What is Telecare for the Elderly?
The ability to provide reliable care at home without vast numbers of staff being involved is something that many elderly people and their families may prefer
Telecare can enable your ageing parent to have round the clock contact with someone remotely in case of emergency and also to act as reminders for their day-to-day activity
Independence and personalisation
The idea that social services, or the NHS just arrive, assess need and provide a range of technologies that they think are appropriate is disappearing due to cost and choice. Choice is a word thrown around by politicians rather carelessly. What most people want is a reliable service near where they live
However, in the case of Telecare, there should be choice.
Most people know the Emergency bracelets and broaches that can be used to signal a fall or a sudden request, but many people find the objects provided a bit plastic and ugly
They’re not given a choice and are simply supposed to accept that the provider, whether charity, council or NHS, knows best, but with Telecare, there can be a choice
Technology and change
In the last few years, a great deal has changed in terms of technology to help the elderly
Through the internet and mobile devices, new ways of communicating and managing our lives and our connections have been made possible
Generally, the fear of these new technologies is justified not by what they can do, but how you actually operate them, as they can be complicated
The big change in the last two years is an increasing number of ways of using technology simply
Many companies now offer Simple Phones for older people. Stripped of their complexity and with big buttons, they are a solution to the confusion of new technology
Complex systems can be used with simple gestures, such as
- Touchscreen
- Voice
- Gestures
- Waving
- Tapping
Tapping (NFC)
There’s a new technology called Near Field Communication (NFC), which allows a person to simply tap their mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet PC, against a little flat tag, about an inch across, which then initiates a cascade of complex data actions
There is no need for your ageing parent to press the keyboard, or remember screens – just tap
Using NFC makes it easy to make complex, regular actions repeatable and memorable for anyone
By matching and making existing objects and memories part of a care system, anyone can make advanced technology assist them at home without overwhelming them with complex technology
There are many uses for NFC at home, including:
Putting tags to call people behind photos of them to make dialling easy
Linking holiday snaps to videos and music on the media player to make happy memories accessible
Putting tags on silk flowers to link actions to memorable, beautiful images
Sticking tags into notebooks, diaries and wallets, or purses, so they are embedded in known, loved belongings
The Tapcare Clock
It’s just a normal clock, but with Near Field Communication tags to the back of it
They’re matched up to the times the carers should be attending
If everything else is OK, the elderly person taps their phone on the clock at the right time and a quick Tweet is sent to a central location, so they know everything is happening on schedule
If things aren’t OK, for example, if the carers are delayed, or they have left something undone, your ageing parent can tap the Call Me tag, which sends a Text and Tweet to the control centre
Keeping in contact and maintaining independence are mutual things that need agreement from your parent and you and is just one of the ways that Telecare can make a big difference to elderly people’s lives
