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This being HN, I will note that helping seniors remember to take their medicine, eat better, and otherwise help them keep their independence is a huge and grow

This being HN, I will note that helping seniors remember to take their medicine, eat better, and otherwise help them keep their independence is a huge and growing market that helps not only seniors but their relatives who otherwise have to take them in, etc, as outlined in the article.

dnndev 4y ago
Any reasonably cost solution for a 80 year old with one functioning arm to take her meds in such a way that also prevents a 5 year old from getting to them? This is what we are up against. Currently, I have a reminder on my phone to give them to her and watch her take them, but it’s not sustainable long term. Ideally the solutions is something that enables her to take the meds on her own.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  Put them in a locked firesafe in an accessible medicine dispenser. Put the key to the firesafe on a chain around grandma's neck.
  - dnndev 4y ago
    Thank you for the idea. If I could rely on her to remember to close the door to the safe and lock it every time it would be a good option.
    - DoreenMichele 4y ago
      You can't call her and walk her through the steps or something? Put only one dose at a time in the firesafe so if it's left open, it's empty and no one cares?
      - herdrick 4y ago
        Could one of these help? https://www.google.com/search?q=locked+home+safe+that+can+be+monitored+over+the+internet https://www.google.com/search?q=locked+home+safe+that+can+be...
    - useless_foghorn 4y ago
      you could get a freezer door alarm similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/FRIDGGI-Fridge-Alarm-Seconds-white-pack1/dp/B0813GNDB8?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/FRIDGGI-Fridge-Alarm-Seconds-white-pa...
  - david422 4y ago
    You can also buy RFID safes and RFID rings. That way you open the safe with the ring.
- cc-d 4y ago
- orangepurple 4y ago
  Spice rack full of med bottles surrounded by a clamp that activates on a lever allowing the cap to be twisted without second hand present
- xyzzy123 4y ago
  Keep them out of easy reach but don't go to crazy lengths. If you can, talk to your 5 year old. Ideally, involve them in the process of making sure grandma takes the medicine. Kids can be very responsible when they understand something is important, and why. Of course every kid/situation is different and needs to be met where things are at (and not where you wish it would be), but I think it's worth trying if you have bandwidth. They may surprise you. When you think about it, most 5 year olds have ready access to very dangerous things; they can turn on the oven, toast things (not necessarily food), they often have access to sharp knives with a minimum of effort, etc. What keeps them safe is their understanding of the risks of those things. The real problem with grandma's pills is that the risk of them is not "accessible" to a child in the way those other things are.
- saltcured 4y ago
  If concerned about unsafe access to medications, I think putting them in a locked cabinet or room is the best solution rather than thinking that something like a bottle cap is going to control access. Unfortunately, many elderly also suffer cognitive declines which make it risky for them to manage their own medications, even if they are physically capable of the task. Missed doses or accidental double-dosing can potentially lead to other health problems, exacerbating their cognitive struggles and increasing the risk of dosing mistakes. In the long run, I think that a family providing such support should consider adopting some of the best practices of care staff who do medication management for clients. You want a physical log sheet that is formatted like a 2D matrix with recurring doses as row labels and dates written as column labels. The rows should also be sorted and grouped chronologically, i.e. the first row is the first dose to take after waking and it is ordered through to the last dose to take before bed. You typically also want to leave blank space after each dosing period so you can potentially write in new medications when there are changes ordered during the tracking period. You also want to keep a digital copy of the form that you can easily revise and print again as the forms are filled to completion. The responsible party measures out the doses and marks/initials the cells of the grid for the individual dose and date being administered. In a professional setting, they might mark once for preparing the doses and once again after witnessing that they were consumed. The active log sheet is kept in the same storage area as the medications, readily accessible to the ones administering them. If there are multiple people taking medications, a separate series of sheets is used for each person. In a professional setting, this supports audit. But in any setting, it also provides a simple process to help minimize dosing mistakes. There are no more questions like, "wait, did they already take this?" after a distraction has interrupted the normal, habitual process. This written formalism can also help you manage refills. Learn to think in terms of "N days' supply" to note on the grid when a bottle is opened, predict when it will be depleted, and mark down when it should be reordered.
