Medication Reminders

As you're aware forgetting to take medicine or taking the wrong medicine isn't just an "oopsie" for an aging parent. It could be life or death.

But as a parent ages, they may develop memory challenges that make it difficult to remember if and when they took their meds.

Many aging parents set alarms of their cell phones these days. It's fairly easy to set up multiple medication reminders even if they don't have a smartphone.

This is a stop-gap measure. But there are more effective solutions.

Technology today helps solve this problem. You can find units on the market to use noise and flashing light to remind aging parents that it's time to take pills.

More advanced devices can even administer the appropriate pills several times a day. You or a trained, paid caregiver can simply load up the machine every 1-4 weeks depending on how many pills your parent takes a day.

Sensors

You may not yet be ready to set up Big Brother-style cameras in the home, which may impact aging parents sense of privacy. But you can get sensors that will detect what's going on in the home.

You can set these up in many ways to let you know, for example, if your parent hasn't left a certain room for many hours. Or if the refrigerator hasn't been opened that day, it may be a concern.

Today's sensors use advanced machine learning technology to detect abnormalities in behavior that you need to know about as a caring son or daughter.

Video Cameras

You might also decide to put cameras up in the home. There are several levels to this.

You can set up security style cameras throughout the home. These would allow you to periodically see your loved one on your smartphone or other device. You could have peace of mind that everything is okay.

Relatively quickly, you would know if something wasn't. Unless you plan to watch 24/7, security cameras alone aren't a reliable solution. But you can use them with sensors or other alerts that notify you that you need to check the situation out.

If you don't want to go all-out with 24-hour surveillance, you should still make it easy to communicate with your aging parents via video chat.

Set us a Facetime or Skype account for your loved one. Show them how easy it is to use it when they need face-to-face in between visits.

If you live out of town, you likely can't visit as much as you'd like. Schedule weekly video dates to share a meal, chat and checkin.

Advanced Hearing Aids

Around 28 million aging parents would benefit from a hearing aid. But only around 30% actually wear them.

The most commonly cited reasons are they make them "feel old" or "embarrassed".

This is a major safety concern. Untreated hearing loss has been strongly linked to increased fall risk, depression, anxiety, and dementia. That includes Alzheimer's.

On top of this, an inability to hear could lead to safety concerns like not hearing:

• An intruder
• A spouse who has fallen
• An alarm
• Traffic and traffic signals when walking

Have a caring conversation with your loved one about wearing their hearing aid.

Today's hearing aids have advanced features that improve hearing in many settings. You can even use Bluetooth to connect them with Smartphones and SmartTVs.

Alert Pendants

Every 11 seconds an elderly parent has a fall that's bad enough to land them in the ER. Falls cost families, insurance and Medicare over $30 billion a year.

The stories of an elderly parent falling and not being found for days are not uncommon. Chances are that this has happened to someone in your family before.

Aging parents can be immobilized and in pain on the floor without access to food, water or their cell phone.

Older alert pendants only worked while your loved one was in or around the home. But modern alert pendants can give your loved one access to help no matter where they are.

They can feel free to live an active senior lifestyle, going out with friends, walking the dog and continuing to do the things they love.

There are no numbers to dial. There's no waiting on the line. They won't talk to a machine.

They can just press a button and a compassionate, experienced human will answer. They'll ask questions and assess the situation. They will then contact the necessary emergency services and stay on the line while help arrives.

These pendants may also come with advanced features that can detect a fall. In these cases, someone will immediately check on your loved one even if they didn't push the button.

Your aging parents never have to feel beyond help with these advanced technologies.