February 19, 2025 • 29 mins
What if the future of senior care lies in the seamless integration of technology and human compassion? Get ready to explore this fascinating intersection in our latest episode of the Senior Care Academy podcast. Aaron and I delve into the trends shaping senior care in 2024, as the industry recalibrates after the COVID-19 disruptions. We uncover the significant demand for senior care services despite the stagnant growth in caregiver numbers. Join us as we highlight insights from the Utah Symposium on Aging Care, which inspire fresh approaches to meet these challenges and underscore the government’s role in supporting aging in place through initiatives like the Older Americans Act.
The promise of technology holds immense potential for aging populations, and we are thrilled to share how it’s being embraced worldwide. From the heartwarming innovation of Paro, the therapeutic robotic seal, to the capable assistance of RoBear, the nurse robot, we spotlight the ingenious solutions transforming senior care. Japan’s pioneering efforts in addressing demographic challenges offer a model for others, especially the U.S., where home care expenditure is notable. Embracing technology isn't just an option; it's a necessity for enhancing the quality of life for seniors and their caregivers.
Beyond tech, we discuss the enriching concept of community integration, moving away from isolating seniors in facilities towards a vibrant intergenerational living model. This approach not only fosters a sense of purpose but also combats loneliness through diverse activities. We explore practical steps like adopting smart home technologies to support senior independence without the intimidation of full-time care. As we embark on this exciting series of industry insights and updates, we invite you to share your thoughts and suggestions for future topics. Let’s navigate the evolving landscape of senior care together.
On this episode, we touched on...
• The importance of returning to normalcy in senior care post-COVID
• The overwhelming preference for independent living among seniors
• The role of AI and technology in enhancing elder care
• Challenges to technology adoption in the senior demographic
• Global trends in aging populations and their implications
• Strategies to combat senior loneliness through community engagement
• Discussion on future housing solutions for seniors and support systems
Timestamp to help you navigate the podcast:
1:33 – Return to normalcy
2:50 – COVID had a good impact on the senior care industry
6:30 – AI trend for senior care
12:19 – Integrating AI to the industry
14:30 – Internet can help disconnected people to be connected
22:10 – Upskilling the workforce using AI
24:10 – NORC (natural occurring retirement community)
27:13 - Combating senior’s loneliness
27:50 – Find senior’s niche community
28:27 – You dont have to be the innovator, you have to be the integrator
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Senior Care Academy.
Today we're starting, actually,a new segment where we just
want to keep you up to date onlocal trends, government changes
, what's happening in the seniorcare space and with technology,
with workforce, with funding tomake it.
So you don't have to readeverything.
(00:21):
That was a lot of widths, thatwas a lot of widths.
So, yeah, we're going to startdoing this more regularly.
Just different updates.
We're going to talk about someindustry news that we have from
2024 and some things that areprojected or already happening
in 2025.
It's just Aaron and myself.
It's going to be a fun littlechat.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I'm a little disappointed.
I didn't get like a reallyfancy intro like everybody else
does.
But I'm Aaron, I've been on thespecial episodes we've had
behind the scenes producer andyeah, just like Caleb said, we
(01:05):
are really excited to and kindof talk about the future,
because that's the thing aboutsenior care and really all
industries is that it'sconstantly evolving, constantly
changing.
Yeah, so I mean, I guess thefirst question I'll ask you is
sum up 2024 in one word forsenior care.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
For senior care.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Or a few words.
Yeah, or because how do youencapsulate a?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
feeling.
I think it's like maybe returnto normalcy.
There was a lot of like weird2020, of course, crazy with
COVID, lockdown 2021, there wasstill a lot, but with seniors
being the most affectedpopulation, even 2022 and a
little bit in 2023, I feel like2024, we finally got back into
(01:52):
being able to help more fully.
Obviously, there's a lot ofthings that we learned through
COVID, but care was happeninglike normal.
People were interacting,seniors are interacting, trying
to get more back into the space.
So, return to return tonormalcy, some level of normalcy
, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, I feel like our entirelives.
We're going to be referring toCOVID.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
You know, when we were 70 years old.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I was there, but it was such a strange time and I
think so many of the statisticsas we were doing research for
this, like there were so manyarticles and numbers that came
out, like in 2010, 2015,.
That, like in the 2020s, allthe way to 2030, like demand is
going to skyrocket and all ofthese you know kind of crazy,
scary numbers, but it felt likethings got better in 2024.
(02:39):
Yeah, from the articles I wasreading, like a lot of things
did kind of level out.
Yeah, yes, care demand hasincreased, but like things have
changed so much, like the way weapproach care has changed, and
that's kind of what we're goingto talk about.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, no, I do think COVID had a good impact on it
forced us to do a lot ofresearch into everything around
aging, because it did, uh,disproportionately affect older
adults, and so a lot of goodeducational things that we can
now implement in a societythat's post-COVID kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well, I'll share some of the scary numbers that I
heard.
These are projections, I think,all the way back from 2010.
But the 80-plus population isprojected to increase by 79% by
2030.
But the 80-plus population isprojected to increase by 79% by
2030.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
The caregiver demographic ages 45 to 64, will
increase by the same period byjust 1%.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So 1% increase compared to a 79% increase.
And this is in the US.
In 2010, there were sevenpotential caregivers for every
person in a high-risk category.
So seven potential.
But by 2050, there will only bethree potential caregivers for
every senior in need of care.
So hearing those numbers rightoff the bat, it's just like
alarms go off right.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It's like, okay, we're not going to be able to do
this right.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's not sustainable.
But I think, kind of as we lookforward to the future, we can
talk about what's changing andwhy things have gone better.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So I guess 2024, what were some of the things that
(04:39):
stood out to you?
Older Americans they focus onimproving support for older
adults and getting them moreaccess, because the overwhelming
basically they realizedsurprise, overwhelming majority
of seniors or of Americans wantto continue living independently
in their home and notnecessarily moving to an
assisted living, which I think Imean.
We've talked, had a lot ofassisted living guests on the
podcast and they're talkingabout trying to make it more
like home, but it's like 95% ofseniors want to live
independently.
So the government basicallyusing the OAA, try to make it
more possible with more programs, more services, more funding
for companies, similar to HelpRelease to make it possible so
(05:03):
that they can live at home.
Similar to help release to makeit possible so that they can
live at home, which I think wasa good step in the right
direction, especially with thatstatistic where 10,000 people
are turning 65 every day, likewithin a decade.
We're going to need a lot of, alot more support helping these
people.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, that's really interesting.
I didn't know, actually, Ihadn't done any of the research
on the OAA and but it kind ofreflects what we heard.
We went to the Utah Symposiumon Aging Care a few weeks ago
and it was really interesting tohear kind of like local leaders
in Utah talking about theproblem, talking about the
potential solutions, and a lotof the conversation did revolve
(05:37):
around like the way we'vetraditionally viewed senior care
and aging care is not going tobe the way we approach it in the
future.
