Liftseat
Jan 29

Council Hoping To Boost Use Of Assistive Tech By Elderly

Matthew

We all understand that as we get older we may need to make modifications to our homes to help us stay safe and live independent lives.

That might involve having things like easy access showers installed in our bathrooms, but now one council in the UK is running a scheme to try and get more elderly residents in its area to adopt assistive care technology.

Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council has received a £25,000 grant from the Local Government Association (LGA) to help it develop a project that it hopes will encourage more elderly people to make use of such devices.

Dave Tyrell, project manager, told UK Authority that it can be difficult to encourage people in this demographic to adopt new technology, which is why they’re going to work with a behavioural insights specialist to help drive take-up.

“I think people are sometimes put off because they think of technology as being complicated,” he explained.

Mr Tyrell added: “We want to look at what people understand about how it works, with the key words being ‘awareness’ and ‘training’.”

To help overcome any negative perception of the cost, the council will be offering people devices free of charge for a 12-week period, as well as providing them at no cost after they are discharged from hospital. The hope is that these devices will help people stay safe in their homes.

There are always new innovations happening where technology is concerned, and one of the latest comes in the form of an IllumiBowl light that can be attached to the rim of your toilet. Technabob noted that the light turns on and off using motion sensors, illuminating your toilet in the night and making it easy to navigate your bathroom.

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