The Home that Watches Over Your Parents
Thu, Jan 8 2015 - 5:15pm
Richard Caro, D.Phil., Scientist; Silicon Valley Entrepreneur
Mary Hulme, Gerontologist; Care Manager
Like many of us, the speakers (a scientist and a geriatric care manager) were concerned about elderly family members who spent a lot of time at home alone. What would happen if they fell and hurt themselves? Or if they started to become forgetful and accidentally left the stove on and started a fire?
Hearing of the new class of products that use sensors embedded around the house to keep a friendly eye on a person and report back only if something is wrong, Mary and Richard wanted to find out what products were available, which worked best, and for which life circumstances each was suitable. Many hours of research later, they found that there are lots of products in this new emerging category and that some are particularly suited for specific life situations.
In this talk, they'll share some of the insights they learned on their journey of discovery, and explain how to decide whether these emerging products might be suitable for someone you care about and how to pick the right one.
