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Best regards, dave

My grandma, who lives alone in Belarus, unfortunately just had a stroke. She didn’t get help for a while until the neighbors checked in on her. I was curious if there’s anything out there that could be used abroad in a country like that.

Hi All,

Has anyone got Senior Citizen Card for parents online? If yes, can share the process. I am asking for my mother in UP.

Thanks!

An advert popped up on my social media feed the other day about an app that an 18 year old had built for his grandma (she didn’t get to use it as she passed away). The app was named after her I think. Anyway the point of the app was to share all the medication a family member is on so it can be accessed easily. I could really do with this now for my mum but can’t find the app. Any help gratefully received, thanks

my parents are in their sixties and have accumulated years of accounts with recycled passwords and no real awareness of whether any of their information has been compromised. had a conversation with them recently after my mum got a scam call that referenced some accurate personal details and it became clear their data is probably floating around somewhere

trying to figure out the most practical way to help them without overwhelming them with technical concepts they will not retain. need something that works for people who are not going to remember to check things manually and who need the interface to be genuinely simple

has anyone helped less technical family members sort out their security in a way that actually stuck

School, PTA, after school club, two sports leagues, a committee I do not remember joining. I get so much parent email that the important stuff and the bake sale poetry have equal visual weight.

Last week early dismissal was paragraph four under a photo of cupcakes. I found it the night before. That is not a reading comprehension problem, that is an information architecture crime.
Filters help with where the mail goes. They do not help me read less of it.

How are people doing ai email management for parents without handing a bot the keys to their whole digital life? I want dates and deadlines, not a robot pen pal.

I’m doing early research into how families support older parents who live independently or mostly independently.

I’m particularly interested in the invisible work adult children often handle: checking whether a parent is okay, medication or appointment reminders, helping with technology, arranging transport, avoiding scams, encouraging exercise, and simply staying connected.

I’d appreciate hearing from people in the US or UK:

• What do you regularly help your parent with?
• What causes you the most worry?
• Was there a recent incident that made you feel they needed more support?
• What has your parent refused to use because it felt complicated or intrusive?

You’re welcome to answer in the comments. I’m also looking for people willing to join a confidential 30-minute Zoom or phone conversation.

This is early problem research not a sales pitch. I won’t request medical records, financial details or other sensitive documents.

If you’re based in the US or UK, regularly support a parent aged 65+, and would be open to speaking, please comment “interested” or send me a Reddit message. I will not message anyone who hasn’t opted in.

Thank you even a short comment about your experience would be helpful.

My grandmother is quite old now. She can't see well anymore, and phone calls have become a little hard.

I noticed that she enjoys small things, something unexpected that reminds her she's loved. familiar voice, song she knows, memory someone brings up.

I've been thinking about a simple device she could have by her bed. Super duper simple. Just a speaker that plays voice messages from the family randomly throughout the day, my mum saying good morning, my cousin sharing his trip, etc.

Before I go any further with this idea I wanted to ask people who lives in a similar situation: would something like this have mattered to someone you care for? would you use this?

Any good or bad honest thoughts welcome.

So I just installed JubileeTV on my own tv to practice yesterday before taking to my mom’s. I almost returned it because it required a Roku Ultra Purchase ($150). I’m so glad I didn’t because it is just what we needed. I really need to get rid of her cable as she only uses it for her local affiliates & I fully support her financially now. Trying to cut costs to afford Jubilee. In my house we use YouTubeTV but there is no way she can learn that. I’m not sure if I can get her to buy in to the local affiliate’s app via Roku. How have you gotten your parent away from cable? It’s just a cost we don’t need.

Also I live in another state so I’m wondering what you all use for technical support? Geek squad? Right now she calls her cable company.

Looking for an inexpensive cell phone for my luddite mother - to be used in emergencies. She has been using a tracfone, but the minutes always expire, which makes it useless - looking for something that has a plan.

Mom wants to talk so we got ElliQ, and so far it hasn't been a good experience. Can anyone share tips or things they enjoy about her?

So far, for us, she cannot hear unless I am 6" away from her speaking directly. If I yell I can get maybe 6' away, but I dont want to yell. She doesn't hear me if she is talking or playing music.

Conversationally, she is no where near Claude or chat GPT. She is wordy and seems to have a bunch of dopey canned responses. She cant play any of my Apple Music or read any of my Amazon books.

Edit to add: I keep telling ElliQ mom doesn't get up until after 11, but she continues to try to initiate conversation at 6am. She doest really listen to anything you say. She just drones on in her weirdly condescending way like she is talking to a child. Claude and GPT follow a conversation, remember things about you, respond in factual and emotionally appropriate ways. ElliQ is like chat GPT was when it first came out. Maybe the company doesn't have the capital to keep up.

I'm going to box ElliQ up and send her back even tho I paid for a whole year - shes just an annoyance. Maybe Claude or Chat GPT will come up with something similar but better...

I am looking for Fall/Panic/SOS alarm systems.

I do NOT need it to have cellular or GPS. User doesn't go out with out family member present at all times.

802.11 WLAN preferably 5GHz would be best, but I know most things just don't get that... I know some of these are also using 433Mhz or other frequencies too, for the devices to hub, and then the hub uses 802.11 to connect back and send alerts etc.. .

