computer chip on a card that would contain and update its owner's
medical data. Any doctor, pharmacist or other health care provider would
have instant access to critical health information. "We're
working to take all those data points and integrate them so you can get
care wherever you go," says Vicki Shepard, EDS vice president for
global government solutions. AgeLab
is developing another use for the health card: a device called a
"Personal Advisor" that would ride in a supermarket shopping
cart and scan product bar codes, or communicate with tiny radio tags in
food packaging. It would use the information to determine whether the
calories, vitamins and other nutrients were right for the shopper. The
technology for the system already exists. Supermarkets are testing bar
code readers for consumers. Wal-Mart and Gillette are at the vanguard of
other retailers and manufacturers who are replacing bar codes with the
radio tags, which are known as RFIDs, for radio frequency identification. Researchers
also are working on ways to use technology to help the elderly remember to
take their medicine. One
prototype robot tracks its owners to give them their pills. At LifeWise
Home, a test home in AgeLab
is considering another option: a variation on Tamagotchi "virtual
pets." The handheld toys were a marketing rage a few years ago.
Owners feed and care for the Tamagotchi by clicking buttons on the toy. In
the AgeLab version, seniors must use the buttons to report they have taken
their medicine. If they don't, the pet gets sick and dies. "Guilt is
a great motivator," AgeLab director Coughlin says. Home safety The
home is the biggest area of research and product development. Homes have
been built to test new technologies at the Georgia Institute of
Technology, the At
the Working
with companies such as Motorola and Honeywell Bull, the university is
developing a smart phone that will allow residents to give commands to the
house. The phone includes a small video screen that can show who is
outside and open the door. The resident can control temperature, shades
and windows simply by speaking into the phone. In
the kitchen, refrigerators and microwaves are being developed to
communicate with the RFIDs in food packaging. The information from the
radio chips would allow the appliances to keep inventory, track expiration
dates and automatically cook the products. Bill
Mann, who heads the university's "The
underlying technology has come forward so fast that we're doing things we
didn't dream of 25 years ago," he says. Not
all home improvements for the elderly come in high-tech packages. Surveys
by the National Association of Home Builders show that more than half of
people building or renovating homes are looking to the future by
incorporating design features such as ramps, wider doorways for
wheelchairs and grab bars in the bedroom and bathroom. None
of the home improvements comes cheap. Simple monitoring systems already on
the market cost up to $1,000 to install and have an average $50 monthly
service fee. Even reconfiguring a house with ramps and bars can cost
thousands. But
the upfront costs can eventually turn into savings. Mann did a study that
shows the long-term benefit. For one group of elderly, he spent $2,500 per
person on simple tools to enable them to be independent, such as grab
bars, scooters and stair glides that carried people up and down stairs. The
test group's bill for hospitalization and nursing home visits averaged
$5,600 per person over 18 months. The average bill for a control group
that received no home improvements was $22,000 each. "The numbers are staggering if you look at what it is going to cost to provide for the older population," Mann says. "The goal is to do it less expensively and more humanely." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
