Independent Elderly - An Internet of Things use case?

While it is imperative that the Elderly must be taken care of by the younger generation, it is inevitable that at some point in time, the Elderly has to face situations where they have to be independent to some degree in their lives. Thus, their empowerment for independent living at home has been forthcoming for some time. In this article, we explore the role of Internet of Things (IoT) in empowering the elderly.

One of the many use cases for Internet of Things (IoT) that I have come across is Healthcare. Some uses of healthcare IoT are mobile medical applications or wearable devices that allow patients to capture their health data. Hospitals use IoT to keep tabs on the location of medical devices, personnel and patients. IoT can be used to collect and share patients' biometric data and monitor them after they've been discharged from a hospital.

Internet of Things can be a powerful enabler for Independent living at home for the elderly. To that end, we need an integration of home automation and emergency communications. This requires incorporation of IoT enabled household products into the homes of the Elderly together with a central control device or a smartphone application that can be used with relative ease to control these IoT enabled devices. 

The users also ought to be able to access panic buttons or an emergency communications device that can be used to send pre-programmed messages for different kinds of emergencies, to the appropriate people  (always informing the near and dear ones and selectively informing the doctors and the nurses, the police, the firemen or other emergency services).

Home surveillance is another feature that can be incorporated, but it is not for those who are very protective of their privacy. Instead of visual surveillance, a less intrusive form of surveillance may be tried out using a wide variety of sensors – bed sensors – to ensure the user gets enough sleep, pillbox sensors – to ensure the user takes his/her pills if he/she has any, washroom sensors, smoke sensors and so on. One major class of devices that can be used are medical wearables that monitors the heart rate and pressure, and administers different medicines periodically or reminds the user to take his/her medicines.

This is not an exhaustive list of things we could do. I am sure we will be able to reach much better refined solutions through brainstorming and having open discussions with the experts in the relevant fields and the general public having different perspectives and solutions. Technology is not for replacing the actual human interaction with all its emotional complexities, but rather to complement and enhance it. We as a humanity, strive towards reaching closer to the best solution through constant innovation.

Do let me know about your thoughts in the comments.