Providing a decent and independent life for the elderly, whose numbers are increasing in the world little by little, means relying more on advanced technology. Nowadays, governments and companies operating in the technology sector are looking to come up with the latest technologies in this field to help achieve that goal.
Early this past summer, Paula Tinkler reached a point where she was ready to change the trajectory of her career, which isn't unusual in itself. But what was really surprising was the speed with which this happened. In just a week, Paula was trained in the seaside town of Workington, England, providing care services to those in need. Within one month, I had already started working in this field.
In addition to the speed with which Paula completed her training for her new job, she was able to undergo it without leaving her home. Her recruitment process started with an email, was assessed online, and she underwent an interview and training process that was also "conducted entirely digitally".
Paula joined SierraCare, a British-based company that provides care services to those in need using high-tech tools, without ever managing or owning any dedicated role. Instead, the company's mission is to provide families with the opportunity to arrange and manage home care for relatives in need through a digital platform.
Through this platform, available caregivers are matched with people who need their services. SierraCare also uses the services of Uber to transport patients to and from hospitals when they have appointments there. And she uses the services of a delivery company to bring medical drugs to patients from pharmacies.
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Since the company was founded in 2016, it has raised more than £20 million (US$26 million). Her caregivers also make about half a million home visits a month. One such visitor, Paula Tinkler, has become.
In the coming years, these new, agile models of care providers may become increasingly important. Almost 20 percent of the population in the European Union is over 65 years old, a percentage that is expected to rise rapidly over the coming decades. The same situation prevails in other parts of the world. The population of the globe, over the age of 60, has doubled since 1980, reaching one billion. This number will double again by 2050.
In the face of this looming challenge, new models of care providers should be developed to enable older people to live independent and healthy lives at the same time. The good news is that SierraCare is just one of several companies developing assistive technology tools that, with their help, give the elderly a chance to live like this.
For example, hearing aids now contain a feature to distinguish the sound of the fall of those who use them, in order to provide them with greater safety. The sensor-equipped shirt is also the key element that enables Alfred, the virtual server developed by the European Union, to carry out its tasks and interact with the elderly, helping them maintain their balance as they move throughout the hours of the day, and even exercise them as well. In addition to Alfred, we find Lee, a motorized walker who also works as a virtual assistant and even as a dance partner.
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There is no doubt that our age is behind our need for all these assistive devices and technologies. “One-third of people born today will live to be 100,” says Ben Marotabio, CEO and co-founder of SierraCare. “For companies in the healthcare services business, the challenge is that their market is growing (i.e. the aging population) population) means at the same time shrinking the size of the labor force available in it. This leads to demand exceeding supply, and we lack sufficient care homes for everyone.” Not only that, but the majority of people now prefer to receive care services in their homes, rather than having to move to other places.
The company he runs has developed a virtual assistant named Martha, who helps caregivers with their daily routines. “Martha has evolved to meet the needs of our clients and caregivers as well,” says Marotapio. “It started as a chatbot that service providers could turn to for advice and guidance. Now it's an automated interface, providing alerts and recommendations to these people. Based on previous information collected on the clients being looked after.
In 2019, SierraCare partnered with IBM to conduct an experiment in which lidar sensors, often found in self-driving vehicles, were installed in homes. These devices collect data on the amount of movement, which residents make continuously and sometimes aimlessly, throughout their homes. Most importantly, the devices can alert caregivers if a resident stumbles or falls. "It's a 24-hour service, and it's not just available when caregivers are at home," Marotapio says.
However, there are concerns about the use of artificial intelligence techniques in this regard. In 2018, an independent medical advisory group, the Nuffield Bioethics Council, published a note on the use of these technologies in clinical studies and research, saying that this could lead to “decreased transparency in clinical decisions and may increase concerns about abuse.” patient privacy, exacerbating the potential for social exclusion.”
How to live a “good old age”?
Although it is generally accepted that the idea that we are living longer in today's age is only one side of the story. While the number of people reaching the age of eighty has increased dramatically over the past century, its counterpart for those who lived to ninety years or a hundred has not increased by the same rate. Away from this numbers game, the reality is that we live longer, does not necessarily mean that we spend these extra years of life enjoying good health.
Due to the increase in the average life expectancy; More of us will become vulnerable to the chronic effects of health problems such as osteoporosis, diabetes and obesity, strokes, heart and respiratory diseases, as well as neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and glaucoma.
On the other hand, if your age represents the number of years in which you remain alive, then what we can call your "healthy age" is the number of years a person lives without developing a chronic disease, and it is a period that everyone is keen on Lengthen as much as possible. Not only are individuals involved, but governments are involved as well. For example, as part of its 2019 industrial sector strategy, the British government launched what it described at the time as a "major challenge" to add five years of "healthy life" to every citizen by 2035. At the same time, the Calico-backed company spent From Google, $2 billion over seven years, to research treatments that "would enable people to live longer, healthier lives."
