{"id":73,"date":"2016-01-26T19:12:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T19:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/?page_id=73"},"modified":"2016-04-09T19:27:59","modified_gmt":"2016-04-09T19:27:59","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"su-youtube su-u-responsive-media-yes\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"540\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/19K_gGambQk?\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture\" title=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI never take it off,\u201d Sari Stowel says, pointing to the discrete silver necklace that hangs around her neck. At the end of the chain<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>is a small pendant that tucks nicely under the collar of her shirt. \u201cIt\u2019s inconspicuous,\u201d Stowel says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Stowel is 88 and lives in the Chartwell Rockcliffe Retirement Residence, in Ottawa. She moved in when she reached a point in life when she felt she probably shouldn\u2019t be living alone. She, and every other resident at Chartwell Rockcliffe, wear the same silver chain with a small pendant, just one example of what has come to be known as \u201cwearable technology.\u201d The pendant functions as a medical alert sensor. When the small sensor button on the pendant is pushed by its user, an alarm signals and a message is transmitted electronically to a remote server. The message\u00a0is in turn relayed to care staff at the residence who are able to locate the necklace, and its user.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d Stowel exclaims. \u201cOne night I fell asleep and I turned onto my side and it triggered the alarm. A nurse came in the middle of the night. She woke me up and said \u2018I called\u2019 &#8211; I said I didn\u2019t. She figured out that I had pressed my necklace under my arm when I rolled over,\u201d says Stowel, laughing at the mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The simplicity of the device is what appeals to Stowel, who acknowledges that at her age, she doesn\u2019t want extra things to keep track of her. \u201cYou get everything mixed up,\u201d Stowel says. She admits that the pendant is the only form of technology that she uses and wearing her necklace is enough for her. \u201cIt\u2019s enough to keep track of old people themselves, not to mention trying to remember things they often don\u2019t,\u201d she says. Stowel says she has no privacy concerns with wearing her medical alert necklace. In fact, she\u2019s pleased the nurse woke her up that night. \u201cI know it works,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve never had to use it because of a fall, thank goodness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Stowel, the benefits outweigh any risks to her privacy. She says she feels safe and protected by her necklace and its communicating pendant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whether Stowel or all the other residents of the Chartwell Rockcliffe Residence are fully aware of it, they are now part of the leading edge in wearable technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">While wearables have applications across the generations \u2013 for fitness buffs, for younger people undergoing medical treatment \u2013 the leading edge could be among the aged. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Canada\u2019s population is rapidly aging and the increased number of seniors will put pressure on Canada\u2019s health care system. Governments everywhere are keenly aware of the need to keep patients out of hospitals and retirement homes, and reduce healthcare costs. As a result, there is\u00a0a push for innovation in health care to mitigate costs by using resources effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the possibility of technological change could create cost savings due to process efficiency. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Advocates maintain that wearable technology is a relatively easy way to collect data. In the grand scheme of things, the devices are cheap and easy to use. Many devices, such as a Fitbit, offer quantifiable goals and being able to keep track of accomplishments provides incentives to a patient for self-improvement. The arrival of wearable technology in both the consumer market and health care represents an emerging trend toward personalized medicine as individuals manage their health information. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Perhaps it is\u00a0inevitable that our obsession with health and fitness would at some point intersect with another ubiquitous aspect of modern life \u2013 technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/chapter-1\/canadas-aging-population\/\">NEXT: The beginning, Canada&#8217;s aging population.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI never take it off,\u201d Sari Stowel says, pointing to the discrete silver necklace that hangs around her neck. At the end of the chain\u00a0is a small pendant that tucks nicely under the collar of her shirt. \u201cIt\u2019s inconspicuous,\u201d Stowel says. Stowel is 88 and lives in the Chartwell Rockcliffe Retirement Residence, in Ottawa. She [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-73","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","post-thumb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/agingtech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}