AT&T Will Keep Your Grandma Out of the Nursing Home

3 At a recent trade show, AT&T announced its digital options to allow caregivers to monitor their elderly relatives. Digital Life Care is designed for children who want to keep an eye on their elderly parents without moving in with them or sending them to an assisted living or skilled nursing facility. While it is not designed to physically take care of them, it will let caregivers know whether or not elderly parents are doing tasks needed to take care of themselves, such as taking their medicine, getting out of bed, leaving the water running, etc.

Hmmm......what do you think about digitalizing Grandma and Grandpa??? I guess robots are next???

No technology beats a personal touch.........



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Wow. I see the capabilities of this technology, but Grandma and Grandpa deserve privacy as well as safety, and I for one would be FURIOUS if my kids wanted to install this system in my house to monitor me. Nobody wants to go to assisted living or a nursing home, but if their condition is such that these measures are necessary, it's time to consider the move. JMHO.

I don't know.....living far away it could bring peace of mind. I know before my Dad died and even after if we couldn't get a hold of them we panicked. It would be a comfort to look to see that they aren't lying dead on the floor.One recent time...my sister was on vacation with my BIL in Alaska. Mom didn't answer the phone. WE called and called....I finally called the police...she was sleeping in the chair and didn't hear the phone although she heard the door being broken into....LOLLike anything else...if used without malice and properly it could be a good device

I don't know .... this could be a sneaky way to stalk someone. What an invasion of privacy!!! Where is AARP or the ACLU on this issue'Big brother is watching !!!Scarey to me!

No, a crafty hacker can use this opportunity to stalk my parents and rob them. NO.I don't like those away from home security systems either. Just seems flimsy.

The idea is not bad but I think it's creepy... I see too many potentials for abuse of this kind of technology. I am interested to know more about how it works and what kinds of things are in place to protect grandma/grandpas privacy.

What if Grampa decided to take some Viagra and get frisky with Grandma?

Quote from EmergentWhat if Grampa decided to take some Viagra and get frisky with Grandma?

Quote from richardgeckoNo, a crafty hacker can use this opportunity to stalk my parents and rob them. NO.I don't like those away from home security systems either. Just seems flimsy.

When grandma's condition has deteriorated to the point where she requires surveillance, she requires assistance.It's a bandaid. It might provide several more months of independence, but the trade off is privacy.I think I'd rather be private in an assisted living facility, than independent in my home, with cameras recording every time I .....

Sorry but no, this is not for me. If I am so worried about Mom that I feel the need for 24 hour surveillance I will feel no guilt about placing her somewhere safe. I couldn't imagine anybody outside of a reality TV show being comfortable with the thought of somebody watching them all the time, even [or maybe especially] if it is family and for supposed safety concerns.

Cheaper than a caregiver, apparently...

As a member of AARP, I receive a monthly publication and there was one last year that discussed this very topic. My 89 year old mother lives alone and has the "First Response" alarm system if she falls etc, so that medical care is readily available. She is totally mentally with it and able to take care of herself for now. The family the AARP article discussed was one in which both parents had some chronic illness that had impaired them. The adult child lived a great distance from the parents and used the technology so that medications were being monitored, meal preparation was being monitored, the home health aide checked in. We have to realize a few things here. One is that not everyone has the funds to turn over to a nursing home for life care, adult children are not always able to care for their aging parents, and those who are not able to care for themselves need extra care or monitoring. Believe it or not there are some areas of our country where care services are not available. I would be skeptical about the invasion of my mother's privacy, I would be appreciative that there was some way of monitoring her. Like most of technology there are good and bad aspects. One interesting question should be how this would affect the LTC facilities?