- jelliclesfarm 4y ago
  https://mygita.com https://mygita.com how about something like a Gita Mini which is a follow bot? It is for paved outdoors as well as indoors. You can lock it from your phone and can follow the elderly person. I think there are might be some tweaks to make it suit your purpose. But it is worth looking into how it can help senior care as a follow bot. P.S: I did a ton of research for small farm robotics and met very interesting startup founders in the healthcare/robotics area on the way. If anyone wants to brainstorm or even simply chat about senior healthcare and robotics, please reach out. This is something that is very close to my heart and if I can help make connections even if I can’t help in any technical/material way, it would make me very glad.
  - dnndev 4y ago
    Thanks for the idea! irony, I am a hardware/software eng working in the home health space... I am thinking of a keurig type device with a integrated finger print reader button. the dispenser only releases dosage if the biometrics match. I mentioned this idea to my wife and she said it will only make our five year old want them more... maybe we will make a kids version that releases gummies :).
    - jelliclesfarm 4y ago
      I like that idea and would work for adult snacks too! I think we already have a timed version for pet food in the market for portion sizes.
madrox 4y ago
My mother’s retired life is consumed by doing everything she can to stay independent for as long as possible. Ubers are nice, but she’s hoping self driving cars become truly possible before she has to give up her license. That’ll be a huge blow to her when the day comes. However, other tech has really prolonged things. Fall detection, maps, hearing aids, and everything else has really allowed her to live a life relatively unchanged from when she was younger.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  I'm for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. It would help if there was more such infrastructure in the US. I'm not a fan of self driving cars as the solution to this problem space.
  - schuke 4y ago
    This only works if you live somewhere with a mild climate. Most places of the world it seems won't fall into this category. Summer and winter are hard. With cars where you get to set a temperature before going out, it's not just convenient, it can well be vital for seniors. Not to mention when there's rain, snow or wind. I'm all for cars. They just need to be more efficient. And it's achievable.
    - johnnymorgan 4y ago
      Great post, in our city for a few years they stopped clearing side walks in the winter (dumb mayor, he didn't last). I carried an old lady with a walker stuck in the middle of the road. It was brutal on them even with the plowing, without zero ability to move around.
      - human_person 4y ago
        I think that speaks more to environmental hostility due to social/governmental choices. The woman lost her mobility because the mayor didn’t clear the side walks. Not because of winter. If if we designed public transportation so it was convenient and usable by everyone older people would have more options in all weather. If we had consistent (24/7), frequent, high coverage public transportation that was subsidized at the same rate as car infrastructure, everyone would use it. If it was faster than driving in traffic rich people would use it and support it as well. We choose to build a society that only works for a tiny segment and makes all of our own lives more difficult (and eventually impossible).
jelliclesfarm 4y ago
There was a company that came up with smart pill tech that had ingestible sensor that would send a text to the medical provider. It went bankrupt. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/from-billions-to-bankruptcy-proteus-digital-health-fell-short-its-promise-here-s-what-other https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/from-billions-to-bankr... We have all the technology in the world to make humanity live better. But the people who control it get to decide if it’s profitable enough. But really, the solution is more research into anti-ageing science. Not how to maintain the ill and the aged until they die. I encourage all young people in geriatric healthcare to wear ageing simulation suits to understand the problem first hand to come up with better solutions. It’s less than 3k and can also be rented.
- zo1 4y ago
  This ignores our role in the matter (through government), instead blaming some evil non-descript entity (the people who "control" it and make "profit"). The people you rail against didn't decide the "profit" wasn't enough, there probably wasn't any profit in it at all at a price point people were willing to pay (if they were willing at all to ingest a sensor). Which implies that the only way to make it available to people is to subsidize it collectively, or give it away through charity, so why didn't we make it available for people?
  - jelliclesfarm 4y ago
    I wasn’t ‘railing’ against anyone. I understand profit. Please reconsider your comment if you would like me to engage in any meaningful exchange with you.

