Podcast: February 2009 Archives

  (31:47)

Can technology be used to keep seniors in their homes and out of assisted living? Steve Agritelley thinks so. He's the Director of Product Incubation and Prototyping in Intel's Digital Health Group in Oregon. He calls it Aging in Place.

"Imagine someone in a disease management program, taking home a monitoring system that's easy to use with a touch screen that everyday they can interact with," that's what Steve and his group are building. The device would communicate back to a clinician who's managing a variety of people facilitating remote monitoring. Meaning more seniors can live inexpensively in the comfort of their own homes and still receive effective care. Steve's research tracks the social networks of at-home Alzheimers patients and creates devices, like an iPhone, that can show a picture of who's calling and offer reminders of the last call and what you talked about.

But Steve's team doesn't start their research on the technology side, instead he has a team of ethnographers, from the field of anthropology, who do a 'deep hanging out' with the subjects to learn how they live in their homes.

"To be on the forefront of research is very, very exciting. The market is just starting to develop." He knows he can't do it alone so he's collaborating with the Oregon Center for Aging and Technology (ORCATECH) at the Oregon Health & Science University and the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) In Washington, DC.

   (30:25)

This first interview starts with my sister Mary. The show will cover many topics and perspectives, but this whole concept started because of concerns about our aging parents.

I'm a baby boomer and so is Mary. Perhaps you, too are wondering about the options your parents face. Boomers are a huge demographic and our parents are living longer lives and facing great challenges in healthcare expenses and lifestyle choices.

As our parents grow into their 80's their dual lifestyle of winter in Florida and summer at the cottage in New Hampshire is suiting them less well than when they started retirement 20 years ago. Neither locale is comfortable for year round living, yet the back and forth and the dual sets of doctors is getting to be a bit much. Add to that, other than Mary, four of their five children and all their grandchildren are in California. Sounds simple you say? Move them west? But decisions are getting harder to make at their age, and there's the emotional bond to the cottage, not just for Mom & Dad, but for us siblings, too. So we're getting organized; there's a family meeting planned for Valentines Day weekend in Los Angeles. All the siblings will gather and Mom & Dad, too. What are the priorities we must negotiate as we try to align everyone's concerns, wishes and feelings for the cottage? Can my parents muddle through issues like healthcare proxies and a power of attorney? We know they must have them. No one's seen their will recently, my copy is dated 1986. It's rumored to name all 5 siblings as executors which sounds like the ultimate in fairness, but we suspect will be the ultimate nightmare. Can we siblings work together effectively? We've never had to. Let's start with Mary...