Innovative Elder Care: How Home Automation Can Improve Your Care Efforts
Elder Care in Des Plaines IL
Taking advantage of technology is one of the most useful things you can do to improve your elder care efforts and make life easier for you and safer for your elderly loved ones. There are many different types of technology available for caregivers, from organizational apps you can use on your smartphone or tablet to GPS-enabled clothing items to make keeping track of seniors with wandering tendencies easier. Truly innovative elder care, however, is about finding technologies not necessarily designed with the caregiver in mind and utilizing them within your care efforts to improve the comfort, health, and safety of your seniors.
One of these forms of innovative elder care technology is home automation. Home automation systems allow you to program a variety of features throughout your home so they operate automatically or you can engage them remotely. This puts you in control of the home even when you are not actually in it, creating a safer, more secure environment for your elderly loved ones.
Some of the ways that home automation can improve your elder care efforts for your senior parents include:
• Always someone home. Older adults are often prime targets for home invasions and burglaries because of their vulnerability. Homes that appear empty are far more vulnerable to this type of invasion, which is why keeping up the appearance of someone being in the home and active at all times is important to protecting your elderly loved ones. Home automation systems allow you to automate features in the home such as the lights, television, and radio so that they turn on and off at set times throughout the day and even night. By setting the programming to irregular times, you can give a natural appearance of someone moving around in the home, making it less desirable as an invasion target
• Remote access locks. While rushing around trying to take care of all of your responsibilities during the day it is easy to forget to lock the door. Of course, this leaves the home and your elderly loved ones vulnerable. Many home automation systems allow you to access the locking mechanism of the front door remotely from your smartphone, tablet, or computer so you can lock the doors without having to go all the way back to the home. This is also useful in allowing you to unlock the doors to allow access to people such as your parents’ elderly health care services provider, the dog walker, a housekeeper, or even emergency personnel in an urgent situation
• Remote access cameras. You always want to be able to keep an eye on your loved ones, but sometimes you are not able to be in the home. Most home automation systems offer security cameras you can access through your smartphone, tablet, or computer so that you can check in on your elderly parents throughout the day. You can also place one outside of the home and set it to give you alerts if someone approaches so you can monitor who is at the door, communicate with them through the two-way audio feature, and allow or deny access without your parents having to be involved.
Get in touch with the elder care agency in your area to get recommendations for home automation and security companies in your area and to find out more ways you can use technology to support and improve your care efforts for your loved ones.
If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care services in Des Plaines, IL, contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786. Our home care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.
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