Computerized caregivers may help seniors

By Bob Moosthe / Dallas Morning News | Thursday, November 6, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Lifestyle

DALLAS - Someday soon, frail older adults may not need to move into nursing homes because they’ll have technological wonders to keep an eye on them.
Like smart pets that don’t require feeding, robots will scoot from room to room to wake homeowners in the morning, remind them to eat and send for help if someone falls.
Sensors embedded throughout seniors’ homes will detect when the residents have sleepless nights or forget to take their medication. Web-based computer software will notify caregivers.
“This is the future of aging,” said Fillia Makedon, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. “Technology will let people grow old at home.”
With support from the National Science Foundation and others, Makedon has created the Heracleia Human-Centered Computing Laboratory at UTA, where she, other faculty members and their students are designing technology that will allow tomorrow’s seniors to remain independent longer than previous generations.
The research facility, and a handful of similar labs nationwide, will be the springboard for what experts predict will be an exploding assistive technology industry within a decade.
The UTA lab houses a make-believe one-bedroom apartment equipped with high-tech cameras, motion sensors and robots, and is surrounded by computers.
Professors and students measure movement within the furnished apartment and feed the data into computers that will alert them to measurements outside a normal range.
Once the technology is perfected, caregivers will be able to sign on to a secure Web site and check how well a senior is recovering from surgery or responding to a new prescription, Makedon said.
“The goal is to create a safer environment without unnecessarily invading someone’s privacy,” Makedon said. “Caregivers will turn on the cameras only if they suspect something is wrong.”
Many experts hope assistive technology will help ease the strain the aging population will place on the nation’s long-term care system.
There aren’t enough trained caregivers or facilities to accommodate the expected doubling of older adults in the next 25 years, said Mary Jane Koren, an assistant vice president at the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that studies health-care issues.
And Medicaid, the federal-state program that pays for most long-term care after people deplete their personal resources, won’t be able to cover boomers’ costs without some form of relief, she said.
Fears that seniors will be wary of such technology are unfounded, experts say. The AARP Foundation has found that nine of 10 older adults will agree to remote monitoring if it keeps them independent.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/lifestyle/view.bg?articleid=1130300

PURPOSE OF THE HCBS WAIVER PROGRAM

The Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver program is authorized in §1915(c) of the Social Security Act. The program permits a State to furnish an array of home and community-based
services that assist Medicaid beneficiaries to live in the community and avoid institutionalization. The State has broad discretion to design its waiver program to address the needs of the waiver’s target population. Waiver services complement and/or supplement the services that are available to participants through the Medicaid State plan and other federal, state and local public programs as well as the supports that families and communities provide.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recognizes that the design and operational features of a waiver program will vary depending on the specific needs of the target population, the resources available to the State, service delivery system structure, State goals and objectives, and other factors. A State has the latitude to design a waiver program that is cost-effective and employs a variety of service delivery approaches, including participant direction of services.

The waiver application is based on the HCBS Quality Framework. The Framework focuses on seven broad, participant-centered desired outcomes for the delivery of waiver services, including assuring participant health and welfare:
• Participant Access: Individuals have access to home and community-based services and supports in their communities.
• Participant-Centered Service Planning and Delivery: Services and supports are planned and effectively implemented in accordance with each participant’s unique needs, expressed preferences and decisions concerning his/her life in the community.
• Provider Capacity and Capabilities: There are sufficient HCBS providers and they possess and demonstrate the capability to effectively serve participants.
• Participant Safeguards: Participants are safe and secure in their homes and communities, taking into account their informed and expressed choices.
• Participant Rights and Responsibilities: Participants receive support to exercise their rights and in accepting personal responsibilities.
• Participant Outcomes and Satisfaction: Participants are satisfied with their services and achieve desired outcomes.
• System Performance: The system supports participants efficiently and effectively and constantly strives to improve quality.

For More Information Regarding the HCBS Waiver please see:
http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/aging/documents/pub/dhs16_143051.pdf

The Minnesota Senior Federation (MnSF) is a statewide alliance of mature Minnesotans committed to enhancing the quality of their lives enterprising, members help members to be their own best advocates regarding concerns which are — or should be — of particular importance to an increasingly wide age group, including access to prescription drugs, affordable housing, Medicare reform and changes to Social Security.

Check out there webpage at:http://mnseniors.org/content/section/1/78/

Join the E-News Letter Mailing List at:http://mnseniors.org/index.php?option=com_mosforms&mosform=11

Lawmakers look at sex offenders in nursing homes
Updated 7/24/2008 11:29 PM l | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |

By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
Ray McDaniel’s 18-year-old daughter was raped 10 days after moving into a nursing home — by a registered sex offender who also lived there.
No one was required to tell McDaniel that the 43-year-old sex offender was a resident of the nursing home where his daughter was admitted in 2005 because she is mentally retarded and has schizophrenia. The resident who attacked her pleaded guilty and is serving three years in prison.
His daughter’s case led to an Ohio legislative proposal to require nursing homes to post notices if sex offenders live there. The bill has been adopted by the Ohio House and awaits a Senate hearing.
Every state, McDaniel says, should require facilities to “tell people if there is a sex offender in this nursing home.”
Ohio is one of several places reviewing notification procedures for sex offenders living in long-term care facilities. The issue is drawing attention as overall nursing home populations drop and some facilities see an influx of residents with mental illnesses, says Beverley Laubert, president of the National Association of State Long Term Care Ombudsman Programs, which help protect patient rights. While the majority of nursing home residents are older than 65, it’s not unusual for younger people with medical problems to live in long-term care.