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I'm a Carer

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Around 1 in 5 in the world are over 65 or living with a disability or chronic disease. As a result, millions of people of all ages, may take on the unpaid role of being a Carer to a family member, friend or someone else. This may be informal, part time or full time, gradually or suddenly due to an accident, illness or life event.

If you're a carer, there's a growing need to support you in this role, being one of society's most important. This includes looking after caregivers by recognising the role, and providing resources, respite and financial assistance. As a Carer, you're likely helping with daily needs, like eating, dressing, taking medication, getting medical help as well as safety, cleaning and admin.

As a Carer, you need looking after too. The joy of being close and doing what matters, comes with worry, uncertainty, appointments, and admin for both of you. There'll be other implications on your life and physical and mental health due to lifting, losing sleep, loneliness and isolation, financial pressures and loss of income, and juggling other responsibilities such as work or family commitments. And time, always short of time.

Life can be challenging enough, so if there are ways technology can make life easier for you, whether it's 5% better, or an extraordinary one, it doesn't make sense not to consider it.

Please note: There's no substitute for being together in person as much as you can, expert medical care and fundamentals such as sleep, exercise, and listening to each other. Health related technologies should be considered to support these goals and with the support and consent of those closest.

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Make this easier

eg. Seizures, Parkinson's, Heart

What to consider

What outcome would you like to achieve?
What's available and possible?
What could be a barrier to success?
Who needs to be on board, involved or could help you?

Stress and Burnout

Being able to leave home, take a break or enlist help from others.

A frequent cause of burnout, is due to worry or concerns around leaving someone. This may be for a moment, to run an errand, while you work, or when engaging support to help out such as cleaners, nurses or companions you don't know well. What types of technology? Cameras, video door bells, door sensors and smart locks enable you to see who arrives, or leaves the home - or whether the person you care for, for example with Dementia or Autism, may go wandering or has left home unexpectedly. For you, it reduces the concern that someone has arrived or left unexpectedly, see them, talk or let them in. No need to worry, or drive over, if all is ok. For the person you care for, it's a way to give them independence if they want it, that they can be left alone and supported or backed up if need be. When using these devices, you can set an alert for you or others are certain times, have the doorbell call you, or go back and check eg. the front porch camera if there's no answer.

Examples. You want to run errands to the pharmacy, but worry if the person you are caring for will wander. You're at work and there's no answer. Check if the person you care for has left home. You want to engage a cleaner, nurse or support worker but are worried if they've arrived, left and don't want to leave a key. Get a camera alert, talk to them over the video doorbell, and open the door remotely or give them a specific door code. You want to go out for a coffee break or walk around the block. You want to send groceries or food delivery, a parcel, or a car to pick them up to come over for family dinner, a sports game, library visit or coffee with friends. Answer the gate to ensure it's the right person, check the door is locked behind, and track the ride. You're worried a visitor may ring the door bell and take advantage - and want to know if this happens. You want a neighbour or trusted family member closest to be able to get in if there's an ambulance, fall or need to check in.

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Physical Health (Caregiver)

Taking care of your health & wellbeing

As a consequence of being a Carer for someone else, it's common to neglect your own health. This may be due to limited time or motivation to exercise or eat well, the result of lifting, leaning or bending while helping out, poor sleep and stress, or due to a neglected health issue or chronic condition of your own. What types of technology? Wearables like watches and rings, stress relief devices for massage, music and meditation; and health monitoring technology like blood pressure cuffs, sleep monitoring or oximeters, or exercise equipment enable you to see what your measures are, motivate you to improve them, or trigger a checkup to the doctor for yourself. For you, it can help keep up your steps and see positive results when you do, get some exercise in at home, help to relax and wind down, and give you data on how much sleep you're getting or blood pressure, to improve it. For the person you care for, you taking care of your health can be motivating for them too, and help you be stronger and more easily able to care for them. When using these devices, you can set a walking or running target daily and share it with friends, you can track your heart rate, Vo2max, breathing and sleep and get notifications or notice trends to share with your doctor. As importantly, the help to wind down, drift off or make it easier to have music around.

Examples. You want to know you've made your steps target and keep it up the next days as well. You see your heart rate, blood pressure or other health measures getting off track and make a mental note to eat well and get back on track. You assume you're tired because you're busy, not noticing your anxiety levels, poor sleep quality or sleep apnea is the cause. You take a moment to listen to a meditation, or put music on to relax or give you energy. You use a camera or respite to get to the gym or run around the block and have the goals met sent to friends to celebrate (or compete with them). You build exercise into your day with a foot treadmill under the table or desk, or a bile/trike to go out with.

Physical Health (Care Recipient)

Taking care of their health & wellbeing

As a Carer for someone else, you may have to look after someone's physical health. This may be due to a specific health condition they have, a complication, an inability from them to know or communicate what's happening, or having data to know whether to take action like call the doctor or share over telehealth, with more confidence. What types of technology? Health monitoring technologies like wearables (watches and rings), medical devices like heart monitors, sleep monitoring, fingertip oximeters, spirometers, blood glucose levels or thermometers enable you to get data readings or graphs are, show the opportunity to improve them, or allow you to set an alert if certain events occur, like heart irregularities, seizures or sleep apnea. Apps can also assist for recording symptoms or guiding health behaviour such as meditation or nutrician. For you, it can help you understand why the person you care for is fatigued, aggressive or agitated, or identify the impact of a new medication (positive or negative). Being able to have data and record trends of health measures, give you confidence to seek medical advice and provide more information. Sometimes it's difficult not knowing whether to get help or how to quantify what's happening.

Examples. You want to check relevant biometric measures like heart rate or blood pressure regularly, to know what direction health is going in and get help. You want to take a telehealth appointment, and show with data what's happening with the patient when they don't have a voice, or a clear picture, themselves. You set an alert to know if the person you care for a seizure during the night, so there's you can worry less while you're sleep that something has occurred. You want to help the person you care for be more motivated to make healthy choices relating to weight, sleep, blood pressure by seeing their trends and positive improvements.