Always-On and Assisted Living

A recent Minneapolis Star-Tribune story illustrates what I call The World of Always On, and the enormous power of assistive technology based on wireless networking.

The headline most will see is a proposal to give tax credits for assistive technologies. In this it was carrying water for Ecumen, a non-profit in the business of building senior care centers that has lately focused on technology enabling lower costs and better care, specifically installing monitors from QuietCare in patient rooms.

HealthSense, which is based in Minnesota, also sells a sensor network called eNeighbor, essentially a movement sensor that monitors patients over a wireless network and alerts caregivers when patterns suddenly change.

The point I want to make is that this is really just the start of an ongoing technology revolution. Motion sensors are easy to do. But so are blood pressure monitors, sugar monitors, and medical screening programs, which can all operate in a wireless environment.

All this is absolutely essential when you have 77 million people aged 45-61, also known as Baby Boomers, aging like a pig in a python at the center of our demographic curve. There aren't enough workers to take care of us all as our parents were taken care of, and frankly I don't want such people around me as I age.

With Always On technologies, I don't need them.