Wednesday Aging in Place

On Wednesdays, Laurie Orlov, tech industry veteran, writer, speaker and elder care advocate will be sharing her insightful research on how seniors can safely and successfully live independent lives in the home of their choice.

Connected Living
Ambassadors of Tech

Laurie Orlov on Tue, 02/09/2010

Outreach to link seniors and computers -- more needed. Although there are multiple approaches to opening up the vast world of the Internet to seniors, rarely do they reach all the way into the home. These include the FloH Club (telephone service), senior centers or SeniorNet (center-based), online training programs (like Computer School For Seniors), or online tech support (crossloop.com). Consider bundled offerings like IN2L that provide access to seniors in senior housing -- or a la carte software like PointerWare. All good, but none involve MyWay Village's Ambassador approach.

Comcast and MyWay Village pilot Chicago program in the home. This fall, MyWay Villlage began piloting its Connected Living program into community programs like this AgingWell in West Roxbury, MA. And at the request of Comcast in Chicago seeking a way to engage older customers, they piloted a bundle, including access to Connected Living along with Comcast's broadband service. The goal, according to Anna Hall of Quincy, MA Myway Village -- was to 'provide an easy way to use a computer -- without frustration.'

Ambassadors make it work. An integral part of Connected Living depends on ambassadors are well-trained part-time contractors, background checked, who have already been helping MyWay Village support its computers and software in retirement housing environments. They develop relationships with seniors, according to Anna, 'learning about their social needs, requirement for adaptive equipment, and helping them see how the computer (typically a desktop machine) can enhance their life." The Connected Living service is $9.99/month -- and the special Comcast high-speed access deal in the Chicago pilot was $19.99. The Connected Living service also is combined with a Call Center, where the responders are trained the same way as the ambassadors.

Connected Living connects volunteer ambassadors to seniors. MyWay Village's Connected Living initiative has also recruited volunteer ambassadors from the local community -- including seniors and stay-at-home moms, and in West Roxbury, 14 volunteer high school students have volunteered time to teach seniors at the high school lab.

Using the Internet as a catalyst for collaborative reminiscences. Using discussion groups to introduce seniors (in whatever setting), Anna says: "We introduce them to 'the wonder of the Internet'. For example, in a class about big band music, when someone asks a question about Benny Goodman, we search for him online and find his music. That triggers a group reminiscence about Benny Goodman, and then each can go back to their online account and write about their memories, creating a collaborative memoir."

Prediction -- home companion services will include computer guidance. Just as the ambassadors for Connected Living help seniors with computers, so too, there are home companion services that include computer support -- like Engage as You Age in the Bay area. Given growth in home companion care as part of the overall trend to age in place, expect that moving forward, initial assessments of home care requirements include an assessment of willingness to learn more about computers and would respond to a tech ambassador.

For more information, visit Laurie at http://www.ageinplacetech.com/ Place Technology Department at http://www.cs4seniors.com/

Wednesday Aging in Place

Computer School for Seniors will be sharing her insightful research on how seniors can safely and successfully live independent lives in the home of their choice.

Modern Technology is Becoming

More Important to Seniors

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter by Dennis Thompson

SATURDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Imagine that you see a new mole and don't like the looks of it so you take a picture of it using your cell phone and e-mail it to your family doctor for an opinion.

Or perhaps you have heart disease and take your blood pressure using a cuff that automatically uploads the data to your cardiologist's computer for review.

Using electronic communications equipment to transmit medical information for consultation or examination -- known as telemedicine -- has come a long way from its beginnings as a means for rural areas to have access via teleconferencing to top-flight specialists.

In fact, technology has advanced to the point that telemedicine is beginning to blur into the normal daily routine of a doctor, said Dr. Jason Mitchell, assistant director for the Center for Health Information Technology of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

"Someday we won't even consider it telemedicine anymore," Mitchell said. "It'll just be part of the way we practice medicine."

And evidence is mounting that telemedicine can play a positive role in health care. A study in the journal Stroke found that the use of teleconferencing and the transmission of CT brain scans is beneficial to the initial treatment of stroke victims, later assessment of the amount of brain damage they've received and the rehabilitation they will go through during their long-term recuperation.

Some new ways of practicing medicine already taking place that could be considered telemedicine include:

• Ambulances transmitting EKG data to the hospital they're en route to
  
• Automated pill counters that transmit data that lets doctors know whether medications are being taken as prescribed
  
• Teleconferences to bring in specialists for consultation in such fields as dermatology, neonatal care, surgery and psychotherapists
  
• Electronic scales for heart patients that trigger an alert to a nurse if the patient's weight increases dramatically
  

"One of the best early indicators for impending hospitalization for patients with congestive heart failure is an increase in body weight," said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, vice chairman of the neurology department and director of TeleStroke & Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Schwamm describes such examples of telemedicine as "low-hanging fruit," easily done to great advantage for both the patient and the doctors involved.

Telemedicine could be a boon to preventative medicine, Mitchell and Schwamm said, giving doctors access to detailed data that would allow them to diagnose problems early. For example, data from the scales or the blood pressure cuff could give doctors a chance to get someone in for treatment before a heart attack or stroke occurs.

"It would identify for us when a patient should be seen rather than relying on the patient for that judgment," Schwamm said. "In my mind, that's the real promise."

Telemedicine also could provide tremendous cost savings. People might not have to take time off from work and drive to see their doctor to have a question or concern addressed. And people with serious illnesses might not have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles for a consultant's opinion. "It's expensive and inefficient to move people around when many visits require minimal care," Schwamm said.

Some impediments must be overcome, however. Insurance companies have not ironed out how a doctor should be compensated for different types of telemedical service. "That takes time. That takes expertise," Mitchell said. "There should be some level of compensation for making that happen."

And there are administrative barriers, too, Schwamm said. For example, can a doctor licensed and credentialed in one state "see" patients from another state via an Internet video link?
Mitchell believes telemedicine ultimately will strengthen people's relationships with their doctors, allowing them to share health information more easily. However, people first need to have a relationship with a doctor they trust.

"This is an adjunct to a relationship with a physician that's already there," Mitchell said. "I don't think the electronic interactions are going to completely replace the personal interaction, but they can augment them. You don't have to be standing in front of a physician to accomplish certain things, but that hands-on interaction needs to be there in many cases."

Don't write off doctor visits just yet, though.

"It's important to never underestimate the healing power of human touch," Schwamm said.

For more information, visit Laurie at http://www.ageinplacetech.com/ Place Technology Department at http://www.cs4seniors.com/