5 WAYS TECHNOLOGY HELPS FAMILY CAREGIVERS

5 WAYS TECHNOLOGY HELPS FAMILY CAREGIVERS

Family caregivers are people who provide support to people with underlying physical or mental challenges. These people are usually relatives, neighbors or friends and they are not paid for their services.

Caregiving is not an easy role to play and studies have shown that it takes its toll on the people and caregivers experience negative psychological effects, especially those that take care of people that have dementia. Many times, people giving care forget to take care of themselves or get so busy that they do not have time to themselves or to engage in activities they liked before they took on the responsibility of being a caregiver.

Thankfully, there are technological advancements that help improve the lives of caregivers and here are a few ways how.

1. Connection to other caregivers.

Through technology, caregivers can connect with other people doing the same work and share experiences and support on how they are able to deal with different challenges connected to their work.

2. Finding lost family members

Through the use of GPS locators attached to mobile devices or even the clothing of elders of people in their charge, caregivers can help locate patients who might wander off and get lost or disoriented even in places they once were familiar with. This could mean the difference between a serious accident and injury.

Jane Byrne from FirstCare.ie points out that dementia is now the biggest killer of women in many western societies. Therefore, it is imperative that we find some solutions to some of the dilemmas is causes us in the healthcare sector.

3. Monitoring

Caregivers can monitor the people in their charge when they are not with them physically through cameras or sensors in case cameras feel too intrusive. There are more and more cases of the elderly getting abused by nurses or caregivers mentally, physically and even sexually. With cameras installed, they can be monitored better. Sensors can send notifications to caretakers to let them know if there is more than usual or less activity in the houses of their patients.

4. Applications

There are different medical applications these days that can help caretakers set reminders to alert people to take their medications or give notifications when a senior has not taken their medicine. There are also pill bottles developed by companies that alert patients on when they should take their meds. There are also apps that monitor the heart rate of patients and the information they store can be shared

with their doctors. This way, the people can even be taken care of remotely and allows the caretaker to take some time off to attend to other matters.

5. Digital music player.

This device can be helpful to both the caregiver and the person in their charge. They can listen to the music they like or audio books and this can help them relax. Also, studies have shown that the part of the brain that stores long term memories and favorite music is the last to be affected by the effects of Alzheimer’s. Hearing music they love can help comfort people with the condition as they can connect with memories of stuff they once loved.

Even if technological can’t solve all the challenges that caretakers face, they can help ease the load by simplifying a few things and also helping them free up some time to spend by themselves and sometimes that is enough to help someone regain balance and be better at their job.

This article was provided by Holly Clark of Firstcare.ie and is good information for our readers. 

As always A Caring Hand for Mom (and dad) tries to provide you with information that is helpful for your everyday lives.  We

provide assistance to families looking for senior living options including assisted living options and memorycare throught

Arizona and the surrounding southwestern states.