Like we can't obviously bythese numbers, we can't have a
one-to-one caregiver ratio orwhatever.
It has to be different and Ithink aging in place is
obviously a big thing andtechnology is just making that
so much more, you know,attainable for everyone.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, that was the other big thing in 2024.
Ai, of course, is just likeblown up, so AI.
Where AI, of course, is justlike blown up, so AI.
Even though everybody listening, I love you all, but senior
care is a very like slow toadopt technology space, but AI
(06:18):
is starting to get increasedadoption within, like senior
care facilities.
We had Ezra Torres on thepodcast and how they use AI to
detect falls.
There's power.
Let's see, there was AIwearables, health trackers,
power tools like the pain checkthat identified discomfort for
people that can't talk.
We're implementing AI to try totrack and have higher quality
(06:40):
visits in the home.
That was a good trend where,because AI is becoming so mass,
it's getting adopted by themasses with like chat, gpt and
Gemini, which is a very likesimple use case for AI.
It's starting to get adoptedwithin senior care to try to
prevent some of the 2050doomsday stuff of just not
(07:01):
having enough people.
How can we use technology?
And a lot of little baby stepsin the right direction last year
.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, there's so manyinitiatives, so many things that
are going on across the country.
People are trying new things.
I think that just reflectshumanity in general.
This might be an anecdote, butlike I don't know if you've ever
seen.
There was a commercial thatMicrosoft Excel put out in the
nineties of this guy likegetting on an elevator and like
back, then you know before mytime, you know it was like
people were.
(07:29):
there were so many data jobsavailable.
And then Microsoft Excel waslike this insane new thing
because, like this guy on theelevator could do his entire
day's work Like, while everybodyelse was like stressing he just
could put in a formula and allof a sudden all the math is done
.
Yeah, yeah, and I think thatjust reflects humanity's
progress in general, Like we'reconstantly trying to put out
these fires, so we have to getbetter, you know.
But that pushes us to justbecome more efficient.
(07:52):
Like jobs shift and you know,we end up being able to do so
much more with less work.
And I think that's the same waythat senior care needs to be
approached is like one personneeds to be able to service five
people or whatever, and itdoesn't have to be like, oh,
(08:12):
it's an 80 hour work week.
No, they should be able to doit within the same amount of
time.
And I think and once we starttalking about these technologies
, like yeah, there's a lot ofreally cool things happening to
enable that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, I think we're a long ways away from like iRobot
, where you have a humanoidrobot taking care of elderly
people, but there are things nowand in the next like five years
that we can start adopting tomake it easier on caregivers to
help people Rather, like whetherit's automatic reporting or
notes taking or like making itso they don't have to have all
(08:42):
this extra admin work on theback end, which is kind of what
Helperly is making.
Yeah, so that way it's lessmentally exhausting and they can
go from client to clientwithout having all the lead.
There's just a lot ofinteresting things.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, I mean we can start talking about the future
because, I feel like we'll stillkind of bounce back to 2024.
Yeah, and I kind of break itdown into a few categories, like
there's smart home technologyor the technology sector, and
there's also AI sector and bothof those kind of mix in this
(09:15):
predictive analytics for health,and I think that's a big thing
and maybe you can touch on.
We're even trying at Helperly,because when you think about you
know somebody having a fall,which is a huge thing it changes
.
We have so many clients whotheir life was you know a
certain way, and then they havea fall and it's completely
different.
They are in bed for months to ayear.
Sometimes their life never getsback to what it was before the
(09:37):
fall.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
We had a client last year that super healthy, and
then he fell and then he wasvery apprehensive of going to
like skilled nursing and so thenhe fell, fell, fell within like
two weeks and he passed awaywithin 90 days of his first fall
, even though he probably couldhave lived another 10 years.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, and that kind of thing, when you calculate,
like, the amount it takes totake care of somebody when they
fall or when any kind of theseillnesses happen, because
seniors are just more prone andmore vulnerable than they used
to be.
But that's where the predictiveanalytics comes in and I think
that's where AI is going to beimplemented the most to predict
(10:18):
health issues.
There's companies, yes, likeCareLife, and I think if you
haven't listened to thoseepisodes, go back and listen
with Ezra Torres.
It's really interesting to hearhow they're implementing like
cameras that aren't alwaysturned on.
I don't even understand it allthe way it's like an infrared
technology, but like, yeah,seeing when they fall and
immediately learning people, sothe problem doesn't become, you
know, exacerbated, it just, youknow, is solved so much quicker.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, and then you have what we're trying to build,
or what we're building atHelperly, which is like trying
to predict their care needsbased off of how they're
interacting in a community.
So getting them online and, youknow, monitoring, just like how
social media algorithms.
They kind of monitor yourwhat's the word?
(11:02):
Your activity online.
Some say they don't, but kindof monitor, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Oh, yeah, a little bit of a rattle.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
They monitor like facial expressions, like how do
you respond?
Like we want to?
There's so much within AI thatwe can start predicting, you
know, are they going to have astroke, are they having early
signs?
Like my wife had Bell's palsyso half her face went numb and
it was luckily she caught itrelatively early, but we
probably could have caught itearlier.
If the cause, your eyebrowsstart to droop and it was like
(11:31):
weird a little bit, but wedidn't know anything but
plugging AI and everything thatit knows into how we're
interacting online plus howwe're physically looking, um.
So that's an exciting thing toreally, like you said, predict
and take care of the issuebefore it becomes a problem, um,
the issue before it becomes aproblem, to prevent the really
(11:59):
high, extensive care needs thatpeople that suffer falls or
different injuries have.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, yeah, and I think as I was reading all these
things, the same kind ofproblem kept echoing in my mind
that it's like it's so hard toget people to adopt a new
technology not just seniors.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
It's hard to get anyone a company a young person
to try something new.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Right, and I think that is the biggest challenge
that senior care providers faceis they might have these amazing
new programs, this new AIprogram or whatever, but getting
the data or getting being ableto build the program is tough,
because we can give the seniorsall these solutions, but helping
them kind of integrate it intotheir lifestyle.
That's where the biggestchallenge is.
(12:35):
But I do think that, as youknow, we move forward and we're
going to be.
You know, treating seniors whoare more familiar with
technology right.
You know our grandfather.
It's amazing what he can do ona computer, considering he was
born before commercial flight.
Or you?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
know like right when commercial flight was coming in.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So it's crazy to assume he would be like so good
at it, Right.
But as our population is nowmore familiar and more familiar
with technology, I think it willhelp these programs and help
these you know AI.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, I agree.