dnndev 4y ago

Any reasonably cost solution for a 80 year old with one functioning arm to take her meds in such a way that also prevents a 5 year old from getting to them? This is what we are up against. Currently, I have a reminder on my phone to give them to her and watch her take them, but it’s not sustainable long term. Ideally the solutions is something that enables her to take the meds on her own.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
Put them in a locked firesafe in an accessible medicine dispenser. Put the key to the firesafe on a chain around grandma's neck.
- dnndev 4y ago
  Thank you for the idea. If I could rely on her to remember to close the door to the safe and lock it every time it would be a good option.
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    You can't call her and walk her through the steps or something? Put only one dose at a time in the firesafe so if it's left open, it's empty and no one cares?
    - herdrick 4y ago
      Could one of these help? https://www.google.com/search?q=locked+home+safe+that+can+be+monitored+over+the+internet https://www.google.com/search?q=locked+home+safe+that+can+be...
  - useless_foghorn 4y ago
    you could get a freezer door alarm similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/FRIDGGI-Fridge-Alarm-Seconds-white-pack1/dp/B0813GNDB8?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/FRIDGGI-Fridge-Alarm-Seconds-white-pa...
- david422 4y ago
  You can also buy RFID safes and RFID rings. That way you open the safe with the ring.
cc-d 4y ago
orangepurple 4y ago
Spice rack full of med bottles surrounded by a clamp that activates on a lever allowing the cap to be twisted without second hand present
xyzzy123 4y ago
Keep them out of easy reach but don't go to crazy lengths. If you can, talk to your 5 year old. Ideally, involve them in the process of making sure grandma takes the medicine. Kids can be very responsible when they understand something is important, and why. Of course every kid/situation is different and needs to be met where things are at (and not where you wish it would be), but I think it's worth trying if you have bandwidth. They may surprise you. When you think about it, most 5 year olds have ready access to very dangerous things; they can turn on the oven, toast things (not necessarily food), they often have access to sharp knives with a minimum of effort, etc. What keeps them safe is their understanding of the risks of those things. The real problem with grandma's pills is that the risk of them is not "accessible" to a child in the way those other things are.
saltcured 4y ago
If concerned about unsafe access to medications, I think putting them in a locked cabinet or room is the best solution rather than thinking that something like a bottle cap is going to control access. Unfortunately, many elderly also suffer cognitive declines which make it risky for them to manage their own medications, even if they are physically capable of the task. Missed doses or accidental double-dosing can potentially lead to other health problems, exacerbating their cognitive struggles and increasing the risk of dosing mistakes. In the long run, I think that a family providing such support should consider adopting some of the best practices of care staff who do medication management for clients. You want a physical log sheet that is formatted like a 2D matrix with recurring doses as row labels and dates written as column labels. The rows should also be sorted and grouped chronologically, i.e. the first row is the first dose to take after waking and it is ordered through to the last dose to take before bed. You typically also want to leave blank space after each dosing period so you can potentially write in new medications when there are changes ordered during the tracking period. You also want to keep a digital copy of the form that you can easily revise and print again as the forms are filled to completion. The responsible party measures out the doses and marks/initials the cells of the grid for the individual dose and date being administered. In a professional setting, they might mark once for preparing the doses and once again after witnessing that they were consumed. The active log sheet is kept in the same storage area as the medications, readily accessible to the ones administering them. If there are multiple people taking medications, a separate series of sheets is used for each person. In a professional setting, this supports audit. But in any setting, it also provides a simple process to help minimize dosing mistakes. There are no more questions like, "wait, did they already take this?" after a distraction has interrupted the normal, habitual process. This written formalism can also help you manage refills. Learn to think in terms of "N days' supply" to note on the grid when a bottle is opened, predict when it will be depleted, and mark down when it should be reordered.
jelliclesfarm 4y ago
https://mygita.com https://mygita.com how about something like a Gita Mini which is a follow bot? It is for paved outdoors as well as indoors. You can lock it from your phone and can follow the elderly person. I think there are might be some tweaks to make it suit your purpose. But it is worth looking into how it can help senior care as a follow bot. P.S: I did a ton of research for small farm robotics and met very interesting startup founders in the healthcare/robotics area on the way. If anyone wants to brainstorm or even simply chat about senior healthcare and robotics, please reach out. This is something that is very close to my heart and if I can help make connections even if I can’t help in any technical/material way, it would make me very glad.
- dnndev 4y ago
  Thanks for the idea! irony, I am a hardware/software eng working in the home health space... I am thinking of a keurig type device with a integrated finger print reader button. the dispenser only releases dosage if the biometrics match. I mentioned this idea to my wife and she said it will only make our five year old want them more... maybe we will make a kids version that releases gummies :).
  - jelliclesfarm 4y ago
    I like that idea and would work for adult snacks too! I think we already have a timed version for pet food in the market for portion sizes.

