AGING IN PLACE WITH GRACE AND INDEPENDENCE
Dr. Frank Knoefel knows Canadians want to age in place
The majority of Canadians want to age in place, meaning they prefer to live independently at home or in their community. But changes to mobility, cognition, and medical complexity can pose challenges for aging adults and their loved ones.
Dr. Frank Knoefel, Senior Investigator with the Bruyère Research Institute and Bruyère Chair in Research in Technology for Aging in Place, wants to make aging in place viable for as many Canadians as possible.
With a vision for the future of care, Dr. Knoefel co-founded the smart apartment lab at the Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital. It evolved into the SAM3 (Sensors and Analytics for Monitoring Mobility and Memory), an AGE-WELL National Innovation Hub, and has been a successful collaboration between health care researchers, engineers, and industry partners.
“When we think of smart home technology, we think of asking Google for the weather or asking Alexa to set an alarm to wake us up,” says Dr. Knoefel. “But what if it could be more than a convenience? What if it could be part of the system that helps older adults age in place and maintain independence?”
An aging population, a desire for independence
Staying at home often requires supports and services, especially for older adults living with dementia who may have increased need for assistance and care.
Help is needed in every room – the bathroom, to prevent slips and falls; the kitchen, for safety while cooking; and the bedroom, where sleep quality can tell us so much about our health.
Supportive smart home technology is meant to unobtrusively monitor activity, prompt healthy and safe behaviours, and alert caregivers of emergencies. Kitchen sensors can detect if a burner was left on. Pressure sensors in the bed and motion detection in the halls can automatically light up the path to the bathroom, or signal to caregivers if the front door has been opened in the middle of the night.
“I think about the day when we can prescribe a technology instead of a pill,” says Dr. Knoefel, who has now studied sensor technologies in homes, long-term care and retirement residences, and hospitals. “Not everybody has access to support staff, and the pressures on the health system are growing. We need scalable and affordable solutions.”
Comfort for caregivers
His vision is to extend the care provided by home care staff, empower older adults that want to age in place, and provide real-time safety information to care partners and health care providers that are a critical part of an older adult’s care and support circle.
Even in health care settings, it helps staff prioritize patients and residents who need immediate help, thanks to real-time alerts.
“It can be an enormous peace of mind for caregivers who worry about their loved ones getting injured, forgetting to eat, or wandering at night or outside into the cold,” says Dr. Knoefel. “It’s been rewarding to see in our research how frequently caregivers report how our application of smart home technology reduces their stress and improves their own health when they are able to rest easy.”