Call to fund aged care to catch up on assistive ICT
VIDEO: Governments should incentivise organisations to innovate technology that helps seniors live independently at home then reimburse them for using it, according to an international aged services CEO.

VIDEO: Governments should incentivise organisations to innovate technology that helps seniors live independently at home then reimburse them for using it, according to an international aged services CEO.
Technology has the potential to help seniors who have health, social or advance care needs live independently at home, but aged services technologies are not advanced like they are in other sectors, said Stuart Kaplan, CEO of SelfHelp Community Services in the US.
“One of the things we should be doing is making sure that all new buildings have Wi-Fi accessibility so it facilitates the use of technology. Let’s start with the basics,” Mr Kaplan told the NEWSROOM at this month’s ACSA/IAHSA Joint International Conference, where he was a keynote speaker.
Better collaboration across the housing, social services and healthcare sectors was also key to improving services that would ultimately benefit governments through reduced healthcare spending, Mr Kaplan said.
“In order to utilise technology across those three sectors, governments should break down silos, incentivise organisations to move forward with innovation on how to use technology across those three sectors, then reimburse them for the use of those services with seniors at home,” he said.
Watch the video below:
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100% agree. but we can’t just wait for government to innovate an industry.. as providers its our responsibility to also bring innovation to the forefront… if you wait for government, disruption will beat us to it.
Thanks for addressing the stereotype that older people are afraid of technology. They’re always adapting to change- transitioning into a later stage of life is perhaps one of the hardest adaptations. The stereotype may have come about because of society’s perception of older people’s attitudes towards technology, which may in turn discourage them from learning new things.
I totally agree that Wi-Fi should be made accessible in all homes of older people. As the video noted, older people choose to live alone (the alternative may be residential care or a nursing home) but this increases their risk of social isolation and loneliness. The solution to this is connecting them to others through ICT.