madrox 4y ago

My mother’s retired life is consumed by doing everything she can to stay independent for as long as possible. Ubers are nice, but she’s hoping self driving cars become truly possible before she has to give up her license. That’ll be a huge blow to her when the day comes. However, other tech has really prolonged things. Fall detection, maps, hearing aids, and everything else has really allowed her to live a life relatively unchanged from when she was younger.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
I'm for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. It would help if there was more such infrastructure in the US. I'm not a fan of self driving cars as the solution to this problem space.
- schuke 4y ago
  This only works if you live somewhere with a mild climate. Most places of the world it seems won't fall into this category. Summer and winter are hard. With cars where you get to set a temperature before going out, it's not just convenient, it can well be vital for seniors. Not to mention when there's rain, snow or wind. I'm all for cars. They just need to be more efficient. And it's achievable.
  - johnnymorgan 4y ago
    Great post, in our city for a few years they stopped clearing side walks in the winter (dumb mayor, he didn't last). I carried an old lady with a walker stuck in the middle of the road. It was brutal on them even with the plowing, without zero ability to move around.
    - human_person 4y ago
      I think that speaks more to environmental hostility due to social/governmental choices. The woman lost her mobility because the mayor didn’t clear the side walks. Not because of winter. If if we designed public transportation so it was convenient and usable by everyone older people would have more options in all weather. If we had consistent (24/7), frequent, high coverage public transportation that was subsidized at the same rate as car infrastructure, everyone would use it. If it was faster than driving in traffic rich people would use it and support it as well. We choose to build a society that only works for a tiny segment and makes all of our own lives more difficult (and eventually impossible).

jelliclesfarm 4y ago

There was a company that came up with smart pill tech that had ingestible sensor that would send a text to the medical provider. It went bankrupt. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/from-billions-to-bankruptcy-proteus-digital-health-fell-short-its-promise-here-s-what-other https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/from-billions-to-bankr... We have all the technology in the world to make humanity live better. But the people who control it get to decide if it’s profitable enough. But really, the solution is more research into anti-ageing science. Not how to maintain the ill and the aged until they die. I encourage all young people in geriatric healthcare to wear ageing simulation suits to understand the problem first hand to come up with better solutions. It’s less than 3k and can also be rented.

zo1 4y ago
This ignores our role in the matter (through government), instead blaming some evil non-descript entity (the people who "control" it and make "profit"). The people you rail against didn't decide the "profit" wasn't enough, there probably wasn't any profit in it at all at a price point people were willing to pay (if they were willing at all to ingest a sensor). Which implies that the only way to make it available to people is to subsidize it collectively, or give it away through charity, so why didn't we make it available for people?
- jelliclesfarm 4y ago
  I wasn’t ‘railing’ against anyone. I understand profit. Please reconsider your comment if you would like me to engage in any meaningful exchange with you.