You have the general likedistribution curve where you
have the, the 3% or 13% that areearly adopters and I think,
really nailing it with earlyadopters and maybe their seniors
that are a little younger, likelate 60s, early 70s, that are
more familiar with technology,and getting them talking about
it to make it so in five yearsor three years the general
(13:31):
population, the 60% of the bellcurve, are going to be more open
to it because the earlyadopters got all excited about
it.
But, it's really tough to getlate adopters, which is, in
essence, what 90-year-oldssometimes you still have people
that are really tech savvy, thatare early adopters at that
later age.
I think really nailing it withthe people that are just before
(13:51):
needing senior living, needingsenior care, getting them using
the resources and the tools tomake it normal for when those
people actually do move intoassisted living, to just have
technology in their hand,totally, it's going to make it
possible for adoption and Ithink we're too hard on our
seniors you know, just assumingthat like, oh, they're not going
to be able to figure it out?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, it's like, but yeah, yeah, of course they're
not.
You know, just assuming thatlike, oh, they're not going to
be able to figure it out, yeah,it's like, but yeah, yeah, of
course they're not.
You know, they grew up in atotally different time.
But having patience with themand like continuing to try to
help them adopt thesetechnologies, like progress is
being made Right, and I think,so many problems that seniors
face we've been talking aboutthe physical, and obviously that
is huge, but just talking aboutsenior loneliness, which is
such a big problem it's one infour adults, right, or senior
adults Um, that's what theinternet's for.
(14:36):
You know Twitch communities, oryou know there's so many parts
of the internet where it's allabout helping people who are
disconnected feel connected andlike helping seniors become a
part you know a bigger part ofinternet communities and like
building communities for seniorsonline.
I think is a huge part ofhelping them adopt technology,
right?
You know, if seniors just allplayed video games, you?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
know, we just had a mainstream Twitch elder, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And if there's any seniors listening, I'd love to
play some Minecraft you know,like heck yeah.
And I think things like thatit's like we have the technology
.
It's just about heck, yeah,yeah, and I think things like
that it's like we have thetechnology.
It's just about that.
Adoption, yeah.
But actually I have a list ofsome really cool companies, if
you want.
Unless you had something to say, no, I'm good, all right.
Well, I found this on this linkonline Eros Care but here are
(15:27):
some five random companies thatare doing things that are, you
know, innovative, and one isParo, an electric harp seal
developed for the memoryimpaired, reacts to touch chirps
, plays games and dances withseniors, so that's a pretty
interesting yeah um chihira akoand I don't know how to
pronounce this right is designedto resemble a 32 year old woman
and encourages the elderly totalk about their problems like.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So an ai program, an ai therapist but like a robe.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I don't know if if it's a dismembered head or
something just sitting there,which?
Might work.
I don't know.
Pepper can read and respond tohuman emotions.
1,000 units of this model wereput to the market in 2015 for
$1,600 and sold out in less thanone minute.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Encore Smart is an assisted walker that can take
seniors across even ruggedlandscapes.
And RoBear, a nurse in a shapeof a bear I actually really want
that can carry a patientweighing up to 176 pounds, wow.
And then this one I didn'tresearch this, this might not be
very, you know, buthybrid-assisted limbs, so, like
you know, giving them anexoskeleton kind of thing that
(16:25):
can help them, you know,stabilize and like lift objects.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
That would be huge, especially for people that as
you get older and have a hardtime walking, or if you have oh,
what's it called?
It's like dead foot syndrome orsomething where you lose the
nerves in your foot so it justdrags.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That would be huge to have an exoskeleton that can
lift or assist you in that Justcertain movements that might be
difficult, yeah, and anotherthing that I thought was
interesting to kind of talkabout and touch on is, like you
know, in the US we thinkeverything's about us because it
is, but we're not the only onesfacing this problem.
Like we are not the onlycountry in the world facing an
(17:02):
aging population and I looked upwhat are the countries with the
highest aging population.
We don't even make it on thetop, I think seven or eight.
Oh wow, so in 2024, it's Japan,then Italy, then Finland, then
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I guess that's us.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Portugal, greece, germany, croatia, yeah, and in
2050, is that per capita or justlike yeah, so Japan is?
30% of their population is age65 and older right now yeah.
And the next highest is Italywith 24%.
So Japan is actually leadingthe charge on a lot of these
technology companies Because.
So Japan is actually leading thecharge on a lot of these
technology companies Becausethey need to and they don't have
the replacement rate Liketheirs is even worse, probably,
(17:37):
yeah, their birth rates havebeen falling, and so, even all
the way back, I saw an articleof back in 2012, 2013, japan
started investing billions ofdollars into this sector, into
technology, to kind of help, sothey might be the first ones to
(17:58):
have the iRobots, which beawesome, um, but in 2050, the
demographic is going to shiftagain, so it's gonna be Hong
Kong, south Korea, japan, italy,spain, taiwan, greece and then
Portugal.
So, and Hong Kong at 40 percent.
So the US isn't even on the onthis list.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Um, 40 that's crazy, like basically one in two people
will be over 65.
Yeah, yeah and yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And so I think these numbers help just put it into
perspective that we're not theonly ones with a problem and
we're not the only ones tryingto fix the problem Right.
There's going to be innovationcoming from all across the world
in this sector and so much youknow, so much growth because it
has to be fixed.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, there has to.
It's not just like innovationfor innovation's sake, like it
has to.
It's not just like innovationfor innovation's sake, like it
has to, or else everybody.
That 2050, that puts me, it's30 years from now, not quite 65,
but it puts, like my olderbrother at 65, which is crazy,
right, 30 years from now.
And so it's affecting all of us.
So we have to figure out how tochange it, and so it is so
(18:52):
interesting dilemma, but, likeyou said, another kind of
interesting statistic at that.
I think it's like $1.1 trilliona year spent on home care, and
like $455 billion of that isjust in the US.
So, even though we're not onthe top of the list, we are
moving.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
You can move across Japan and still be like a couple
hours away from your mom.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But if you move across the US you're like a
couple hour flight.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I don't know what it is, but, yeah, it's something
that needs to be solved and Ithink adopting technology and I
think the people that help theseniors need to adopt it first
Because, like you said, we'veall grown up with technology, or
at least most of our life hasbeen with technology, so we can
fiddle around with thesedifferent ai things to try them
(19:46):
out, get comfortable with them,so we can then share and help
seniors get comfortable andadopt and adopting them so that
way they because really I meanwithin the innovation space,
with like venture capital andall those things like as much as
people want to solve theproblem in 30 years we'll be
able to go back and say, look atall this validation that we
(20:08):
have and get more funding,because it is super expensive to
try to create all these newtechnologies.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, I think the initial response when we hear
about any of the scary thoughtsabout the future, right, is like
curl up in a little ball and donothing.
But it's nice to know thatpeople aren't doing that.
Governments aren't doing that.
You know governments aren'tdoing that.
The U S government, you knowlocal governments.
People are trying to fix thisproblem and this problem will be
fixed.
