In Alberta, a new initiative from The Brenda Stafford Foundation (BSF), the HealthTech Home project, and Health Cities, is focused on addressing the pressure on health systems by using innovative technology in a residential setting for aging people.
As the baby boomer demographic ages, there’s a wave of older adults looking to age in place, which has been shown to lower the cost to health care systems. With technology that helps enable aging in place being often expensive and somewhat complex when it comes to integrating the innovations into existing systems, the HealthTech Home project is focused on testing and monitoring such technology within a condo unit (owned by BSF) that is connected to a continuing care home. As reported in the National Post, the age-tech solutions will monitor the health of the tenant over the course of one year as a means to support aging in place, and slow (or even reverse) any decline in health. This project will help validate technology and build a framework for aging-in-place support in a residential setting.
The project has also encompassed the establishment of the HealthTech Home Innovation Council, which is comprised of key stakeholder groups that will meet to share results and review outcomes that will impact policy and funding decisions. Further, once a technology has been validated by the project, the council will be behind scaling and deploying it on a larger scale for greater impact.
For more about the HealthTech Home’s first technology partner and the reasons behind the foundation’s support of the project, read the full National Post article here.
Read more:
Plant an Aging-In-Place Garden
The Number of Older Adults and Students Living Together Is Growing Amid Soaring Rents
The Pandemic Has Made People More Confident About Aging in Place
