It goes without saying that as we age, our needs change. Suddenly, it’s not so simple to reach up and grab that book from the top shelf, and even the once mundane task of showering is a difficult and dangerous chore. But leaving home for a nursing facility takes its toll, both emotionally and financially.

The average annual cost of nursing home care in 2011 was $86,040. Hiring in-home assistance is cheaper—but still not ideal—with annual fees averaging $38,000. But is it possible for seniors to maintain independence without completely surrendering themselves to someone else’s care? Yes. It just takes some determination and room-by-room modifications.

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Statistics show that most people would do almost anything reasonable to avoid moving from the comfort of their home yet in many cases their homes are not adapted to accommodate their current and changing needs. The question arises as to what is necessary and the associated costs to make the modifications to enable an individual to continue living safely and as independently as possible in their homes. Read more

They include automatic activity sensors, smart pillboxes, and communicators that share health data with you or a medical pro. These gizmos (and the monitoring services that typically come with them) can be pricey, ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand a year – and neither Medicare nor most private health insurers typically cover them (though some will if they’re prescribed by a doctor).

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As much as we want to age in our own homes, however, the network of government, volunteer, and family caregiving resources needed to support older Americans is able to meet only a fraction of the elder population’s needs. And with soaring numbers of older Americans, coupled with stressed government and philanthropic budgets, the scale of unmet needs is likely to rise sharply.
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Aging in Place: You do not need to leave your home!

Given that 89% of people do not want to leave their homes, this statement featured on the article The Technology for Monitoring Elderly Relatives on The New York Times (July 28, 2010) about new technologies to help people stay at their home, makes total sense.

The purpose of many of these technologies is to provide enough supervision to make it possible for elderly people to stay in their homes rather than move to an assisted-living facility or nursing home — a goal almost universally embraced as both emotionally and financially desirable.

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CPSC believes that many of these injuries result from hazards that are easy to overlook, but also easy to fix. By spotting these hazards and taking some simple steps to correct them, many injuries might be prevented.  Read More and complete the CPSC check list.

The 1980s-era medical alert pendants made famous by their television advertising (“I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”) are now among a wide array of devices that can help keep an eye on aging parents and get them help when they need it.

Available technologies include:

• Sensors in the home to track an older person’s movement, from the front door to the medicine cabinet to the refrigerator to the stove. The sensors are linked with computers that can issue alerts when people deviate from their routine.
• Global positioning system devices, using the GPS technology that’s become so common in cars, that can help locate someone with dementia who’s wandered from home.
• Computerized pillboxes that track whether medication is being taken on time.

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Living Well Assisted Living at Home has been an advocate of the high tech – high touch model as a tool to enhance home safety for seniors at home and a model that helps lower costs for seniorcare.  We found support to this stance on an article by Science Daily (1) on 12/31/10 “…Home health care technology may provide one important solution to global concerns about how to sustain health care systems threatened by rising costs and manpower shortages, but such a change faces multiple obstacles to adoption, according to a new RAND Corporation study. They continue by saying  ‘…Home health care technology spans a broad spectrum from basic diagnostic tools, such as glucose meters, to advanced telemedicine solutions. Those advances have pushed the frontier of care management further into the home setting. The advances have the potential to not only support current care delivery, but to fundamentally change the model to a more efficient and more patient-centered one, according to the report. Home care also makes it easier for patients to age in place, if they prefer, and avoid institutionalization…” Read the report

Some other pieces of technology are the ones that assure home safety and fall detection. Read more about safety technology.

(1) RAND Corporation (2010, December 31). Home health care could help sustain health care systems, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 3, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/12/101208130048.htm

Read the related article.