Right, I don't think society isgoing to crumble because we
can't take care of our seniors.
(20:45):
I think this is a fixable thingand it's really encouraging to
hear about.
You know the ideas that arecoming along and, I think, just
people listening and you knowthose of us who you know maybe
we're just a caregiver, you knowwe work at a senior care
company.
How much can we really do?
It's exactly what you said Trythese new technologies, try
thinking of creative solutions,because the way that senior care
(21:06):
is going to work in 30 years isnot going to look like what it
is now you know if it was everysenior in an assisted living
room, it's not going to work.
Yeah, but I was reading somearticles about different kinds
of housing situations.
Right, you know, I meanhelperly.
We just do at home visits andit's just a few hours a week for
some of these seniors, sothat's sustainable, right, if
one caregiver can visit 10people in a week and take care
of all those people with allthis.
(21:28):
You know, assistance from AIgreat, that'll work.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, or the preventative stuff from AI,
because really like, if it's ifthey can stay at like a baseline
level of physically andmentally to stay living
independently um yeah, like Isaid, you'll need a few hours.
It's when they have this crazyinjury and then they're forced
to go to skilled nursing andassisted living.
(21:51):
So, like, help using technologyto, like you kind of what's the
word?
Multiply the impact that anindividual can have.
And then I think I'm stealingyour thunder a little bit
because you're going to betalking about the future, but
the workforce transition to helptrain, adopting the technology,
(22:22):
use the tools effectively tohelp upskill individuals to be
able to do more with lessessence, right yeah totally Like
you said.
We don't want to just overloadcaregivers to working 80 hours a
week and be like that solved it.
Yeah, yeah, like, how do we getthem to use these tools to make
it so they can still workregular 40 hours but have a two
times, three times bigger?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
impact?
Yeah, no, totally, and I thinksome of the housing solutions I
was reading about which werereally interesting are, like you
know, tiny homes.
They are so popular.
Tiny homes could be a solutionto senior, you know, care
because you don't have space inyour house.
But you can put up a tiny homefor your grandparents or your
parents and they still havetheir independence, but they
live close enough that you canhelp.
My mom lives right next to herparents, yeah, and she's able to
(23:03):
pop over all the time.
But integrating thesetechnologies into these new
housing situations as well right, having cameras so we can see
the status, or wearablebracelets is a big thing, yeah,
that measures all of theseamazing things so they can
instantly know, you know, whensomething's going to happen.
There's a bracelet companythat's trying to measure the way
that they walk so it canpredict the fall itself.
(23:26):
Wow, so, based on you, knowtheir stance their balance.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Ding, ding, ding ding and it's like lean up against
the wall really fast for asecond.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Regain.
Or smart lights, lights thatturn on as they walk, you know,
to the bathroom at night toprevent them from slipping or
tripping on something that theycan't see, you know, on their
way to the light switch, thatkind of thing.
Or you know even just doorbellcameras, which is such a normal
thing these days, but a seniorwho doesn't have to cross the
entire house to see that youknow they don't want to answer
(23:55):
the door, you know.
So just you know, in generalpreventing these kinds of
situations and yeah, I thinkthere was even talks of a
commune, you know, like multipleseniors living together and
only one caregiver to fiveseniors that live together.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's called a.
It's actually got a name.
It's called a NORC.
A NORC naturally occurringretirement community.
Oh and they're starting to popup because basically it's I mean
, I almost live in one.
There's like you have acommunity, whether it's
apartments or condos or just theregular like street
neighborhood, where people havejust lived there.
(24:32):
They all moved in in their 20s,30s, they stayed there for the
last 40 years and now it'snaturally occurring retirement
community.
There's just like 80 are old.
Um, but that's an interestingthing like how do we get the 20
that are young?
It's not technically a seniorliving, but just naturally most
of the people there are older.
So like incentivizing or movingcaregiver-esque people into
(24:56):
norcs to be able to help thecommune type thing you just
described.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Florida, the entire state, it's just one big NORC.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Basically yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Lots of naturally occurring, was an architect
which was really interesting totalk about, like how housing can
change for seniors and how, ifyou integrate seniors back into
normal communities, like, notonly does it benefit the senior
but it benefits the community.
You know, it gives seniors thepurpose that they need, where
they can pass on knowledge, theycan help, you know, teach the
next generations, but it alsobrings them in proximity to
(25:34):
people who can help, you knowwho can trim, you know, their
bushes, or you know, can, youknow, mow their lawn once a
month, or something like that.
Yeah, and so it's.
I think the way that it'smoving is a lot of.
We just need to change the ideaof all the seniors in one place
and one building, you know,separated from communities, but
no, reintegrate it back into ournormal neighborhoods to help
(25:56):
them.
you know.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, I mean, that's how I grew up.
I grew up down the road fromgrandparents and so, like they
had everybody they needed andalso on a very populated, child
populated street, there was like80 kids under 18.
And so, yeah, they had amplepeople that could come up and
wash the dishes or mow the lawnor like help out, clean the
(26:21):
windows, whatever it is Like.
They had that natural built-insupport and I think that even at
2050, if we get to like athree-to-one ratio, having those
three caregivers around the onesenior still helps the burden,
like just even, like I said, ina community basis, like a
non-paid, just like.
(26:42):
Oh, I saw that my neighbor, joe, had DoorDash delivered and I
know that whatever, like beingable to go over, ring the smart
doorbell Joe can see, click theunlock button on his phone and
they can bring it into the tableso he can eat.
Yeah, like things like that.
That don't take a lot of time,but it spreads the the
difficulties or the burdens thatcome with an aging body.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
So, yeah, Well, I I've kind of run out of topics.
I think this has been a reallyinteresting conversation.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, the last one that I'll throw in there is the
movement of combating loneliness.
You touched on it, like how dowe get seniors online and then
combining that with IRL in reallife activities to just that's
one of the last of the the thing.
One of the most positive thingsthat I think came from COVID
was realizing the health effectsof loneliness and all the
(27:32):
effort that's going there.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So we can talk about that another time, but yeah,
maybe we should start treatingthis like a business meeting.
Let's have some action items atthe end of this.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, minutes.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, if you're a caregiver and you're worried
about the people you're caringfor.
Try to get them online.
Try to find some nichecommunity, something to help
them stay engaged.
That's not the evil Facebookalgorithm, you know and if the
evil Facebook algorithm, youknow, yeah, and if you're a
child, try to integratetechnologies that we already
have you know Smart doorbells.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, buy Lowe's and spend 30 bucks on a smart
doorbell.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
A Roomba, you know, yeah, an automatic vacuum that
makes their life so much better,a chore that is so much harder
for them these days.
You know, there's already somany technologies that we're
just not even taking advantageof.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So I think, regardless of your situation,
just look into what's available.
Not all of us have to innovate,we can just be the customer and
like.
