Adaptive Technologies Create Independent Living Opportunity

With the cost of assisted living soaring to over $50,000 a year, the eminent retirement of millions of baby boomers has builders, architects, healthcare professionals and academicians alike thinking about new solutions to an old quandary: how to best care for an aging population in an affordable manner as scores of us begin to enter our golden years.

Blueroof Technologies, a leader in the use of smart home technology for senior citizens, has come up with a new solution that combines assistive living technologies with affordable housing. This allows aging boomers to pass their sunset years in the comfort of their own homes, without having to enter an assisted living facility before they absolutely need to.

Blueroof Technologies, a non-profit organization located in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, has enlisted the support of many corporations and government agencies and sought input from just about anyone interested in senior citizen living issues - geriatric healthcare professionals, the American Association for Retired People (AARP), governmental officials, computer experts, building energy efficiency experts and more. Their goal was the development of affordable housing for senior citizens. Referred to as a “smart cottage”, each housing unit is a state-of-the-art facility based on the concept of Universal Design. This concept includes the following criteria:

 

• Easily manufactured
• Energy efficient
• Wired for smart technologies
• Affordable (less than $100,000)
• Low maintenance
• Environmentally friendly
• Compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Safe and Secure

A Testing Ground for “Smarter Living”

Blueroof Technologies’ Model Cottage was built within the city of McKeesport to demonstrate and test the features and functions of an affordable housing prototype for senior citizens. Many of the standard built-in features are typical problem solvers like grab bars, shower transfer benches, non-skid strips in tubs or showers, ramps, handrails for support and lever handles to overcome the difficulty of turning faucet handles, doorknobs and the requisite high R-factor insulation to reduce rising energy costs. What’s new is the addition of what Blueroof calls “Smart Living” systems. These systems provide automated lighting and environmental control as well as information and computer technology-based services that extend the time seniors can delay a move into far more costly assisted living. By staving off the move for just two years, Blueroof estimates, the owners can recoup the entire cost of a Smart Cottage.

The Connected Home

The common thread of the various technologies being tested in Blueroof’s Smart Cottage is the cabling that connects the whole web of features together. By pre-wiring the house with Category 5 and RG6 cabling, all components are linked to a common location called a Leviton Structured Media ™ Enclosure. Services in and out of the house and cross connections between all components within the house are conveniently configured and, when needed, reconfigured, at that point. Asked why he decided on a wired versus a wireless system, Mr. Bertoty, Executive Director of Blueroof Technologies, noted that wireless lends itself a lot more easily to security breaches. The added security of a wired system is important when dealing with such things as patient records that you would not want to have fall into the hands of hackers. He also mentioned that Cat 5 cabling is actually very inexpensive to install when a house is being built as compared to wireless alternatives and that the availability of parts is better, as well. He did not dismiss the eventual use of wireless components such as IP cameras as they are continuing to come down in price. To protect this “smart technology” investment, whole-house surge protection from Leviton is installed in every home as well as Leviton Uninterruptible Power Supplies for the home’s server, switches and technology systems to protect them from current fluctuations and power outages.

Mr. Bertoty also pointed out that connectivity goes a lot further than just the wiring for those involved in this affordable senior housing Smart Cottage project: “We actually used interns from Penn State University to do a lot of the wiring for us. We trained them and they came in to pull and terminate wires and learn a little bit about that aspect of the Smart Cottage from day one. It also gave us an opportunity to bring the students together with seniors. The mentoring that goes on is very interesting. They learn a lot about each other. It has been very rewarding for both parties to do that.” He further noted that after the steel mills closed in Pennsylvania nothing came in to replace that industry, making unemployment an ongoing problem. By teaching McKeesport Tech Center students to do part of the fabrication of these houses, Blueroof is also creating employment opportunities for them after they graduate.

The Primary Concern is Security

While most seniors prefer to age at home, their increasing frailty makes a security system a very important and necessary feature. The primary concern is window and door security. The system can monitor whether windows are open or closed. The Smart Cottages also include what Bertoty calls “Front Door ID.” “It is a very important way that we keep seniors safe and secure.” IP video cameras located at both the front and back doors are motion activated so guests don’t even need to ring the doorbell. As they approach the house, a camera automatically records and stores the event. The system can also be set to alert someone outside the house when the doorbell is activated, either by delivering an email or by making a phone call, for example, to a relative’s cell phone, allowing a third party to respond over the their phone from anywhere by asking who is there and what they want. At the same time, cameras triggered by a motion detector, store video when the doorbell is activated. “This technology really does lend itself to being integrated into a new house very easily using a structured media network like the Leviton Integrated Networks ™ system that we have in the Smart Cottage. That is very easy to do once your server and a camera are networked in the home.”