Over the past decades, much attention has been paid to drug options aimed at helping humans deal with problems associated with aging, such as taking drugs such as rapamycin and metformin, which can eliminate diseased cells and rejuvenate the body, in mice. at least. However, there are other options available, unrelated to these drugs, says Judy Campisi, a professor of biological gerontology at the Buck Institute for the Study of Gerontology in California, USA, and co-founder of Unity, a pharmaceutical company that aims to delay, prevent or mitigate Diseases associated with aging. Campisi points out that "factors such as improving the diet, exercising, and social interaction with those around the person benefit him a lot in this regard. Also, dealing with intellectual challenges, communication (with those around us), and other mental activities are among the contributing factors." ".
But the question remains about who will provide that communication and social interaction. With fewer people able to work than retirees, there will be fewer people who can afford to receive care, and fewer doctors, nurses, therapists and caregivers who can provide such services directly.
Therefore, providing a decent life for the elderly requires finding ways to benefit from technology in this regard. Hence, it is not surprising that people look to companies operating in the field of advanced technology, in order to exert greater efforts in this regard.
In 2018, the UK-based Nesta Innovation Research Center awarded its award in the “Smart Aging” category to Comp, a one-button tablet aimed at older users. This tablet device, which includes only the basic features required for its operation, is designed in the style of old televisions, which operated in the analog system. Comb is unique in that it provides its elderly users with a simplified way to exchange photos and make video calls with relatives and friends.
As for those who need to make contact more regularly, and not just contact now and then via an application such as "FaceTime", they can use a long line of robots, which are intended to become the best companion for them, in their advanced years.
Among the available options in this regard is a very small robot called "Pepper", which was developed by a Japanese company called "Soft Bank Group". This robot was seen taking over the task of entertaining guests of a club dedicated to the elderly in the Czech capital, Prague. One described it as "very stupid, but a lot of fun".
In addition, in existing care centers in different countries of the world, you can find copies of a very lovable robot named "Baru", which takes the form of a baby seal. And you can see the residents of these centers for the elderly, and they are holding robots of this type to their chest, and they are writhing and making sweet sounds. The batteries of this cute Japanese robot are charged strongly, through its mouth via a device attached to it similar to the "pacifier" or "pacifier" that is used with infants. It was designed to be a therapeutic experience for people with dementia, who many think they are holding a live seal cub in their hands, not just a robot, which leads them to establish a close relationship with it.
The European Union has a role to contribute in this context, through the "Enrichme" project that it funded, and through which a robot named "Tiago" was developed by the Spanish company "Pal Robotic". In one of the experiments, copies of this large robot were sent to the homes of many elderly people. One could see one of them rolling around this or that house, after being charged with energy. This robot was responsible for reminding the elderly living at home, of the appointments they should not miss and the medicines prescribed to them, and also helped them find lost things. But the elders who interacted with Tiago found that the companionship he provided was as important as his success in finding their lost keys. Therefore, when the trial period ended, these elderly people felt very sad about the separation of their "new friends", and even one of them was seen rearranging the furniture of his dwelling, in order to fill the void left by the absence of "Tiago" from him.
Perhaps we should mention here the experience of Antonio Kong, CEO of France-based technology and innovation company Trialog. In 2016, this man led a three-year project aimed at developing robots, by communicating with the elderly to learn about their needs in this regard. Two models were created in this context, one of which was the size of a dog and was called "Buddy", while the other was named "Astro" and was the size of a closet that is usually placed in the halls and corridors. The first model looked like a "nice companion" for the elderly, while the second had a solid design and was designed to help the elderly walk.
As part of the project, its representatives visited care homes and talked with their inmates, to learn how robots could be developed to best suit their needs. "We wanted to know if we could get feedback on the performance of these bots from potential users, so that we could develop models that approach what they expect," Kong said. But the man added, "It is surprising that not much has been done at the present time in this regard," based on the information collected during that project.
The project, which Kong led, on the other hand, revealed the limits of what can be achieved through the use of advanced technology in terms of helping the elderly. While the reactions of Astro users were lukewarm, as they described it as too large, it seemed that the matter was different with Buddy, which Kong comments by saying: “(These elderly) wanted something with human qualities, "So that they could understand it more. They also wanted this thing to be smooth and polished, and to be able to have voice conversations with it. All in all, the older people involved in the project wanted the robot to be more human in character."
At the same time, robots do little to ease the elderly's sense of social isolation. Despite the role they play, they will remain, in essence, as Kong says, mere "puppets," albeit useful ones.
Human communication is what forms the core of our relationships with those around us. Perhaps we can return here to Paula Tinkler, who started these lines, by talking about her experience working in the field of care services. According to her words, this woman feels very much in love with her new job, and says that she believes that it brings her "great benefits". She explains her vision: “My colleagues and I who work for Sierra Care have had neighbors standing up and clapping for us outside the homes where we work. During our visits to our clients, people stop us constantly, to offer us a cup of tea, or to say thank you. I hope May this inspire others to pursue a career in caregiving.”
In any case, the efforts of people like Paula have never been more needed than they are now. The United States will need to employ an estimated 2.3 million caregivers by 2025, in order to keep up with the growing demand in this regard. Australia will need 100,000 of these. Other developed countries suffer from similar problems.
Finally, a workforce equipped with high-tech tools, trained online, and partnered with virtual assistants such as robots represents a future that is rapidly becoming a reality.
But for a world with a rapidly increasing population, these changes don't seem to be happening fast enough.