Singapore is home to many caregiving centres for seniors as the government puts more focus on the lives of elderly people in the country. Previously, there were many misunderstandings between the families of seniors and the caregivers regarding the safety of their loved ones. In order to fill the gaps of this concern, elder care homes started moving towards digitalisation of their processes. With this enthusiasm, many technological advancements occurred, and many tools have been integrated into the elder care system in Singapore. ‘Elder Care Application’ is one such technological pinnacle, mainly found as a communication tool, but now it has changed its nature to be 200% powerful as an ‘all-in-one’ solution.
In this article, we will explore the utilisation of the ‘Elder Care Application’ in caregiving centres and its benefits to ensure that seniors are safe even though they are miles away from their own homes.
What is an 'Elder Care Application'?
- What comes to your mind when you hear this? It is ‘communication’ or ‘collaboration’ for sure. Yes, what you think is absolutely correct, as the sole purpose of developing elder care apps is to establish a solid communication platform for the people who are involved in the lives of seniors.
- However, if we look into it more deeply, elder care apps refer to mobile applications specifically designed to address the diverse needs of seniors. Going beyond communication, this offers a range of functionalities aimed at enhancing their overall well-being and safety.
- This has become a ‘must-have’ technological assistant for elder care homes in Singapore nowadays, considering the benefits it offers. These apps can be known as a fusion of a variety of cutting-edge features such as medication reminders, emergency assistance, health monitoring tools, GPS tracking for location services, fall detection, and communication platforms specifically tailored for seniors’ betterment.
- They frequently incorporate personalisation features, allowing suggestions and treatment regimens that are tailored to each patient based on medical records. In addition to offering helpful assistance with everyday tasks and health management, elder care applications promote social interaction, mental stimulation, and communication with family and caretakers.
- In today’s world, we can see these apps make a convenient bridge for people who need help and those who are ready to offer help under one roof. On the other hand, these apps play a major role in promoting independence, safety, and a higher quality of life for elderly individuals while offering reassurance to their loved ones and caregivers.
Key Benefits of Elder Care Apps to Ensure the Safety of Seniors
Fall Detection and Alerts
Falling incidents should be the main concern when taking care of elderly people, no matter how strong they look. Just one wrong step would end up making your elder care home and its service compromised. This is when the sophisticated feature, named ‘fall detection’, comes into play. Let us show you how.
Did you know that the elder care app you implement is powered to send you real-time notifications about fall incidents? These notifications in elder care applications use advanced sensors and algorithms to identify unexpected falls or incidents. The app notifies the authorities or chosen emergency contacts as soon as it detects a fall.
However, this is a long process. This process typically involves a series of steps: first, the app’s sensors analyse movement patterns, abrupt changes, or a sudden impact that might indicate a fall. When an alert is detected, the app gives the user a limited time to reply and cancel it if it was accidentally triggered. The app immediately sends an alert with the user’s location details to the designated emergency contacts or monitoring centre if there is no response or if the user confirms the fall.
As you can see, these applications are developed considering every scenario that is possible. With this at your fingertips, you know that the elderly people under your care are 100% safe.
If you have an advanced app, it has the possibility to integrate with smart home systems or wearable devices as well. This ensures prompt notifications and swift assistance without causing unnecessary delays, which can cost a life.
Location Tracking
Did you know that Dementia patients sometimes lose their consciousness and try to roam around without any sense? Yes, this is the main issue you have to face if you are taking care of Dementia patients at your elder care home. However, new technologies like elder care applications have found the ideal solutions for this matter as well.
The latter incorporates GPS technology to enable location tracking, ensuring the safety and security of seniors. These apps use the GPS functionality on the senior’s smartphone or a dedicated tracking device to continuously monitor their whereabouts.
Family members or caregivers can view the senior’s present location on a map from a distance by using the app to get this information. You are able to rapidly locate a senior who is missing or tends to go missing in order to help them or notify the authorities during such an emergency.
On the other hand, some apps are developed to offer geofencing features, setting virtual boundaries through this technology. Imagine that the senior crosses these boundaries, and then it triggers alerts to notify caregivers on the spot. This is highly beneficial when ensuring their safety by allowing immediate intervention or tracking when needed.
This continuous tracking capability offers peace of mind to both caregivers and the family members of the seniors.
24/7 Health Monitoring
Taking care of the seniors is not something that the authorities can take lightly. You are the responsible focal point when it comes to the health and security of elderly people. The family members contact you whenever they need information about their loved one’s health. This is why you need to have a cutting-edge system like an elder care app at your fingertips. If you wonder if these apps can help you with this purpose, let us explain it deeply. Such apps integrate various health monitoring tools to ensure the well-being and safety of seniors.
We will show you how this is possible. These applications commonly make use of wearable technology or similar sensors to monitor important health indicators, including blood pressure, heart rate, activity level, and occasionally even blood sugar levels.
As you already know, this is a consolidated system, which means it gathers information from various sources and then analyses it to send notifications to relevant parties. This is exactly what occurs inside the elder care app, too. After being gathered, the data is forwarded to the app, where it is evaluated and displayed for seniors and their caregivers in a comprehensible manner.
It is possible to set up alerts or notifications to alert caretakers or medical professionals to any abnormalities or alarming developments in these indicators. This ongoing observation helps identify health problems early, allowing immediate action or medical care.
These applications empower caretakers to remotely monitor and maintain the safety of those they care for while also empowering seniors to actively manage their health by giving them access to real-time health data and trends.
Medication and Activity Management
When you take responsibility for an elderly person, you also become in in charge of his or her medication and all the other activities that are happening inside the home. How can you be sure that they take their pills on time? What if you missed a doctor’s appointment for a heart patient? It is a bit scary to visualise, right?
The beauty of these elder care apps is that they streamline medication and activity management for seniors, ensuring their safety and adherence to prescribed treatments. When you register a senior in your system, your staff has to manually enter their medication schedules, dosages, and specific instructions into the app. Some apps offer scanning features of the relevant prescriptions, which saves you from labour work.
Then, you can see regular reminders sent to prompt medication intake times, which minimises the risk of missed doses. Also, several applications include voice instructions or visual assistance to help elderly people take medications correctly. Remote monitoring allows caretakers to follow up or react on time if a medication is missed. They can also receive warnings about this.
On the other hand, these apps often allow for the creation of comprehensive medication lists. It helps reduce the likelihood of adverse drug interactions or duplicate prescriptions.
The other benefit is that it helps you manage the seniors’ participation in group activities or doctor’s appointments without leaving any space for errors. With this powerful app at your fingertips, you know that you are providing the maximum service to the elderly people under your care.
Ensuring Seniors are Safe through New Technology
No matter how many seniors are residing in your elder care home, new technology like ‘Elder Care Applications’ makes it possible for you to offer the best service for them without compromising the quality for any reason. The safety of the seniors and the trust of their family members should always be in your head when managing an elder care home in Singapore. If you hold hands with the right strategies and technologies, your growth will be just unstoppable!