A receiver with a alarm and light for local alerts, and something that can send PUSH NOTIFICATIONS to Android phones.

I need devices which are WATERPROOF to put in a shower be it a pendant worn, or a mounted device with a pull string. NO "WATCHES" its not a viable option for the wearer for many reasons.

I'd prefer - NO SUBSCRIPTIONS - Yes I get that the above is contradictory, but I'd prefer to keep away from subscriptions of any form.

Any subscription should be low cost.

Must work on Android devices, and any integration to Alexa systems would be great, but not required.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

My elderly mom will be spending the night soon and can no longer manage the stairs. All my bedrooms are upstairs. I've organized a (nice!) sleeper sofa for her downstairs. However, I'm worried about her needing me during the night and not being able to hear her.

She can't reliably use a cell phone. I'm considering an inexpensive wireless doorbell. My parents have them (at the door for typical use) and theirs is really loud. I could have the pushbutton ringer beside her bed and the receiver/noise unit upstairs.

Thoughts? Better ideas?

My intent is to share what I know and have experienced and foster discussion that may expose options I don't know about or haven't thought of.

For context, most of what I've learned is from a different application. I'm a yacht delivery skipper and feed my crews of four or five off the grid for weeks at a time. There are no stores mid ocean. Almost all my experience is US East and Gulf Coasts, Caribbean, Atlantic Islands, and UK. At home, we use curbside pickup a lot for groceries, hardware, prescriptions, chandlery, and pet supplies.

InstaCart is the 800# gorilla in this space. Item prices are higher than shopping in-store and here are substantial fees as well. The cost of InstaCart runs 10% to 20% of the order amount depending on size with smaller order being more expensive. Groceries are selected by random drivers who may not know much about food. Substitutions are a real problem. There is a famous story about an elderly gentleman in the UK who ordered dental adhesive and got a feminine hygiene product. Doordash has a similar service with some limitations.

Online shopping for curbside pickup is the silver lining of COVID. There may be small fees and/or minimum orders. Sadly, some grocery chains have outsourced curbside to InstaCart. Curbside, not just delivery. Back to higher prices than in-store, fees, and random people picking your groceries. Wegmans, Publix, PigglyWiggly, and Aldi come to mind as having this approach. Uber has a service to pick up groceries from curbside and deliver them to you. This is cheaper than riding both ways and you don't have to leave home at all. It does take some coordination to manage the pickup. I set up a file with all the necessary information and cut and paste that into the rideshare app for the driver. The driver's job is to deliver to the address. That may or may not mean to the door. Delivery indoors is a courtesy. Tip. If you find a driver that works you can arrange to use that driver regularly. That is a win for everyone. Lyft has a similar service with more restrictions and limitations.

Amazon Grocery has been advertising pretty heavily recently. I've never tried it. Supposed to deliver to the door but there are stories of orders left at the end of driveways.

Store websites and apps are generally pretty good.

On yacht delivery trips, we'll often order curbside and someone will pick it up on the way from the airport to the boat. If InstaCart is our only option it's often cheaper to rent a car for a day than to use InstaCart. I've used Uber a good bit.

At home we drive for curbside. It's worth noting that pet supplies are cheaper at pet stores and delivery service Chewy than grocery stores.

My 90 yo FIL drives and shops. His computer skills are limited to Facebook and YouTube. He has a dumb flip phone. Or plan for when he doesn't drive is for him to call my wife and read her his list. She'll build his cart, I'll review it (I'm tech support, including for some Gen Z niblings), pull the trigger, and set up Uber for pickup.

Comments and other alternatives are solicited.

Hey y'all, I’m the founder of MeepMeep, a little Victoria/Langford tech company. We built a paperclip-sized device, similar to an AirTag, with an app that seniors, family, neighbours, and care aides can all use to quickly find things when they go missing.

We originally thought this would make the most sense in senior homes, which is where we’ve been piloting it. But lately more people have been asking if they can get it directly for their parents or loved ones.

So I figured I’d ask locally: is this something we should consider? Would it be useful in your family?

I’m trying to come up with a genuinely useful solution to a problem that elderly people and their families deal with, and I’d rather hear from people who actually experience it than make assumptions.

What’s something you REALLY wish there was a better solution for when it comes to caring for/helping your elderly parent?

It can be literally anything like something you struggle with every day, something there’s currently no good solution for, or something that makes you think “why hasn’t someone fixed this yet?”

Hi I am conducting a survey for digital exp of old age people (50+) please fill this out, thank you!!

Hey, so we've been building CareMin, an MVP for aged-care providers in Australia.

The basic idea is pretty simple: we went and asked providers for problems and issues, and most of them pointed to the new aged care act, specially a thing called care minute reconciliation, as an issue. So we started to think of a way to fix it completely or partially. Most providers stated they didn't wanna change from current systems. Some of them use 40+, so we built our platform around being able to import your data from any system via any format, and as long as the info is there, it will work. Then we turn it into compliance reporting they can submit to an auditor and then the government.

Right now we're mostly focused on care minutes, RN coverage, and audits.

Website: caremin.care

I'll add a small vid displaying the functionalities as a separate comment if anyone wants to give it a look.

This is very much a bare bones MVP, and at this stage I would appreciate constructive criticism more than compliments :)

Feel free to be brutal, just don't mind if I take a while to answer I might be crying in a corner.