Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is a term used to describe unobtrusive monitoring and support for elderly people to allow them to live as independently as possible. These days, the right technology can be individually adapted and customised to support individuals with the everyday tasks that they might need help with. This creates a sense of reassurance for both the infirm or elderly and their family members knowing that their home is looking out for them.
As our life expectancies increase, a large percentage of people want to grow old in their own home and to be as self-sufficient as possible – even if some level of care becomes necessary. Especially in the early stages, care is usually given by family members.
Automation can help provide support to families who want to look over their elderly relatives, whilst not appearing to be constantly watching over them. This is where Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) comes in. Loxone can take care of some of the daily tasks and even help with subtle monitoring so that the demand is reduced on relatives and careers alike.
Family members having to care for older relatives is not a great situation for anyone involved. Automation can be used here to help both parties. The older family members won’t feel as if they have lost their independence and their relatives will not have to spend as much time looking after them. Benefit from:
Those in need of care can continue to live their lives as usual without feeling that they are no longer self-sufficient. Partially, due to the fact that the Loxone technology will automatically take care of a range of things for them.
Caring for an elderly relative can be difficult, especially on top of your own work and family life. Loxone can take some of the load off relatives by taking care of a range of everyday functions such as automatically turning off the oven.
Let’s face it, professional care can be expensive. Loxone enables a more independent life and hence reduces the amount of care needed – which in turn can reduce the care costs.
In the event of an emergency, such as a fall, family members or a carer will be notified immediately with a phone call. This gives great peace of mind knowing that should something happen you can react immediately.
Loxone technology can be integrated into any building and be adapted to suit almost any requirements. However, we’ve listed a few of the more common applications we’ve seen in Ambient Assisted Living environments to give you an idea of what is possible.
Old age can result in more visits to the bathroom – especially at night. To help prevent feeling around for a switch in the dark, a soft night lighting mood is automatically brought on when the person gets out of bed. This ensures that the way to the bathroom is well lit – reducing the risk of a fall.
The presence of a person can be monitored through the uses of a Presence Sensor and/or Door & Window Contacts. If no activity is detected for a certain period of time, an emergency call will be made to a relative or carer using the Caller Service.
Elderly people can often live alone. In the event of an emergency, it’s crucial that they have the ability to let people know as quickly as possible. A Loxone Touch can be used as an emergency button – installation in every room will ensure that there is always one close.
An oven or iron accidentally left on can result in a fire. With Loxone, electrical devices can be monitored and, if necessary, be automatically switched off. For example, if it has been accidentaly left on, the hob can be turned off once Night Mode has been activated.
If the emergency services ever need to be called, it can sometimes be difficult for them to identify the exact apartment or house in question – then even once they have, gaining entry can be difficult. Loxone can help here by flashing the lights and automatically unlocking the front door if an emergency button is pressed.
With Loxone, you can set individual temperatures for different rooms – this is done on a schedule so rooms are only heated when they need to be. For example, the bedroom is only heated throughout the evening and night as it is unlikely to be used during the day. This can therefore help to reduce energy bills.
With Loxone, the overall air quality can be monitored and controlled – this means temperature, humidity and CO2 levels. Meaning that the perfect room climate will always be maintained.
If an elderly relative accidentally gets locked out of their home a family member can remotely open the door for them at any time via the Loxone App. In addition, you can give access codes to trusted neighbours.
Family members often worry about their elderly relatives’ safety. One of the biggest concerns is a potential burglary or a fire. A Smoke Detector and Presence Sensor in every room help to monitor the entire building. If there is a break in or smoke is detected, the alarm is sounded and relatives are immediately informed.
We often shy away from talking about our own medical issues. Loxone can be used to recognised behaviour changes, such as a significant increase in visits to the bathroom. This information can be passed on to a doctor/carer so they can talk directly with the person – rather than them having to recognise the changes themselves.
When leaving a room, the lights are often left on by mistake (this one is by no means unique to the elderly). To prevent this from happening and to reduce energy costs from wastage, with Loxone the lighting is automatically switched on when presence is detected and then switched off when you’re done in that room.
Older people often have to take medication, which is obviously very important for their well-being, on a daily basis. To help in keeping to the routine of taking the required medication, Loxone’s text-to-speech function can play a reminder at a certain time every day.
The home takes care of the majority of issues regarding security, comfort and energy-efficiency by itself. The Presence Sensor plays a big role here, detecting motion, brightness and even noise – this forms the basis for automation of important features such as lighting, heating, alarms and much more.
Although a lot of things are taken care of automatically, if someone wants to change something – such as lighting – all it takes is a tap on one of our Touch Switches. The touchpoints on the switches are freely assignable and can be configured in relation to the specific needs of the user.
Ambient Assisted Living is very popular with organisations that offer regular assisted living facilities – such as the Lebenshilfe in German. They’re a non-profit organisation who supports people in all areas of life and provides them with the living environments that they need. The Lebenshilfe uses Loxone technology to help them offer Ambient Assisted Living.
“By using the intelligent technology of Loxone, we have created additional support for residents and caregivers. The technology performs many tasks in the background and supports our residents. We can give the residents even more security. This is especially important in times when there is no caregiver on site. In an emergency, the caregivers are automatically notified.”
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