RFID Keeps Track of Seniors In Their Own Homes

Researchers have built two new systems that use radio frequency identification tags to monitor the elderly in their own homes. RFID tags, as they are called, are widely used as a part of building security passes, Speedpass key chain devices and E-ZPasses for paying highway tolls. Retailers also expect RFID tags to replace bar codes on store items over the next few years. RFID technology can also improve health care for the elderly, said researchers at Intel Research Seattle and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Caregivers receiving data via the Internet from RFID readers can monitor seniors' daily activities by recording which tagged items they have picked up, and when. By comparing real-time data with a record of an individual's normal daily routine, caregivers can easily spot any significant changes. Changes in an individual's daily routine often signal the onset of illness and cognitive decline, according to physicians and experts on aging. The new systems, Intel's Caregiver's Assistant and Georgia Tech's Memory Mirror, will also ensure that forgetful seniors take their medication on time and stick to their prescribed diets, their developers say. The Caregiver's Assistant even automatically fills out a daily activities form, which is normally completed by caregivers for the elderly when they make home visits. The researchers presented the Caregiver's Assistant and Memory Mirror at a demonstration of assistive technologies for the aging in Washington, D.C., this week. The demonstration marked the founding of the Center for Aging Services Technologies, or CAST, an organization run by Intel that will promote the development of devices to help people "age in place," which means growing old at home rather than in a nursing home.