But you know, being theintegrators is a big, big role
you don't have to be theinnovator.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
You can be the integrator.
Get smart lights, get a smarthome like.
Find online communities, shoutout, help really connect.
If you want to get your parentson that, but yeah, just start
(28:49):
doing these things and helpingthem break down barriers.
A front doorbell is going to bea lot easier than them
suffering a fall and then havinga conversation about like okay,
well, what do we need to do?
We need to get you a caregiveror assisted living.
So, like, as far as anypushback from parents that maybe
feel weird about technology,that's going to be a lot easier
(29:12):
sell than let's get a caregiverin here 40 hours a week or let's
move you to a skilled nursing.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Start small.
The smart lock has affected ourgrandparents so much.
Oh yeah, anybody can go in andcheck on them and, like you know
, take care, and that's that's.
It was a hundred dollars youknow it's not that much money
and it makes a huge impact.
So that's the action item thankyou everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
This is yeah, this was fun.
We'll be doing more of these.
Feel free to comment onwherever you heard this.
If there's anything that youwant us to follow along and give
reports on, we'll start doingthese more often.
Just kind of industry insights.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yay Woo Okay.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Adios Until next time .
Welcome to Senior Care Academy.
Today we're starting, actually,a new segment where we just
want to keep you up to date onlocal trends, government changes
, what's happening in the seniorcare space and with technology,
with workforce, with funding tomake it.
So you don't have to readeverything.
(00:21):
That was a lot of widths, thatwas a lot of widths.
So, yeah, we're going to startdoing this more regularly.
Just different updates.
We're going to talk about someindustry news that we have from
2024 and some things that areprojected or already happening
in 2025.
It's just Aaron and myself.
It's going to be a fun littlechat.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I'm a little disappointed.
I didn't get like a reallyfancy intro like everybody else
does.
But I'm Aaron, I've been on thespecial episodes we've had
behind the scenes producer andyeah, just like Caleb said, we
(01:05):
are really excited to and kindof talk about the future,
because that's the thing aboutsenior care and really all
industries is that it'sconstantly evolving, constantly
changing.
Yeah, so I mean, I guess thefirst question I'll ask you is
sum up 2024 in one word forsenior care.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
For senior care.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Or a few words.
Yeah, or because how do youencapsulate a?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
feeling.
I think it's like maybe returnto normalcy.
There was a lot of like weird2020, of course, crazy with
COVID, lockdown 2021, there wasstill a lot, but with seniors
being the most affectedpopulation, even 2022 and a
little bit in 2023, I feel like2024, we finally got back into
(01:52):
being able to help more fully.
Obviously, there's a lot ofthings that we learned through
COVID, but care was happeninglike normal.
People were interacting,seniors are interacting, trying
to get more back into the space.
So, return to return tonormalcy, some level of normalcy
, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, I feel like our entirelives.
We're going to be referring toCOVID.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
You know, when we were 70 years old.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I was there, but it was such a strange time and I
think so many of the statisticsas we were doing research for
this, like there were so manyarticles and numbers that came
out, like in 2010, 2015,.
That, like in the 2020s, allthe way to 2030, like demand is
going to skyrocket and all ofthese you know kind of crazy,
scary numbers, but it felt likethings got better in 2024.
(02:39):
Yeah, from the articles I wasreading, like a lot of things
did kind of level out.
Yeah, yes, care demand hasincreased, but like things have
changed so much, like the way weapproach care has changed, and
that's kind of what we're goingto talk about.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, no, I do think COVID had a good impact on it
forced us to do a lot ofresearch into everything around
aging, because it did, uh,disproportionately affect older
adults, and so a lot of goodeducational things that we can
now implement in a societythat's post-COVID kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well, I'll share some of the scary numbers that I
heard.
These are projections, I think,all the way back from 2010.
But the 80-plus population isprojected to increase by 79% by
2030.
But the 80-plus population isprojected to increase by 79% by
2030.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
The caregiver demographic ages 45 to 64, will
increase by the same period byjust 1%.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So 1% increase compared to a 79% increase.
And this is in the US.
In 2010, there were sevenpotential caregivers for every
person in a high-risk category.
So seven potential.
But by 2050, there will only bethree potential caregivers for
every senior in need of care.
So hearing those numbers rightoff the bat, it's just like
alarms go off right.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It's like, okay, we're not going to be able to do
this right.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's not sustainable.
But I think, kind of as we lookforward to the future, we can
talk about what's changing andwhy things have gone better.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So I guess 2024, what were some of the things that
(04:39):
stood out to you?
Older Americans they focus onimproving support for older
adults and getting them moreaccess, because the overwhelming
basically they realizedsurprise, overwhelming majority
of seniors or of Americans wantto continue living independently
in their home and notnecessarily moving to an
assisted living, which I think Imean.
We've talked, had a lot ofassisted living guests on the
podcast and they're talkingabout trying to make it more
like home, but it's like 95% ofseniors want to live
independently.
So the government basicallyusing the OAA, try to make it
more possible with more programs, more services, more funding
for companies, similar to HelpRelease to make it possible so
(05:03):
that they can live at home.
Similar to help release to makeit possible so that they can
live at home, which I think wasa good step in the right
direction, especially with thatstatistic where 10,000 people
are turning 65 every day, likewithin a decade.
We're going to need a lot of, alot more support helping these
people.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, that's really interesting.
I didn't know, actually, Ihadn't done any of the research
on the OAA and but it kind ofreflects what we heard.
We went to the Utah Symposiumon Aging Care a few weeks ago
and it was really interesting tohear kind of like local leaders
in Utah talking about theproblem, talking about the
potential solutions, and a lotof the conversation did revolve
(05:37):
around like the way we'vetraditionally viewed senior care
and aging care is not going tobe the way we approach it in the
future.
Like we can't obviously bythese numbers, we can't have a
one-to-one caregiver ratio orwhatever.
It has to be different and Ithink aging in place is
obviously a big thing andtechnology is just making that
so much more, you know,attainable for everyone.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, that was the other big thing in 2024.
Ai, of course, is just likeblown up, so AI.
Where AI, of course, is justlike blown up, so AI.
Even though everybody listening, I love you all, but senior
care is a very like slow toadopt technology space, but AI
(06:18):
is starting to get increasedadoption within, like senior
care facilities.
We had Ezra Torres on thepodcast and how they use AI to
detect falls.
There's power.
Let's see, there was AIwearables, health trackers,
power tools like the pain checkthat identified discomfort for
people that can't talk.
We're implementing AI to try totrack and have higher quality
(06:40):
visits in the home.
That was a good trend where,because AI is becoming so mass,
it's getting adopted by themasses with like chat, gpt and
Gemini, which is a very likesimple use case for AI.
It's starting to get adoptedwithin senior care to try to
prevent some of the 2050doomsday stuff of just not
(07:01):
having enough people.
