The ambulance pulled into the driveway. “Is she dead?” I tremulously asked
as they wheeled my 96-year-old beautiful, brilliant, sweet, unconscious mom toward the house. “No,” the hospice people said and dropped her onto her own bed that had been moved into the light, uncluttered, airy room we had prepared.
Rod Stewart was playing, softly singing the old standards. Her music. Everyone said their last goodbyes. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Late that night, I leaned tearfully over her comatose form and patted her arm. “You’re home,” I whispered. “I love you so much, Mom.” Her eyes fluttered….opened….and focused. She looked at me, and she said, “I’m back.”
So began the voyage of caregiving for my beloved mother. It made me interested in what technology has to offer in this arena of life. You might be shocked to know that the Caregiver Action Network reports 65 million Americans, 29 percent of the population, provide care to a loved one.
“The value of the services family caregivers provide for ‘free,’ when caring for older adults, is estimated to be $375 billion a year, almost twice as much as is actually spent on paid homecare and nursing home services combined. Fifteen dollars an hour is the lowest paid caregiver rate you can get. That’s $360 for every 24 hours, more than $11,000 per month. Most families can’t afford that and must DIY.
So what technology is there to help?
MOTION TRACKING
There are sensors and cameras that automatically alert caregivers when a patient gets up or out of bed. Personal Response Systems, such as Life Alert recognizes a fall and calls for help without the patient having to push a button. GPS trackers have proven invaluable for dementia patients who “wander.”
WIRELESS HOME MONITORING
Dennis Silva of OmniCare Hospice talks about Telehealth Systems that collect and transmit patients’ vitals, including EKGs, and makes that information available to families and doctors 24/7. There are Medication Management tools like the E-Pill System that Silva says, “not only organizes a patient’s medication, but also automatically dispenses it and alerts the patient (or caretaker) when it’s time to take it.” Security cameras or baby monitors linked to your phone allow you to watch your loved one, near or far.
PATIENT EMPOWERMENT
For very limited patients, some new technologies are mindblowing. The Promixis Environment Automation Controller allows a user to control lights, blinds, TV, doors, phones, elevators, etc. To quote Ron Bessems, Promixis founder, “If it’s electrical, we can control it.” There are amazing computers that ALS patients can control with their eyes, thus opening doors of communication previously closed.
SUPPORT FORUMS
Families can find lots of good information on websites, such as Caregivingcafe.com, LotsaHelpingHands.com, Caring.com, and AARP.com/caregiving, as well as caregiver forums such as agingcare.com/Caregiver-Forum, where you can ask a question to the online community and get an answer in ten minutes. Also look for apps with legal forms, apps for the patient and the caretaker.
HYGIENE
Let’s face it, the low-tech nitty gritty is in keeping a patient clean. If the patient is able to help, consider yourself lucky. Often, a patient may be unable or even comatose. To me, this is the hardest, most human part of a caregiver’s job. Louise Aaronson of the New York Times writes, “Caregiving is hard work. More often than not, it is tedious, awkwardly intimate, physically and emotionally exhausting. Sometimes it is dangerous or disgusting. Almost always it is 24/7 and unpaid or low-wage and has profound adverse health consequences for those who do it. It is women’s work and immigrants’ work, and it is work that many people either can’t or simply won’t do.” Hey, Aaronson! It turns out 46 percent of home caregivers are men. (Caregiver Action Network)
ROBOTS
The Sumitomo Riko Company in Japan has developed Robear, a 300-pound robot capable of lifting patients out of bed into wheelchairs and aiding in walking. robotictomorrow.com).
Georgia Tech published their nurse robot: “Cody has the ability to be operated by the patient and told what part of the body to clean. Elderly patients and patients with disabilities often have trouble maintaining personal hygiene. Cody performs the task of bathing those patients who are too injured or lack the freedom of movement to do it themselves.”
Alas, these are not technologies available to the general public now. But Boomers will create such a caregiver load that robots, by necessity, will go mainstream. Robots that can monitor and dispense meds, lift, clean, stay up at night, read to patients, do laundry…. I want one!
You know, hands catch you when you enter the world. It is a blessing to have kind hands on you when you leave. But human hands need all the help they can get in between. The day that robots are available for in-home caregiving can’t come soon enough. I would call that true tech support
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