Slashdot Mirror
Nursing Homes Go High-Tech
mattlary writes "Here's an interesting article about a tracking system being installed in a retirement community. The system can track where residents are anywhere in the campus, and also uses cameras to keep an eye on residents. The community also contains numerous sensors so staff can track residents' activity."
So... how long until a government starts using this technology in a large-scale implementation?
"Sensors on refrigerator doors that automatically notify staff when residents are up and active each day, replacing older methods such as "check-in" buttons or paper cards on doorknobs."
I hope when I'm that old I'll still keep bizarre hours. It'll keep the staff on their toes.
I wanna be the first boy on the block to have an RFID tagged granny!
Just gives more reasons for our grandparents to fight against being shoved into nursing homes.
Yay we can go outside again! Hmm, I don't like the look of those teenagers! *goes back inside* But on a serious note.. isn't this just a bit derogatory towards older people, it's treating them like animals. Has there been an outbreak of lost elderly people recently?
..that the nursing home never gets any retired slashdotters there. I'm sure the tin foil would be missing from the tops of the dinner trays and quickly turned into hats...
-Gamma
is whether it can trigger an alarm if a patient wonders offsite. It's a bigger problem than most people realize -- an Alzheimer's patient wonders off, gets lost, sometimes for days on end wondering the streets. IMHO the most valuable part of a system like this would be the ability to trigger an alarm if patients cross a pre-defined boundary.
It did, however, mention that it records the exact time employees enter and leave the facility, so that they only get paid for the time they actually work. The infrastructure and underlying components seem to be there, but it seems to me like they are more interested in protecting their money than their residents.
bash: rtfm: command not found
The alert system also sounds very cool. Especially its ability to work in the forested area. Not a bad facility.
Glad to see they have creative people working there, that understand human behavior. They must be very well-versed in user interfaces.
"Thank you for calling Friendly Senior Services. Your call is important to us. All attendants are currently busy helping other callers. Please stay on the line, and an attendant will be with you shortly. If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911".
"The Personal Emergency Response System that will locate residents throughout the 41-acre complex, including the indoor pool, on a trail through six acres of forest and in 64 duplex and free-standing homes."
Until the power goes out, and the on hand staff must search the entire complex for all the seniors because they haven't prepared for the possibility. The system is great, however the staff needs to be trained to handle a power less situation and to locate the residents quickly.
One of the disadvantages with using a new system like the one described is becoming dependent on it.
In nature, there are neither rewards or punishments, there are only consequences.
Time to put on my aluminum (shiny side out!!) burka!!
I remember maybe 10 years ago a bed manufacturer who used a grid of pressure sensors, and a neural network to sense people presence, position and activity.
The idea was simple and seemed good, but I've never see-it in the real world.
Anyway, technological aids are only that, aids, never a people replacement.
What's in a sig?
Now the participants I deal with are all cognitively aware for the most part, but even the sharp ones will get lost walking up and down a short corridor. Over the age of 80 there is a steep decline, though you'd be amazed at how active people are late into their 70s!
Only a few of the men I've talked to would take up something like this device willingly, but most if not all would love their spouses to have it. And I'm sure the wives feel similarly (I only get to see the men).
Would I want such a device? Probably not, but then again I am intimately familiar with what a hip fracture does to someone, and how scary even mild dementia can be.
-Ian
Another use would be to keep track of the staff. There are frequent news stories about how the staff is either abusing or neglecting the patients they are entrusted to care for. While working at these places seems like it can suck at times you are still expected to provide the patients with proper care -- not rough them up, ignore them, or rob them.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
However, something that is orwelian used in one way, can have the opposite effect used another way.
My Dad is in a fairly advanced stage of dementia. He hardly talks, and no longer recognizes family. He is currently in long term care in a locked ward to keep him from wandering off. It would be a great danger to him if he was allowed to go where he wants. Currently, he can only leave if a family member comes and takes him for a walk. I did this today actually.
Something like this would give him greater freedom, and would improve his quality of life. I would love it if my dad could roam freely. If his whereabouts could be monitored, he could gain at least a shred of freedom.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The story is a dupe, the topic is boring, the facts weren't checked. WE GET IT!!
Some people must choose between a nursing home or a live-in nurse, and this could help mitigate the costs. Maybe even more privacy, nobody will need to physically go in and bother them to see if they're ok, all vitals are constantly monitored.(I don't know if they can monitor vitals like that yet, but they will)
So it isn't Big Brother that's watching us any more, it's Young Whipper Snapper? They keep making things so difficult to follow.
I am really looking forward to getting stuck in a
home. 3 squares a day. 24 hour security. cameras or RFID tags to follow me. No worries or
responsibilities. Wait...sounds like prison.....!
Never mind
I recently had to deal with a legal case of an elderly gentleman. I can't give any details but it was basically Mr. American Dream: young man immigrates, starts company, finds a niche, works hard and eventually becomes wealthy.