How can we use technology?
And a lot of little baby stepsin the right direction last year
.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, there's so manyinitiatives, so many things that
are going on across the country.
People are trying new things.
I think that just reflectshumanity in general.
This might be an anecdote, butlike I don't know if you've ever
seen.
There was a commercial thatMicrosoft Excel put out in the
nineties of this guy likegetting on an elevator and like
back, then you know before mytime, you know it was like
people were.
(07:29):
there were so many data jobsavailable.
And then Microsoft Excel waslike this insane new thing
because, like this guy on theelevator could do his entire
day's work Like, while everybodyelse was like stressing he just
could put in a formula and allof a sudden all the math is done
.
Yeah, yeah, and I think thatjust reflects humanity's
progress in general, Like we'reconstantly trying to put out
these fires, so we have to getbetter, you know.
But that pushes us to justbecome more efficient.
(07:52):
Like jobs shift and you know,we end up being able to do so
much more with less work.
And I think that's the same waythat senior care needs to be
approached is like one personneeds to be able to service five
people or whatever, and itdoesn't have to be like, oh,
(08:12):
it's an 80 hour work week.
No, they should be able to doit within the same amount of
time.
And I think and once we starttalking about these technologies
, like yeah, there's a lot ofreally cool things happening to
enable that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, I think we're a long ways away from like iRobot
, where you have a humanoidrobot taking care of elderly
people, but there are things nowand in the next like five years
that we can start adopting tomake it easier on caregivers to
help people Rather, like whetherit's automatic reporting or
notes taking or like making itso they don't have to have all
(08:42):
this extra admin work on theback end, which is kind of what
Helperly is making.
Yeah, so that way it's lessmentally exhausting and they can
go from client to clientwithout having all the lead.
There's just a lot ofinteresting things.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, I mean we can start talking about the future
because, I feel like we'll stillkind of bounce back to 2024.
Yeah, and I kind of break itdown into a few categories, like
there's smart home technologyor the technology sector, and
there's also AI sector and bothof those kind of mix in this
(09:15):
predictive analytics for health,and I think that's a big thing
and maybe you can touch on.
We're even trying at Helperly,because when you think about you
know somebody having a fall,which is a huge thing it changes
.
We have so many clients whotheir life was you know a
certain way, and then they havea fall and it's completely
different.
They are in bed for months to ayear.
Sometimes their life never getsback to what it was before the
(09:37):
fall.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
We had a client last year that super healthy, and
then he fell and then he wasvery apprehensive of going to
like skilled nursing and so thenhe fell, fell, fell within like
two weeks and he passed awaywithin 90 days of his first fall
, even though he probably couldhave lived another 10 years.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, and that kind of thing, when you calculate,
like, the amount it takes totake care of somebody when they
fall or when any kind of theseillnesses happen, because
seniors are just more prone andmore vulnerable than they used
to be.
But that's where the predictiveanalytics comes in and I think
that's where AI is going to beimplemented the most to predict
(10:18):
health issues.
There's companies, yes, likeCareLife, and I think if you
haven't listened to thoseepisodes, go back and listen
with Ezra Torres.
It's really interesting to hearhow they're implementing like
cameras that aren't alwaysturned on.
I don't even understand it allthe way it's like an infrared
technology, but like, yeah,seeing when they fall and
immediately learning people, sothe problem doesn't become, you
know, exacerbated, it just, youknow, is solved so much quicker.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, and then you have what we're trying to build,
or what we're building atHelperly, which is like trying
to predict their care needsbased off of how they're
interacting in a community.
So getting them online and, youknow, monitoring, just like how
social media algorithms.
They kind of monitor yourwhat's the word?
(11:02):
Your activity online.
Some say they don't, but kindof monitor, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Oh, yeah, a little bit of a rattle.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
They monitor like facial expressions, like how do
you respond?
Like we want to?
There's so much within AI thatwe can start predicting, you
know, are they going to have astroke, are they having early
signs?
Like my wife had Bell's palsyso half her face went numb and
it was luckily she caught itrelatively early, but we
probably could have caught itearlier.
If the cause, your eyebrowsstart to droop and it was like
(11:31):
weird a little bit, but wedidn't know anything but
plugging AI and everything thatit knows into how we're
interacting online plus howwe're physically looking, um.
So that's an exciting thing toreally, like you said, predict
and take care of the issuebefore it becomes a problem, um,
the issue before it becomes aproblem, to prevent the really
(11:59):
high, extensive care needs thatpeople that suffer falls or
different injuries have.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, yeah, and I think as I was reading all these
things, the same kind ofproblem kept echoing in my mind
that it's like it's so hard toget people to adopt a new
technology not just seniors.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
It's hard to get anyone a company a young person
to try something new.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Right, and I think that is the biggest challenge
that senior care providers faceis they might have these amazing
new programs, this new AIprogram or whatever, but getting
the data or getting being ableto build the program is tough,
because we can give the seniorsall these solutions, but helping
them kind of integrate it intotheir lifestyle.
That's where the biggestchallenge is.
(12:35):
But I do think that, as youknow, we move forward and we're
going to be.
You know, treating seniors whoare more familiar with
technology right.
You know our grandfather.
It's amazing what he can do ona computer, considering he was
born before commercial flight.
Or you?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
know like right when commercial flight was coming in.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So it's crazy to assume he would be like so good
at it, Right.
But as our population is nowmore familiar and more familiar
with technology, I think it willhelp these programs and help
these you know AI.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, I agree.
You have the general likedistribution curve where you
have the, the 3% or 13% that areearly adopters and I think,
really nailing it with earlyadopters and maybe their seniors
that are a little younger, likelate 60s, early 70s, that are
more familiar with technology,and getting them talking about
it to make it so in five yearsor three years the general
(13:31):
population, the 60% of the bellcurve, are going to be more open
to it because the earlyadopters got all excited about
it.
But, it's really tough to getlate adopters, which is, in
essence, what 90-year-oldssometimes you still have people
that are really tech savvy, thatare early adopters at that
later age.
I think really nailing it withthe people that are just before
(13:51):
needing senior living, needingsenior care, getting them using
the resources and the tools tomake it normal for when those
people actually do move intoassisted living, to just have
technology in their hand,totally, it's going to make it
possible for adoption and Ithink we're too hard on our
seniors you know, just assumingthat like, oh, they're not going
to be able to figure it out?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, it's like, but yeah, yeah, of course they're
not.
You know, just assuming thatlike, oh, they're not going to
be able to figure it out, yeah,it's like, but yeah, yeah, of
course they're not.
You know, they grew up in atotally different time.
But having patience with themand like continuing to try to
help them adopt thesetechnologies, like progress is
being made Right, and I think,so many problems that seniors
face we've been talking aboutthe physical, and obviously that
is huge, but just talking aboutsenior loneliness, which is
such a big problem it's one infour adults, right, or senior
adults Um, that's what theinternet's for.
