Tribune Review

Tribune Review, Most adults with aging parents can attest to the extra time and effort needed to make sure mom and dad are fine.

They may have to call every day to remember to take their medicines. Or you can receive a call from a neighbor concerned about the newspapers piling up on the doorstep of her parents.

But a new generation of wireless devices is the promise of being the eyes and ears of members of the family in question.

These gadgets are more sophisticated than traditional medical alert systems, as the life of alert, which typically use a pendant and a console button for help.

Some gadgets can transmit data on weight, blood pressure or levels of blood sugar to a remote location. A system GrandCare uses motion sensors that can alert an adult child by email, text message or voicemail if there is an unusual move – or lack thereof – in the home of his parents.

Home> Health Solutions Murrysville makes a computerized pill dispenser automatically notifies a family member or caregiver if the user forgets to take medication.

Many tout the technology as an alternative to move a parent to costly assisted living or nursing facility. They can also help relieve the guilt and anxiety of adult children, who often work full time and raising children of their own.

But some question whether such arrangements violate the privacy of an individual. And others consider inhumane to track down a man in most of the way biologists tag and track a grizzly bear.

When Betty Rapin was knocked unconscious after a fall at his home in Penn Township in 2007, bought the Life Alert for her and her husband, Richard. The couple each has slopes that can push to request help through a console at home.

“It was a blessing,” says Rapin, 79.

But she says she could not bear his replacement technology that every move her daughter, who lives a mile away.

“They know I’m going to the kitchen.’ll Know I’m going to the bathroom. It is redundant. It is, like, too much information,” says prey. “Like if I was in my medicine chest and came back three times, I do not want calling me, saying,” It took too much medicine? It would drive me crazy. “Sikov Carol Gross, a lawyer who specializes in the care of older people, expressed qualified support for new technology.

“I think there could be privacy issues,” she says. “Hopefully it is something that children talk to their parents and reach an agreement of parents to do it.” Elias Janetis MobileHelp founded in 2006 after he got tired of trying to maintain control over their widowed grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease. He lived in Williamsport. His grandmother lived in Florida.

“It was a very frustrating situation,” says Janetis. “You call home and not get a response and derailed days. I was flying on a couple of times a month. I called a couple of times a day.” The traditional medical alert systems are usually limited to a range of about 600 meters, Janetis says. MobileHelp includes a wireless GPS device that can work outside the home. Use AT & T network. The cost is approximately 35 per month. An initial activation fee may also apply.

“I knew that traditional medical alert systems only work at home,” he says. “Many older people live very active lives and would like a button that works outside the home. I saw a need in the market and an underserved population.” Matthew Lee, a doctoral student in Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, is part of a team working on the Quality of Life Technology Center. The Centre, a joint effort between theCarnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, designs technology to help seniors and people with disabilities.

Is designing and testing devices that are more thorough commercial sensor systems, as GrandCare? In housewares preparation with sensors and accelerometers, wireless transmitters, which can record the movements of older people as they perform everyday tasks such as making coffee.

“We chose coffeemaking because it is a multi-step task,” says Lee. “Certain things have to happen before other things happen. So we can keep track of the different parts of the task. We notice when people make mistakes.” These flubs could indicate a decline in cognitive or motor function may be early signs of Alzheimer’s disease or other diseases.