Due to a heart condition, and I suspect old age in general, he required constant supervision. Since his kids just couldn't handle it any more (I realize this is harsh but taking care of someone 24/7 isn't exactly easy) they moved him into an assisted living community.
Now, this man was wealthy and, generally doing fine when he moved in. Almost two years and more than $9000 a month later, he was broke and doing not so well (emphasis is on not).
I got to see the place and on the outside everything was alright. Modern facilities, friendly staff, a pool, competent medical personell and a state of the art security system. That's right. Camera surveillance that would make the British government pale in envy. Even in some of the rooms. Motion detectors. Wireless heart monitors. Kinda spooky in an Orwellian way.
Of course, this was all not used for surveillance purposes - they installed all this for safety and/or medical reasons. And, of course, the patients signed off on it and were(mostly) aware that they're being monitored.
The problem is, the constant lack of human interaction (the most you could hope for is somebody coming by once a day to see if you were indeed still alive) is hard on those old people and it does seem to have a really negative effect on their health. Of course, I can't prove a direct correlation but it was pretty obvious that his man's deteriorating health at least had to do with him feeling that there was nothing left to look forward to.
I think this is one of those instances were technology is not helping but rather hurting us.
My mother-in-law is living in a retirement home. She's not very mobile, and needs people to help with a few things, and living in her apartment got too hard and too dangerous, because the "I've fallen and I can't get up" problem is really serious if you can't get up (she can't), plus it's hard to find cooks who'll stay around for more than a few months (that seems to be a very temporary job for most people who do it.) And she doesn't want to move up to the frozen north to live with us.
The last place she lived had an Alzheimers wing. We didn't see those people very often, but they do wander off and get lost, and some are in worse shape than others. My grandfather spent about four years seriously senile in a nursing home, and needed a lot of reminding and help to do things; my grandmother was in the same room, clearheaded to the end but in bad physical shape. They didn't really like the place, but that had a lot to do with institutional cooking and inattentive nursing staff, and the other place they'd tried wasn't much better.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Where's my tin-foil colostomy bag?
There is possibly no way to show more clearly that you want to deprieve elderly people of their human rights, to show that they are second class at best.
Somebody else here wrote that old people themselves like to have some support in living once it gets tough. Those that I know judge their ability to handle daily live as being wastly better than their relatives. But their are definitely some of those self-reflecting types.
So suppose you want to have help coping with your every day life. That means you want people to help you and you want them to do the hard part. Those things you tell them you do not feel capable of. And maybe someone who takes care of your partner who picked up the habit of wandering away at night. But this involves real people too. Not a camera and some remote operator. You definitely do not want to loose your privacy.
So basically you have the problem: Old people need a lot of help and care. Things that are expensive in terms of human resources by definition. Because you consciouly or not do not consider them worth the effort you try to find some cheap fake-solutions. In this case by reducing the help-and-care-problem to the fact of people tending to get lost and defining that the problem is them getting lost. Not them being disoriented or maybe basically being just lonesome or depressive.
I could rant on and on about how short-sighted, inhuman and plainly disgusting materialistic this is.
So long and thanks for all the fish
Anyway, getting back to the beacon, it was a very simple radio transmitter, a button to turn it on, and a simple accelerometer similar to those used in car alarms, to detect falls. A tilt switch would trigger when the person wearing the beacon leaned over. OK, admittedly the accelerometer detected the bounce rather than the fall. The whole thing was about 3"x1"x1.5", and the antenna was built into the lanyard you wore it on. He had plans for integrating a heart monitor to it, too.
My father is in the first stages of
alzeimers.
So far, he can still remember where he
is and how to get back home. He goes
about his daily walks with no problem.
However, I can see the day when his alzeimers
advances to the point where he may not be
able to find his way back home.
Would it be nice to have some sort of tracking
on him so that mom (who is caring for him) can
find him, or better yet, a device that is plugged
into his ear that tell him how to get back home
based on gps and street map information; like;
'Walk left at the next intersection'; and
so forth.
We as a family will be needing something like
this.
Cleara
This is not a new idea. I work at a nursing home in West Virginia (of all states) and we have been using a similar system (secureCare) for several years now. Generally, you attach an RFID to each confused resident and put these sensors on the doors. If the resident tries to push the door open, an alarm goes off in the nursing station. Everyone in managment is immediately paged with an alphanumeric message telling the resident name and the Exit taken. (this method is much cheaper than the aforementioned tracking system)
Another new technology that is also being implimented are resident databases with touchpads that help nursing aids take care of residents. It lets nurses use their time more efficiently. (quite cool, they installed windows XP embedded LCD's every 5 yds in the halls)[Each resident has a mag card that the nurses aid takes and swipes to access the residents records]
The nursing home also implimented a biometric ID system that allows employees to clock in and out.
I really like working there and being around the neat technology.
HOPE 5 r0x0rs