A decade ago, many people had no choice but to move to Assisted Living or, if they could afford it, to a Continuing Care Retirement Community, if they reached the stage at which they no longer felt comfortable with their age-impaired driving skills.
That has changed very rapidly. Now we have Uber, Lyft, and more to help with transportation. Companies like Honor Technology, Inc. can provide care services. Villages are evolving to help with other chores. No longer does one have to pay a huge entry fee and accept institutional oversight to be able to age safely and with dignity.
The Smartphone revolution, paired with high speed cellular data connectivity, has enabled rapid change. Voice recognition, pioneered by others, but brought to practicality by Amazon's Alexa program, is allowing the very elderly to participate in the connected society.
Ride sharing, i.e. Uber, Lyft, and yes, taxis, are part of what is called the sharing business. Unlike neighbor helping neighbor, sharing business pay participants and do not rely on volunteers. Efficiency for the delivery of needed services is dramatically improved through better matching of supply and demand. Read how this can improve your life and living, starting with Uber and Lyft.
A decade ago, adult children couldn't readily check by themselves on their parents to be sure they were okay. Just to be safe, they often moved their parents into Assisted Living environments before the full range of assistance was needed. That often led to depression and feelings of helplessness and uselessness among the elderly. Now a simple device like the Amazon Echo Show Drop In capability can fill that need.
You may want to equip your home to be technologically state of the art, but you don't know all the devices and services that are available. You also want to be sure that you will be able to remember how to use all the technology that gets installed ranging from Ring Doorbell security to Alexa control of your smart home. Smaart House is a firm of experts that can help give you the best and latest.
Many technological breakthroughs remain but a distant promise. At one time, for instance, Federal government action appeared likely to give us lifetime electronic health records tracking our health from cradle to grave. That hasn't happened, a testament to the futility of expecting government to be a cure all. In contrast, connectivity by phone and video has been a major success story. Facetime and Zoom are bringing connectivity to Millions. Check out the Virtual Senior Center.
