Devices to Improve Senior Safety

Devices to Improve Senior SafetyWith about 50 million elderly people living in America today, senior safety is a major concern. Fortunately, this is an area where technology is taking a closer look. They’re creating 5 main types of devices that will have a positive impact on seniors here.

The Smart Home Hub

To benefit from smart home technology, you must have a product that gets everything on the same system, especially if you’re uncomfortable with figuring out a lot of different apps – like most seniors are. This is where the Amazon Echo or Google Home will be beneficial as seniors learn to turn things on and off with voice commands. They’ll make senior safety easier than using your smart phone will.

Smart Home Sensors

Balancing senior safety and independence takes great care. This is where a smart home sensor can help because it will lengthen the amount of time your elderly loved one can live by themselves since it’ll make sure they’re safe by making sure they can easily call for help when necessary. These home sensors also tracks their movement so you’ll know if their daily habits suddenly change.

Smart Lights

The biggest senior safety revolves around falling. Of the 29 million seniors who fall each year, 2.3 million of them end up in the emergency room. Good lighting throughout the home helps reduce the risk of falling. It’s imperative that this can be reached from anywhere so they don’t have to walk across a dark room. You must also use commands that are easy to remember when programming these devices. Afterwards, make sure your loved one knows to address the device (e.g. “Alexa,” “Google”) then say the exact phrase you’ve programmed into it so the command is carried out.

Smart Medication Dispensers

Unfortunately, people need the most medication when it’s the hardest for them to remember to take it. Nevertheless, taking these medications at the right time during the day is important. Taking them at the right time and not mixing them with the wrong medications prevents serious health complications. Fortunately, a smart medication dispenser will automate this process. You can even be alerted if they don’t take the medication at the right time so you can talk to your loved one about it.

A Smart Stove Shutoff

Regardless of whether you’re older and have dementia or you’re younger and have nothing wrong with you, it’s easy to forget to turn the stove off occasionally. This is why one of the most useful senior safety items for those who are passionate about cooking are smart stove shutoff devices. There are numerous products available for you to choose from here, but they all work off the same premise: They’ll turn your stove off when they feel as though it’s been left on for far too long. While some of these use a simple timer to do this (turning the stove off after a certain amount of time), others are more sophisticated (e.g. having an automatic shutoff mechanism that’s triggered when the home’s smoke detector is activated, a motion detector that knows whether you’re still in the same room). Regardless of what type of product you choose here, this is a great thing to install to keep your senior safe while they still enjoy the freedom of cooking their own meals.

Keeping Your Loved One Safe at Home

One other important thing you should remember here is that as we age our hearing also ages. While technical gadgets can and will help improve senior safety, we can’t overlook the importance of being able to hear well too. For help with this you should contact Countryside Hearing Aid Services today.

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