(14:36):
You know Twitch communities, oryou know there's so many parts
of the internet where it's allabout helping people who are
disconnected feel connected andlike helping seniors become a
part you know a bigger part ofinternet communities and like
building communities for seniorsonline.
I think is a huge part ofhelping them adopt technology,
right?
You know, if seniors just allplayed video games, you?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
know, we just had a mainstream Twitch elder, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And if there's any seniors listening, I'd love to
play some Minecraft you know,like heck yeah.
And I think things like thatit's like we have the technology
.
It's just about heck, yeah,yeah, and I think things like
that it's like we have thetechnology.
It's just about that.
Adoption, yeah.
But actually I have a list ofsome really cool companies, if
you want.
Unless you had something to say, no, I'm good, all right.
Well, I found this on this linkonline Eros Care but here are
(15:27):
some five random companies thatare doing things that are, you
know, innovative, and one isParo, an electric harp seal
developed for the memoryimpaired, reacts to touch chirps
, plays games and dances withseniors, so that's a pretty
interesting yeah um chihira akoand I don't know how to
pronounce this right is designedto resemble a 32 year old woman
and encourages the elderly totalk about their problems like.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So an ai program, an ai therapist but like a robe.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I don't know if if it's a dismembered head or
something just sitting there,which?
Might work.
I don't know.
Pepper can read and respond tohuman emotions.
1,000 units of this model wereput to the market in 2015 for
$1,600 and sold out in less thanone minute.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Encore Smart is an assisted walker that can take
seniors across even ruggedlandscapes.
And RoBear, a nurse in a shapeof a bear I actually really want
that can carry a patientweighing up to 176 pounds, wow.
And then this one I didn'tresearch this, this might not be
very, you know, buthybrid-assisted limbs, so, like
you know, giving them anexoskeleton kind of thing that
(16:25):
can help them, you know,stabilize and like lift objects.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
That would be huge, especially for people that as
you get older and have a hardtime walking, or if you have oh,
what's it called?
It's like dead foot syndrome orsomething where you lose the
nerves in your foot so it justdrags.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That would be huge to have an exoskeleton that can
lift or assist you in that Justcertain movements that might be
difficult, yeah, and anotherthing that I thought was
interesting to kind of talkabout and touch on is, like you
know, in the US we thinkeverything's about us because it
is, but we're not the only onesfacing this problem.
Like we are not the onlycountry in the world facing an
(17:02):
aging population and I looked upwhat are the countries with the
highest aging population.
We don't even make it on thetop, I think seven or eight.
Oh wow, so in 2024, it's Japan,then Italy, then Finland, then
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I guess that's us.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Portugal, greece, germany, croatia, yeah, and in
2050, is that per capita or justlike yeah, so Japan is?
30% of their population is age65 and older right now yeah.
And the next highest is Italywith 24%.
So Japan is actually leadingthe charge on a lot of these
technology companies Because.
So Japan is actually leading thecharge on a lot of these
technology companies Becausethey need to and they don't have
the replacement rate Liketheirs is even worse, probably,
(17:37):
yeah, their birth rates havebeen falling, and so, even all
the way back, I saw an articleof back in 2012, 2013, japan
started investing billions ofdollars into this sector, into
technology, to kind of help, sothey might be the first ones to
(17:58):
have the iRobots, which beawesome, um, but in 2050, the
demographic is going to shiftagain, so it's gonna be Hong
Kong, south Korea, japan, italy,spain, taiwan, greece and then
Portugal.
So, and Hong Kong at 40 percent.
So the US isn't even on the onthis list.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Um, 40 that's crazy, like basically one in two people
will be over 65.
Yeah, yeah and yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And so I think these numbers help just put it into
perspective that we're not theonly ones with a problem and
we're not the only ones tryingto fix the problem Right.
There's going to be innovationcoming from all across the world
in this sector and so much youknow, so much growth because it
has to be fixed.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, there has to.
It's not just like innovationfor innovation's sake, like it
has to.
It's not just like innovationfor innovation's sake, like it
has to, or else everybody.
That 2050, that puts me, it's30 years from now, not quite 65,
but it puts, like my olderbrother at 65, which is crazy,
right, 30 years from now.
And so it's affecting all of us.
So we have to figure out how tochange it, and so it is so
(18:52):
interesting dilemma, but, likeyou said, another kind of
interesting statistic at that.
I think it's like $1.1 trilliona year spent on home care, and
like $455 billion of that isjust in the US.
So, even though we're not onthe top of the list, we are
moving.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
You can move across Japan and still be like a couple
hours away from your mom.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But if you move across the US you're like a
couple hour flight.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I don't know what it is, but, yeah, it's something
that needs to be solved and Ithink adopting technology and I
think the people that help theseniors need to adopt it first
Because, like you said, we'veall grown up with technology, or
at least most of our life hasbeen with technology, so we can
fiddle around with thesedifferent ai things to try them
(19:46):
out, get comfortable with them,so we can then share and help
seniors get comfortable andadopt and adopting them so that
way they because really I meanwithin the innovation space,
with like venture capital andall those things like as much as
people want to solve theproblem in 30 years we'll be
able to go back and say, look atall this validation that we
(20:08):
have and get more funding,because it is super expensive to
try to create all these newtechnologies.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, I think the initial response when we hear
about any of the scary thoughtsabout the future, right, is like
curl up in a little ball and donothing.
But it's nice to know thatpeople aren't doing that.
Governments aren't doing that.
You know governments aren'tdoing that.
The U S government, you knowlocal governments.
People are trying to fix thisproblem and this problem will be
fixed.
Right, I don't think society isgoing to crumble because we
can't take care of our seniors.
(20:45):
I think this is a fixable thingand it's really encouraging to
hear about.
You know the ideas that arecoming along and, I think, just
people listening and you knowthose of us who you know maybe
we're just a caregiver, you knowwe work at a senior care
company.
How much can we really do?
It's exactly what you said Trythese new technologies, try
thinking of creative solutions,because the way that senior care
(21:06):
is going to work in 30 years isnot going to look like what it
is now you know if it was everysenior in an assisted living
room, it's not going to work.
Yeah, but I was reading somearticles about different kinds
of housing situations.
Right, you know, I meanhelperly.
We just do at home visits andit's just a few hours a week for
some of these seniors, sothat's sustainable, right, if
one caregiver can visit 10people in a week and take care
of all those people with allthis.
(21:28):
You know, assistance from AIgreat, that'll work.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, or the preventative stuff from AI,
because really like, if it's ifthey can stay at like a baseline
level of physically andmentally to stay living
independently um yeah, like Isaid, you'll need a few hours.
It's when they have this crazyinjury and then they're forced
to go to skilled nursing andassisted living.
