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How Technology Helps With Aging at Home

It makes sense that your mom and dad want to age at home. Their home is familiar to them. It’s full of memories of kids and grandkids. As needs and abilities change, aging at home can be a little more challenging. Home care services help with some of the challenges, but technology is a good way to get help with other areas.

Video Doorbells

Would it make you feel better if you could see who goes to your parents’ doors? Video doorbells have intercoms that allow you to talk to the person at the door. Your parents don’t have to answer it because you can.

Video doorbells also allow you to see if anyone approaches your parents’ deck or porch when packages are being delivered. It’s a good way to prevent potential theft. If you get the alert that someone is approaching, you can warn them that you’re right there and watching.

Medication Reminders

Home care aides can help with daily medication reminders. There’s another solution if your parents don’t need daily care services. A smart speaker like a Google Mini or Amazon Alexa can be set up to offer verbal reminders to take medications at specific hours.

Another option is to invest in an electronic pill dispenser that opens the dispenser at the correct time. Flashing lights and an audible alarm help remind your mom or dad that it’s time to take their pills.

Home Alarms and Sensors for Unexpected Problems

Do you worry about your parents’ house having issues that they don’t notice or tell you about? Would they call you if their heating system stopped working or wouldn’t shut off? If a pipe in the basement started leaking, do they go into the basement often enough to notice before it flooded everything?

There are smart sensors like thermostats that send alerts to your phone if the temperature in the home is too high or too low. Some sensors send an alarm to your phone if the area under pipes, a water heater, or a boiler becomes wet. You can use these sensors to alert you if a sump pump stops working, too. This helps with these emergencies.

Voice-Controlled Smart Bulbs

If your parents enter a dark room and the light switch is on another wall, would they trip trying to reach it? Smart bulbs pair with a smart speaker and use voice controls to turn lights on or off. Instead of having to find a switch, they can simply tell the lights to turn on.

Smart bulbs allow the user to adjust the level of lighting from 100 percent down to nightlight strength. Many also allow you to pick a specific color and set timers for the lights to come on each day and when to turn them off.

The best way to ensure your parents age at home is by pairing home care services and technology. Call a home care agency to make arrangements.

If you are considering home care in Manhattan, NY, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Touching Hearts At Home of NYC today at 212-201-6139.