The Best Health Tech Gadgets to Support Ageing in Place

Did you know that the vast majority of older people would rather stay in their own homes as they grow older? In fact, a 2023 survey of over-75s found that 96% of them would prefer living in their own homes over moving to a relative’s home or a care home.

Yet this isn’t always possible, and health challenges are one major reason why. For example, the effects of ageing and long-term health conditions can make a senior more prone to falls, which can have dangerous consequences. In any kind of crisis, it can be a real problem if an older person is living alone with no-one around to assist. Family and friends may justifiably worry that an elderly person isn’t safe living on their own.

However, in our modern era, tech gadgets can help with many of these problems. As in many situations related to elderly care, it’s all about risk. You can never remove some risks completely, but a taking lot of little steps to decrease risk can add up to a big difference in safety. Likewise, a combination of several tech gadgets can provide enough protection that an older person feels safe living alone.

What kinds of gadgets can help protect an older person who’s ageing in place? In this article, we’ll define what exactly ageing in place means, then list some health tech gadgets that can have a big impact on an older person’s wellbeing while living alone.

What is ageing in place?

Traditionally, a move to a care home was considered to be an ordinary and even inevitable part of ageing. Experts often thought about elderly care in terms of what services care homes could provide.

Today, the ‘ageing in place’ philosophy aims to shake up that worldview. Ageing in place simply means staying in your own home as you age. It’s related to the idea that older people should be helped to do this as much as possible.

That’s exactly where tech comes in. Ageing in place can be supported by gadgets like…

Smart pill dispensers

For years, pill organisers and dosette boxes have been handy low-tech tools that help older people keep track of their medication and take it at the right time.

Now, those tools have had a smart upgrade. Smart pill dispensers can be programmed to dispense medication at a particular time. When it’s time for the medication to be taken, they might make an alarm sound, flash or send a message to someone’s phone.

As you can imagine, these devices are super helpful when no-one else is around in the home to remind an elderly person to take their medication.

Home monitoring systems

When an older person becomes frailer and more vulnerable, they’ll naturally be more concerned about home security. That’s even more the case if they’re living alone.

A home monitoring system provides the safety of a standard burglar alarm system plus other features as needed. Many home monitoring systems these days are modular, so you can add in components like sensors that detect movements at windows or an indoor camera. So, whether you’re protecting a small flat or a large house, you can design a system that works for you.

Plus, some systems allow you to set it up so that friends and relatives can watch the camera feed. This provides peace of mind for families, as they can take a glance at any time and be reassured that their older loved one is doing well.

Hearing aids

Many people begin to experience hearing loss later in life. Often, they may feel it’s not worth the trouble to get hearing aids, or they may feel discouraged from using the hearing aids for various reasons.

Living alone can increase a person’s inclination not to wear hearing aids. After all, there’s no-one to speak to, right?

Actually, hearing aids are far more important than you might think. They’re necessary for safety purposes, like hearing fire alarms. And they also help stave off dementia.

It is well accepted in the medical community that untreated hearing loss increases an older person’s risk of dementia. Moreover, the NHS, the Alzheimer’s Society and scientific studies all agree that treating hearing loss with hearing aids lowers the risk.

Additionally, when an elderly person develops age-related hearing loss, they can become isolated from their friends and family – which also increases the risk of dementia.

Long story short – an older person whose hearing has worsened with age should get hearing aids if needed and ensure they are working. That could help keep them safe and protect them from dementia so they can continue living independently.

Blood pressure monitors

Most people know that blood pressure is related to heart health and the risk of dangerous health events like heart attacks and strokes. But that isn’t the only reason high blood pressure can be so risky. Another reason is that high blood pressure often has no symptoms at all. An older person could be at serious risk of a crisis health event and not even know it.

A blood pressure cuff or home blood pressure monitor ensures that an elderly person living alone is aware of their blood pressure, so they know to take action if it’s in the danger zone. This device could decrease an older person’s chances of experiencing a completely unexpected heart attack or stroke while they’re at home alone.

Voice-activated smart assistants

What can’t smart assistants do? These super-handy devices are useful at every moment of the day, from waking you up in the morning to playing music while you drift off to sleep.

For an older person living independently, some other features can be particularly helpful. Appointment reminders can ensure that an older person gets to the doctor, for example, if they live alone with no-one else to remind them. Similar reminders can help an older person keep track of household tasks like grocery shopping. Also, a smart assistant can turn lights on and off by voice alone, which can mean an older person doesn’t have to stumble around in the dark to get to a light switch.

Personal alarms

A personal alarm for the elderly is an absolute must-have for any elderly person who might be alone at home for any length of time.

What personal alarms look like can vary considerably depending on the wearer’s preferences. At SureSafe, we provide elderly personal alarms in the form of a talking pendant and a wrist alarm that resembles a smartwatch. Either way, they are shower-proof, so older people can benefit from their protection all the time.

This type of device offers protection in the case of falls or other emergencies, health or otherwise. A major problem for older people who fall or become suddenly ill is that they may not be able to reach a phone exactly when they need it most. If they can’t raise an alarm about their emergency, it could be hours or even days before anyone else realises something is wrong. That delay can significantly worsen health crises of many kinds. For example, it can become a ‘long lie,’ a period of one hour or more lying on the floor, which is known to have serious health consequences.

What’s more, our alarms at SureSafe offer several functions to protect older people living alone. There’s automatic fall detection, which is designed to sense falls and call for help automatically, without the wearer’s input. They also have a one-touch SOS button that just requires the wearer to press and briefly hold a button to call for help. That’s great for other kinds of health emergencies or just in case automatic fall detection doesn’t trigger. Some of our alarms offer GPS tracking, too, which can ease family members’ worries if they call the older person’s house and get no response.

Additionally, our devices give consumers the option to have their alarm call relatives’ phones or a response centre. So, if a son or daughter is just down the street, you can choose a “family monitored” option. If friends and relatives are a little farther away, you might want to choose an alarm that calls a 24/7 response centre.

How SureSafe can help

SureSafe has been providing personal alarms to the UK since 2013. Our high Trustpilot rating and our other customer reviews speak to the quality, convenience and intuitiveness of our products.

If you’d like to chat with a member of our expert team about what type of alarm might be right for you, simply give us a call on 0808 189 1671, speak to us through live chat or request a call back.