Smart Homes for Seniors: The Systems that Make the Home Complete

For the healthy and young at heart, living alone isn’t a problem at all because they can perform all their tasks without the need for assistance. But for the elderly that cannot react when accidents happen, it becomes a huge issue. With everyone being busy, a family member might not be able to assist right away in case of an accident.

This brings fear, not only to the seniors but to the people who care about them such as their kids, friends or family members. They are looking for ways for the elderly to live safely and alone.

This is where emergency response and notification systems in the home come into focus for the elderly. Smart home technology brings a lot of solutions for the elderly to use. Let us look at the popular technologies that you can use to make the home ideal for your senior.

1. Smart Home Assistant

Many of the senior citizens prefer to speak out their needs than use buttons and tabs. Smart home assistants take control of the devices in the home. The smart assistant tracks the state of the devices in the home so that the person living in the home doesn’t have to do it manually.

The home assistant is a software that integrates with all the devices and allows you to control every device from a mobile-friendly interface.

2. Bedroom Sensor

You can install a sensor in the bedroom to monitor waking up and sleeping pattern of the older adult. You can set up the system so that it records the time the person is supposed to wake up each morning. If the sensor doesn’t detect any motion at that time, it notifies you, and you check on him or her.

3. Door Sensors

You also need to know how active the person is during the day. Sensors in the living room and the door can work together to understand how fast the senior is moving during the day. When it detects that the person is taking longer than usual to move, then maybe there is something wrong, and it sends you an alert.

4. Communication Services

More systems exist too, for instance, some communication systems allow the smart devices in the home to communicate with each other. For instance, if the senior falls in the bathroom, the senior can shout for help, and the nearest sensor receives this message, sends it to the voice assistant and then the voice assistant can make a call to the nurse or any family member.

However, you need to have a person that will respond immediately when the call is made. Some nursing assistants ignore the calls completely, which can be regarded as neglect. When this happens, you can talk to nursing neglect attorneys to help you file a negligence lawsuit.

This technology helps protect the elderly in the home. The voice assistant can send the alert via a mobile app that tells you when something unusual happens. This means you can monitor everything in the home remotely.

5. Smart Doorbells
Living alone in the home comes with its risks. Safety needs to come first when setting up the smart home. Safety continues to be a major concern for older men living alone. To make this safe, make sure you install a video doorbell that allows the homeowner to hear, see and speak to the person at the door without the need to open it.

Final Thoughts
A smart home for seniors needs to have sensors that monitor everything from activity to the time the senior wakes up. This makes sure the person is safe, and nothing unusual happens.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes