How Technology Can Help Boost Senior Health (With Tips to Get Started)

How Technology Can Help Boost Senior Health (With Tips to Get Started)

In today’s digital age, technology has become an essential part of our daily lives. From smartphones and tablets to laptops and smart home devices, technology can help us stay connected, informed, and entertained. While many of our senior loved ones may be hesitant to adopt new technology, it can offer numerous benefits that can enhance their quality of life. In this blog post, we will cover the health benefits of using technology for seniors and look at ways you can practice today using TAMCARE’s integrated health profile platform.

How Technology is Boosting Senior Health

Staying Connected to the World

The internet provides a wealth of information on a variety of topics, from health and wellness to news and entertainment. Seniors can use technology to stay informed and engaged with the world around them. One of the biggest benefits of technology for seniors is staying connected with family and friends. With video conferencing, social media, and messaging apps, seniors can communicate with loved ones no matter where they are. This can help reduce social isolation and maintain good cognitive health, which becomes especially important as we age.

Managing and Uplifting Health

There are many health-related apps and devices that can help seniors manage their health. From medication reminders to fitness trackers, technology can help seniors stay on top of their health and wellness. Research has shown that using technology can improve cognitive capabilities such as episodic memory. Activities such as playing brain games or using memory apps can help keep the mind sharp and improve memory.

In addition, seniors using health apps can track their goals and progress to better understand their health by the numbers. In order to attain a holistic health outcome, seniors need to start thinking about how their health progresses over time and be able to visualize that data. Using technology such as the TAMVOES platform can help seniors improve their health and be better informed on their health decisions. You can get someone who is familiar with technology to help your loved one navigate the platform, such as our PSW or nurses.

Improved Safety

Technology can also improve safety for seniors. Smart home devices such as doorbells with cameras and fall detection sensors can provide peace of mind for both seniors and their loved ones. Technology can also track vital health information and send it seamlessly to a senior’s care team, providing families with around-the-clock monitoring of their health.

Helping Seniors Navigate Technology

To get started with technology, you will have to understand and navigate the basics, such as learning how to turn on and off the device, how to navigate the home screen, and how to use the settings menu. Take it one step at a time and don’t go too in-depth to start – just like any skill, it takes time to learn. A good starting place for any device is knowing how to use these features:

• Navigating the home screen and lock screen with touch or gestures.
• Opening and using essential apps such as phone, text, video call, camera, and health tracking.
• Typing on the keyboard using touch or voice.
• Setting up accessibility settings such as close captions, font size, gestures, voice control, volume, and icons.

One of the great things about technology is that once you grasp the basics of navigation, you can use the internet to learn more advanced features – using technology to learn about technology! There are many online resources available to help seniors learn how to use technology: Online tutorials, YouTube videos, and user manuals can all be helpful. Our team can even walk you through how to navigate the TAMCARE platform to view your home care plan information.

The last step to learning how to use technology is to practice. Practice, practice, practice. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and keep practicing until you feel comfortable using the device. Think of it as a skill such as riding a bike or learning a new language.

Making The Most of Your TAMCARE Home Care Plan With TAMVOES

Once you become familiar with navigating a device, the TAMCARE Team has designed a platform for you to keep in touch with your loved ones during our PSW visits. Through our partner TAMVOES, you can tack important health information and build out a complete health profile, which can help keep important medical documents for easy access and speed up appointment times at the doctor’s office. Our PSWs will also send regular updates through the app or desktop platform on each of their visits so you can have the latest updates wherever you are.

Using the TAMVOES platform, you have your 4 pillars of health:

• My Journal
• My Team
• My Health Profile
• My Personal Data Trust

Using the Journal, you can keep personal notes to record your health events and track symptoms. This can include anything from recording your mood on a particular day or writing down a health event so you don’t forget.

The Health Profile is where you can keep track of your vitals, blood pressure, medications, immunizations, allergies, and more, for real-time recording of health information. You can set up the vitals to be coming directly from an Apple Watch, so you never miss out on an important measurement that could be life-saving.

The Personal Data Trust gives you a place to securely store your medical documents such as lab work or other requisitions. Our software is HIPAA compliant and secured by Medstack®, so your private information is completely secured for only your eyes or whoever you chose to share your documents with.

And finally, using your Team section, you can instantly share any information directly with your care team or healthcare providers for seamless collaboration and communication. You can invite people to view, edit, or update your records.

With TAMCARE’s home care plan, we ensure that your loved ones are safe by giving you frequent updates through the TAMVOES platform.

Summary

While it may be hard for seniors to adopt technology, it can be very beneficial and easy to get started. Practicing daily is essential to becoming fluent with any skill such as using a smartphone or a desktop device. Seniors can start by navigating the basics of their device, and use the internet to research more advanced features.

For caregivers, it is essential that we use our expertise and knowledge of technology to help those who may not be familiar with it – having grown up in a different time, and having their own experiences that we can learn from too.

Please reach out to our team if you are in need of extra assistance around the home, or with setting up technology such as the TAMCARE platform. We are always here to help!

Reach out to the TAMCARE Team