(21:51):
So, like, help using technologyto, like you kind of what's the
word?
Multiply the impact that anindividual can have.
And then I think I'm stealingyour thunder a little bit
because you're going to betalking about the future, but
the workforce transition to helptrain, adopting the technology,
(22:22):
use the tools effectively tohelp upskill individuals to be
able to do more with lessessence, right yeah totally Like
you said.
We don't want to just overloadcaregivers to working 80 hours a
week and be like that solved it.
Yeah, yeah, like, how do we getthem to use these tools to make
it so they can still workregular 40 hours but have a two
times, three times bigger?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
impact?
Yeah, no, totally, and I thinksome of the housing solutions I
was reading about which werereally interesting are, like you
know, tiny homes.
They are so popular.
Tiny homes could be a solutionto senior, you know, care
because you don't have space inyour house.
But you can put up a tiny homefor your grandparents or your
parents and they still havetheir independence, but they
live close enough that you canhelp.
My mom lives right next to herparents, yeah, and she's able to
(23:03):
pop over all the time.
But integrating thesetechnologies into these new
housing situations as well right, having cameras so we can see
the status, or wearablebracelets is a big thing, yeah,
that measures all of theseamazing things so they can
instantly know, you know, whensomething's going to happen.
There's a bracelet companythat's trying to measure the way
that they walk so it canpredict the fall itself.
(23:26):
Wow, so, based on you, knowtheir stance their balance.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Ding, ding, ding ding and it's like lean up against
the wall really fast for asecond.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Regain.
Or smart lights, lights thatturn on as they walk, you know,
to the bathroom at night toprevent them from slipping or
tripping on something that theycan't see, you know, on their
way to the light switch, thatkind of thing.
Or you know even just doorbellcameras, which is such a normal
thing these days, but a seniorwho doesn't have to cross the
entire house to see that youknow they don't want to answer
(23:55):
the door, you know.
So just you know, in generalpreventing these kinds of
situations and yeah, I thinkthere was even talks of a
commune, you know, like multipleseniors living together and
only one caregiver to fiveseniors that live together.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's called a.
It's actually got a name.
It's called a NORC.
A NORC naturally occurringretirement community.
Oh and they're starting to popup because basically it's I mean
, I almost live in one.
There's like you have acommunity, whether it's
apartments or condos or just theregular like street
neighborhood, where people havejust lived there.
(24:32):
They all moved in in their 20s,30s, they stayed there for the
last 40 years and now it'snaturally occurring retirement
community.
There's just like 80 are old.
Um, but that's an interestingthing like how do we get the 20
that are young?
It's not technically a seniorliving, but just naturally most
of the people there are older.
So like incentivizing or movingcaregiver-esque people into
(24:56):
norcs to be able to help thecommune type thing you just
described.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Florida, the entire state, it's just one big NORC.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Basically yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Lots of naturally occurring, was an architect
which was really interesting totalk about, like how housing can
change for seniors and how, ifyou integrate seniors back into
normal communities, like, notonly does it benefit the senior
but it benefits the community.
You know, it gives seniors thepurpose that they need, where
they can pass on knowledge, theycan help, you know, teach the
next generations, but it alsobrings them in proximity to
(25:34):
people who can help, you knowwho can trim, you know, their
bushes, or you know, can, youknow, mow their lawn once a
month, or something like that.
Yeah, and so it's.
I think the way that it'smoving is a lot of.
We just need to change the ideaof all the seniors in one place
and one building, you know,separated from communities, but
no, reintegrate it back into ournormal neighborhoods to help
(25:56):
them.
you know.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, I mean, that's how I grew up.
I grew up down the road fromgrandparents and so, like they
had everybody they needed andalso on a very populated, child
populated street, there was like80 kids under 18.
And so, yeah, they had amplepeople that could come up and
wash the dishes or mow the lawnor like help out, clean the
(26:21):
windows, whatever it is Like.
They had that natural built-insupport and I think that even at
2050, if we get to like athree-to-one ratio, having those
three caregivers around the onesenior still helps the burden,
like just even, like I said, ina community basis, like a
non-paid, just like.
(26:42):
Oh, I saw that my neighbor, joe, had DoorDash delivered and I
know that whatever, like beingable to go over, ring the smart
doorbell Joe can see, click theunlock button on his phone and
they can bring it into the tableso he can eat.
Yeah, like things like that.
That don't take a lot of time,but it spreads the the
difficulties or the burdens thatcome with an aging body.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
So, yeah, Well, I I've kind of run out of topics.
I think this has been a reallyinteresting conversation.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, the last one that I'll throw in there is the
movement of combating loneliness.
You touched on it, like how dowe get seniors online and then
combining that with IRL in reallife activities to just that's
one of the last of the the thing.
One of the most positive thingsthat I think came from COVID
was realizing the health effectsof loneliness and all the
(27:32):
effort that's going there.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So we can talk about that another time, but yeah,
maybe we should start treatingthis like a business meeting.
Let's have some action items atthe end of this.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, minutes.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, if you're a caregiver and you're worried
about the people you're caringfor.
Try to get them online.
Try to find some nichecommunity, something to help
them stay engaged.
That's not the evil Facebookalgorithm, you know and if the
evil Facebook algorithm, youknow, yeah, and if you're a
child, try to integratetechnologies that we already
have you know Smart doorbells.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, buy Lowe's and spend 30 bucks on a smart
doorbell.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
A Roomba, you know, yeah, an automatic vacuum that
makes their life so much better,a chore that is so much harder
for them these days.
You know, there's already somany technologies that we're
just not even taking advantageof.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So I think, regardless of your situation,
just look into what's available.
Not all of us have to innovate,we can just be the customer and
like.
But you know, being theintegrators is a big, big role
you don't have to be theinnovator.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
You can be the integrator.
Get smart lights, get a smarthome like.
Find online communities, shoutout, help really connect.
If you want to get your parentson that, but yeah, just start
(28:49):
doing these things and helpingthem break down barriers.
A front doorbell is going to bea lot easier than them
suffering a fall and then havinga conversation about like okay,
well, what do we need to do?
We need to get you a caregiveror assisted living.
So, like, as far as anypushback from parents that maybe
feel weird about technology,that's going to be a lot easier
(29:12):
sell than let's get a caregiverin here 40 hours a week or let's
move you to a skilled nursing.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Start small.
The smart lock has affected ourgrandparents so much.
Oh yeah, anybody can go in andcheck on them and, like you know
, take care, and that's that's.
It was a hundred dollars youknow it's not that much money
and it makes a huge impact.
So that's the action item thankyou everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
This is yeah, this was fun.
We'll be doing more of these.
Feel free to comment onwherever you heard this.
If there's anything that youwant us to follow along and give
reports on, we'll start doingthese more often.
Just kind of industry insights.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yay Woo Okay.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Adios Until next time .
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