A little over 30 years ago, the so-called “red button” was invented to help thousands of older adults in emergency, loneliness or isolation situations. It also helped the loved ones of these people feel more calm and at peace knowing that they were more protected. Now in Spain, more than 850,000 people over the age of eighty live alone.
Telecare has played a very important role when it comes to helping the elderly, who, due to their age, can no longer do the same as before. Telecare presents security, autonomy and peace of mind for #seniors and now technology has advanced to be able to help people who have vision, hearing and mobility difficulties. And it is important to recognize that this service would not be as effective without the great support of the entire human team.
On the other hand, telecare as it has been known until now has to change. Technology keeps advancing and this service needs to move from a reactive system to a proactive system to help people in a much more efficient way. And of course, the human touch has to continue to exist, since this makes older adults feel more protected and confident.
In the last four or five years, many companies have made relevant advances in telemedicine, integrating it with telecare and biometrics (with bracelets that detect and monitor the health status of the elderly, sending the data to the corresponding health center).
Now there is a new type of telecare called "4th generation telecare" where great changes and benefits will be observed. This type of telecare is based on big data, sensors, biometrics and artificial intelligence. Advanced telecare will mean a substantial change in the service, since it will go from reacting to emergency situations, but also to predict possible risks to allow early action.
Some of the benefits of this technology are:
It will help seniors feel more comfortable and safe at home.
It will improve the quality of life through communication and socialization: artificial intelligence allows expanding capabilities to find a partner or friends according to affinities, tastes or preferences.
It will reduce the cost of operations, therefore they can focus more on improving care and protection.By "monitoring" people, telecare would be connected with telemedicine, where many processes such as medical appointments will be automated. As well as "digital pills" and medication reminders.
It will allow proactive and predictive care. The idea is to not "depend" on the senior pressing a button.
Finally, what does Roble have to do in all of this?
Roble encourages its users to follow a healthy lifestyle, with proposals for cognitive, physical and emotional activities so that they can feel autonomy and independence in their day to day. On the other hand, through online and offline events we can promote socialization. This leads seniors to feel more cared for and happy when they see that they have meaningful relationships.
Finally, the data we collect can be a support for telecare companies. This would be done through an alarm system where we can prevent situations of loneliness or health declines. By doing this, telecare companies would not only have access to an important data network, but an additional channel of effective communication with their users and family members.
In conclusion, this type of technology will make possible a much more personalized attention and will not only help the people who use the service, but also their loved ones can have more tranquility and peace knowing that they have better care.