A Second Key Concern is Safety

“When we say safety”, Mr. Bertoty summarizes, “we want senior residents to be able to push a button and call for help or have a third party check on them and call for help if necessary.” The Smart Home has a number of innovative features for accomplishing that. A “water-ON” alert is installed in each shower that can tell how long the shower has been running and make a phone call if it is on for longer than a certain preset amount of time. This results in a call to the senior to see if they are actually using the shower and, if there is no response, the third party can contact a monitoring company or take some other measure like calling a neighbor or 911. The same technology can also be applied to stoves and ovens in the Smart Cottage. “We found that seniors want to save money on energy by turning down the furnace and turning up the stove to keep warm. This is dangerous and can result in carbon monoxide poisoning when the stove is gas operated.”

In addition to the cameras located outside the house for security, three of the 15 Cat 5 lines in the Smart Cottage running from the central server are dedicated to IP cameras… one in the master bedroom, one in the living room and one in the bathroom. These cameras are not open to anyone. It takes a senior-triggered event to activate those cameras. “We did a lot of research and focus group studies on seniors and found that they are very concerned about their privacy. We only use these cameras if something is wrong to find out what that is and only in situations agreed upon in advance with the parties involved.” Currently, Blueroof is working with Panasonic on cameras that allow seniors and parties at other locations to talk back and forth to each other. A video/audio conferencing system with a camera located by the computer allows residents to interact with medical personnel as well as to talk with other seniors and family members.

Automated lighting plays a part in Blueroof’s safety initiatives, as well. Leviton’s Decora Home Controls ™ (DHC) are used in a variety of locations. When an alarm is activated, designated light fixtures are automatically turned on at the same time. For instance when the smoke alarm goes off, a Leviton-supplied Home Automation Incorporated (HAI) alarm system-to-DHC interface board located in the Structured Media ™ Center triggers a number of lights, creating an illuminated pathway to the front and back doors. As part of their effort to keep seniors safe and at home, Blueroof specified an optional gas-powered generator for each unit, which is being installed in the model cottage.

A Third Key Concern Is Communications

Sensors, cameras, Decora Home Controls and alarm systems use a Structured Media ™ System in the house as well as a high speed Internet connection for communications with others outside the home. But automation can go just so far before it needs to interface with the senior residents of the Smart Cottage. A big concern for Blueroof from day one was how to make communications between the seniors and the technology easy enough for them to use the equipment and, perhaps more importantly, remember how to use it. As Mr. Bertoty points out, “Memory is a big problem. We did a lot of testing as well as focus groups where we brought seniors to the university and put them on computers to see how they used a mouse and how or even if they could use keyboards. We found that some could and that others just had no desire or even the ability to remember from one day to the next what to do.” Their work resulted in a system that they baptized the “Senior Media Center.”

Essential to the Senior Media Center is a media computer donated to the project by Microsoft that allows seniors to communicate with it using a remote control, completely eliminating the need for either a mouse or a keyboard. “This was one of our greatest discoveries. Most seniors couldn’t use a mouse. Some could use a keyboard. But, every single one of them knew how to use a remote control. They were experts on that. That has to do with what they do with most of their time…watch TV.”

The Senior Media Center is very good at integrating a variety of media functions. It is not only a computer, but also a radio, DVD, TIVO, VCR and more, all controlled by one remote control. Seniors can even use it to video conference quite easily with friends or relatives as well as for medical monitoring. A blood pressure monitor and a scale are integrated into the PC. There are videos that help residents to put on the blood pressure cuff. The Senior Media Center PC ties all these functions together and lets the residents push a button on the remote to trigger the desired action.

The problem with smart technology is that it adds significant expense to the “affordable housing.” “It is justified because it serves so many purposes. Once you get over the initial cost of getting the communications infrastructure in the home, it doesn’t cost very much to add a whole host of features.” Some of the savings generated from the energy efficiency of the Smart Cottage is applied to the cost of both the Senior Media Center and Internet access for the system. Blueroof is also involved in wireless initiatives in the community so they don’t have to run high-speed Internet access to each home.

 An Open-Ended Lab for Senior Living

Blueroof’s Smart Cottage, which will be completed in June of 2005, will be used as a model for testing out new equipment. Seniors will be brought in to see what they like and don’t like and focus groups will be carried out on site, as well. The basement will house classrooms and a laboratory, with the first floor serving as a normal ADA-compliant house. “It’s the first single family home built in the third ward of McKeesport in the last 75 years. It provides a dynamic laboratory in which we can include everything and then weed out what needs to be changed to maximize its benefit to the community and to seniors.”