Active Living: Giving Your Family Peace of Mind
By Michele Blandino
The term "sandwich generation" was coined to describe the predicament many adults feel as they find themselves simultaneously balancing the needs of their children with those of their elderly parents. And, with many older adults enjoying relatively good health well into their 70's and even 80's, this feeling can perpetuate for many, many years.
It is a difficult position to be in; senior citizens are generally quite reluctant to give up their independence, however their children - especially those living far away - want to be assured of their parents' safety. Fortunately, there are steps children can take which will allow their parents to maintain their independence for as long as possible while giving them the peace of mind they need to tend to their own family's needs.
Monitoring
One such step is to install a monitoring product. While many people are reluctant to do this, after all, the idea of having someone watching our every move is somewhat unsettling, short of having to move in with their children or into a nursing home or assisted living facility, there are few options. Fortunately, there are products that provide the peace of mind of monitoring without the intrusiveness of video monitoring.
Early Detection
One such product is QuietCareSM , an early detection system that alerts children and caregivers when their loved one is in some sort of danger. The system is comprised of a series of strategically placed wireless sensors that monitor the individual's daily living activities. This information is fed into a computer which compiles and analyzes the data in an effort to get to know the senior's habits. As the system begins to learn more about the person's habits and routines, it will be able to detect when something is not quite right.
For instance, if a person's habit is to go directly into the kitchen each morning to turn on the coffee maker, the system will look for evidence of that behavior each morning. If the system does not sense a trip into the kitchen on one particular morning, it will send a message to the individual's family or caregiver that perhaps there is a problem.
Monitoring the Environment
The QuietCareSM system also keeps tabs on various environmental factors. For example, when the temperature inside a senior's home exceeds 84 degrees, it will emit a warning signal; when the temperature rises above 92 degrees, it sends an alert that the senior is in a potentially dangerous situation. Warnings such as these help reduce the chance that the senior will succumb to a heat-related illness.