The Digital Caregiver

Being “Wired” Never Felt So Reassuring

By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor

One of the most obvious ways advances in digital technology are changing caregiving is in the use of smartphones. And Caring.com user data shows that half of all caregivers own an iPhone and use it for research and connectivity.

Caregivers aren’t just posting pictures of their dogs and kids, though — they’re using the Web, smartphone apps, and other digital services to help them with the often overwhelming tasks of caregiving. And they need that help — in a recent study, a whopping 88 percent of boomer caregivers reported that caregiving had turned out to be much harder than they expected. In a study titled Retirement Care Planning: The Middle-Income Boomer Perspective, 57 percent of the approximately 500 boomers surveyed said caregiving took more emotional strength and 52 percent said it took more time than they’d expected. Caregiving, they said, was also costing them more financially and causing more stress on their health and relationships than they’d anticipated.

Monitoring remotely is getting easier than ever.

Change has also come to the more established area of home monitoring. “New sensor technologies and great design are bringing new capabilities and sensibilities to the markets of home monitoring and Personal Emergency Response devices,” says Fike. GrandCare, a longterm player in the field, now takes advantage of digital innovations to provide a sophisticated interactive interface in addition to more traditional features such as activity monitoring, alerts, and mediation management. Caregivers and their loved ones can use GrandCare’s multimedia communication interface to share photos, chat via video, and even play games in addition to more traditional home care monitoring.

Read the full article at http://www.caring.com/articles/the-digital-caregiver