Andrew Barbash, MDRemote TV Support for Assisted Living Resident
I am reluctant to tout any specific technology because so much of it comes and goes, and more often just evolves at an increasingly faster rate. One barely has time to revel in a new discovery, invention, workflow automation or application of artificial intelligence, before the next iteration of it appears on the horizon. But sometimes the leap forward is so profound that the next generation of it will be an improvement, yet never achieve the sense of revolution of the former.
I am going to get to the thing called Jubilee TV, but bear with me for a bit of background.
I practiced my own version of medicine as a neurologist for 38 years before retiring. Having been deeply involved in the development of a community hospital stroke and neuro-intensive care unit I thought I had experienced the most meaningful of clinical scenarios. The good, the bad, the happy, the sad, the hopeless, and the miraculous. At the age of 72, active and healthy yet aware of the facts of aging that surround me, it is evident how important it is to consider how meaning can be enabled for those requiring more assistance in daily life.
My mom died last year at 96 and unfortunately lost most of her speech and almost all ability to perform voluntary complex motor or ambulatory functions. By the time assistance could be provided beyond just the bare bones of biophysiology and cleanliness, her decline had already eliminated the efficacy of any new technology. What I did sense, however, was an appreciation (new for this imperfect clinical mind) of the critical need for dignity as one ages.
In the past few months a family member abruptly needed to move to assisted living due to a spousal illness that exposed the frayed edges of their mutual daily functional existences. He was an engineer with a highly analytical and linear mind, still the case despite the usual declination of senescence. I had never spent much time with him but was willingly called upon to do so, driving to long distance appointments and having him in our home for 3 intensive weeks. It was astounding to watch someone so committed to self-management and process control deal with the reality of the aging process. I have always understood as a neurologist how complex so many apparently simple tasks are….moving one’s center of gravity forward in space on only two legs without face-planting, falling back or tilting sideways. How about just lifting a spoon to ones mouth or touching a finger to an iphone to answer a call properly. So many of our seemingly automated actions are in fact the result of highly complex multifactorial feedback loops and sensor-motor circuits. These are simultaneously resilient, adaptive and highly vulnerable to disruption.
Aging humans are increasingly dependent on their mobile smartphone to call, text, email and even manage medication alerts, hearing aide settings, blood pressure or glucose monitoring, etc. Its a blessing and a curse bundled into device requiring vision, touch, two-handed dexterity, all if which are in decline. And as the mind/body ecosystem becomes increasingly constrained in the use of such devices, there is an even greater need for simpler modes of interacting.
One may be critical of Amazon for any number of corporate practices, but there is no denying that this is a company whose vision was clear from the start and that has truly solved the soup-to-nuts logistics of “looking for stuff and getting it to my front door”
One may be critical of Apple for various reasons, but it is patently obvious that in the DNA of this company’s products is achieving an optimized intersection of form, function, privacy, trust and simplicity. It might not always succeed at it, but you are always aware of that philosophy emanating from its founders.
You cannot overestimate the power and utility of remote control of any device by skilled family members, professionals or others in a position to assist people in their technology dependent tasks. I have been exposed to the gamut of secure remote support tools –from complex robotic video carts for clinical telemedicine to personal use of tech support tools to easily access (by invitation of the user) to a computer or even smartphone. Sometimes its just to help with navigation, other times to walk someone through a task, others to fix a technical glitch. Its the simplicity of the workflow process that is essential, not the specific remote access technology,
And thereby is the renewed focus on the TV. We think of a TV historically as a vehicle for delivering passive content to someone who only needs to push buttons on a remote to scroll through what is available, and adjust the sound. But a TV represents a bidirectional relatively coordination-free process that is particularly relevant to people who are more likely to spend more of their time in one physical space. And a TV does not constantly pose the threat of external intrusion or the need for technical support for basic functions.
However, the more you watch older people interact with a TV the more limited they are in exploiting its potential and the greater the need to both simplify the human interface and to enable remote support by loved ones in order to leverage the technology.
For several years I had searched for whether anyone had developed a brainlessly simple method to enable me or any family caregiver to remotely support a person in assisted living (or in their own home) to watch TV . Because, as the TV itself becomes more capable of streaming and customizing more kinds of content, the remote control of it has become far. too complex. Just like what has happened to the mobile phone. One has to be clear about the goal. It is to enable the older person to expend less of their cognitive, emotional and biophysical energy in order to leverage the utility of the communications tools that can be so empowering, Anyone who has “alexa-enabled” their home in a pragmatic way knows the end result of doing this right.
Finally someone has figured this out, and clearly the founder of this company must have had personal experience with this challenge. I recently setup JubileeTV for this family member. While there might be other solutions at present, it is obvious that at least one entity has thought the process through so completely that the result is a truly streamlined implementation of the primary objective. It has merged an amazingly simple setup process with immediate human real-time support to ensure success upon launch for the end user. And the goal is achieved….
Dad/Mom/Nana/Papa….you can just sit in your comfy chair and decide what you want to see, watch, or listen to…..or we can make some suggestions for you. You can relax and not bother with anything other than a large button simplified remote control and you dont even need to touch that if its too much trouble. We are your family, we care about helping you watch a movie, hear an opera, hear a podcast, see pictures of the kids, see a popup message from us, a reminder to take medication, or a quick drop-in video visit. And we care about you not having to expend your precious energy just to initiate the task.
We can pick up our own smartphone or tablet and immediately see what your TV is showing. We can turn it on or off. Before you even have to ask we can see whether your desired show is displaying on the TV as you had intended. We can scroll through your channel guide to find something of interest. We can quickly drop in by video without you needing to click on anything other than say OK. We can install, customize and operate smart apps on that same TV to introduce you to podcasts about topics of interest. We can help you expand what you are exposed to without you needing to learn some new device or navigation process. Then we can send you a followup message that shows up on the big screen, and you can do the same to us, so we can know how it went and what else we can do to assist.
So now those who love and care for you can be your hands, arms and navigators….so you can focus your energy on getting more pleasure and meaning out of this expanding world of content and communication methods. We can simplify and support. Your job is to just feel more alive and let us know what you need. When it comes to the basics of staying in touch and staying informed, and staying connected through your big friendly TV screen, we finally have the tools we need to play the role we need to play in order to assist you.
A few examples: From my smartphone I can post a message for our family member in assisted living. He/She will see this in big display over riding the TV show or just the blank TV screen. It can be set to automatically start the TV if its off in order to show the message. Then from the smartphone I can click to “telescope” in and see what the message looks like or if its been viewed. He/She can easily respond or just view and delete from self explanatory prominent buttons on the remote that mirror the buttons on the screen.
Then when they reply they are ready…or just use standard sms if easier…I can “telescope” in again, scroll remotely to the video streaming service or TV channel that the movie is on and launch it. I can then drop in a few minutes later to confirm they are still able to watch it.
#assistedLiving #technology
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