Today’s seniors live longer, remain active, and have a strong desire for independence. The vast majority prefer to age-in-place as opposed to making any change, and there are many advantages to this arrangement. In addition to being less expensive, seniors who remain at home retain their freedom and dignity. It enables them to remain in contact with friends, neighbors, and family members and improves their quality of life.
Moreover, studies have shown that elderly people suffering from an illness or injury recover much more quickly at home than in a nursing facility. With today’s technology, home care is made easier and more reliable than ever. Tech such as Independa™ can support caregivers by assisting them in making remote care monitoring more convenient and affordable.
San Diego-based Independa researched where technology could be applied to create a compelling but unobtrusive remote care platform. It had to be simple for seniors to use, yet provide the opportunity for caregivers to create, manage and monitor a care program to suite the needs of a loved one. They found that incorporating remote care services within the TV provided the platform seniors could use without training or learning a new device.
The caregivers use a powerful web and/or mobile application to create and manage the program from wherever they may be. The company partnered with LG to offer the cloud-based software interface through LG brand TVs. The TV interface enables video chat, photo sharing, and messaging. In addition, reminders can be set up for medication administration, doctor’s appointments, or social events. It allows check-ins to be customized for daily living and wellness-encouraging activities.
Some seniors need to use in-home biometric monitoring devices for diseases like diabetes, COPD or cardiac conditions.These devices can be integrated into the care program by allowing the metrics and measures to be shared with the caregiver web or mobile application. The information gathered is accessible through the caregiver dashboard, and alerts can be set which allow caregivers to be notified of any deviations from the norm or unusual readings—or even if the reading wasn’t taken on schedule.
Independa™ includes a Life Stories module that allows the aging family member to record a conversation about their life and create a rich oral history of their experiences and memories with the whole family for generations to come. The system includes preset topics to help spark a conversation or users can create their own. The Caregiver Dashboard provides a centralized view of all features and is accessible via a web or mobile application. Both are designed for use by family and friends as well as professional caregivers.
It allows caregivers to:
- View a Wellness Summary
- Set alerts
- Schedule reminders
- Send photos and messages through Facebook
- Video chat using Skype
- Receive Alerts
- Edit profile and contacts
Independa™ is the perfect solution for seniors, as the IndependaTV™ costs no more than a regular smart TV yet offers a wide range of services to enrich the life of your aging loved ones. The Independa AnyTV Companion™ is another option, a candy bar- sized attachment for HDMI-enabled TVs.
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About Independa
Independa believes that the elderly are vitally important to family members, their community, and our culture as a whole. That’s why we created Independa™, the world’s first and only TV-based technology with an embedded engagement platform designed for older adults.
Independa™ enables stronger connections between caregivers and their elderly loved ones with a beautifully designed and user-friendly interface that allows you to monitor their health and wellbeing, coordinate appointments and events, and engage them with their families through video chat when you can’t be there.
Independa™ enables senior living communities and their staff to generate a higher occupancy ramp, reduce staff inefficiencies, and improve the quality of life and engagement for their residents.
