Can 'age tech' bring dignity back to care for older adults?

Moving long-term care residents between beds, gurneys and wheelchairs is one of the top causes of injury, according to WorkSafeBC (Getty Images / SDI Productions)

As well as being one of the most physically demanding tasks for front-line workers, moving long-term care residents between beds, gurneys and wheelchairs is one of the top causes of injury, according to WorkSafeBC.

Engineer Jayiesh Singh sees the physical strain this “patient handling” puts on his mother, a long-term care worker, and often hears her lament both the inefficiencies and indignities for residents who must be lifted, carried, or subjected to assists like hoists and lifts.

Determined to do better, Singh developed a gurney-like robotic platform that transfers patients between beds by gently rolling a thin, fabric-covered ledge under them and using AI to adjust its height and tilt as it extends and retract.

"By leveraging modern sensors, we’ve created a safer, more respectful process,” he says.

The potential of devices like these to improve patients’ experiences and alleviate the pressure on the health workforce – last year there were more than 8,000 vacancies for nurses and personal support workers in Ontario alone – is prompting public, private and non-profit investors to pour billions of dollars into “age tech.”

Alex Mihailidis, the CEO of AGE-WELL, a federally funded network of startups, researchers, non-profits, and more than 5,000 older adults and caregivers, says separating meaningful help from hype is critical.

AGE-WELL is one of the hosts of a two-day conference in Edmonton this month that’s exploring emerging trends in age tech. Sessions range from research presentations on AI-supported pain assessments and virtual reality exercise games in long-term care to a pitch competition where four finalists explain how their unique solutions help older Canadians and caregivers.

The conference is purposefully blending age tech for institutional and home use. Canadians will continue to need long-term care options, but according to a survey conducted by the National Institute on Ageing and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), 96 per cent of respondents aged 65-plus said they would do everything they could to stay at home.

‘Transformational changes’ needed

The survey was conducted in 2020, at the height of a pandemic that revealed dire conditions at some facilities for older adults. But the sector was in crisis before COVID-19, and both a lack of available beds and severe staffing shortages persist. Support for home and community services, meanwhile, lags far behind demand.

“Physicians are struggling to keep their patients at home, or to discharge them when they do need to go to the hospital,” says CMA president Dr. Joss Reimer. “Supporting a rapidly aging population and the caregivers they depend on requires transformational changes – at institutions and in the community.”

Indeed, shifting family dynamics are changing how Canadians care for their aging relatives, Mihailidis says.

“This is not only about formal care settings, like long-term care, where we hear about staffing shortages. It’s also about homes and communities. For instance, it’s no longer unusual for children living in Vancouver to be caring for parents in Toronto.”

Many older Canadians share Mihailidis’s aspirations for age tech. A 2019 survey commissioned by AGE-WELL revealed that 82 per cent of retirement-age respondents believed tech advancements would help them stay in their homes. A CMA survey conducted a year earlier found that 69 per cent of respondents aged 50-plus believed AI could help solve issues affecting the country’s health system, such as access to care and chronic disease treatment.

In the five years since those surveys, age tech ranging from simple sensors that track bedtime routines to more complex monitors for potentially dangerous activities such as cooking and appliance use, have become mainstream.

“You can go to a big-box electronics store, purchase a smart home system at a reasonable cost, and install it yourself,” Mihailidis says. What makes these systems even more impactful, he continues, is their use of AI technologies to collect and present data to older adults, caregivers and others in a useful way.

Next in line for widespread adoption could be AI-driven companions like “Mindy,” designed by Social Robots Inc. of St. Catharines, Ont., to provide emotional support and ease loneliness among older adults who live alone or in care homes.

Bringing family doctors on board

Despite age tech’s progress, many hurdles remain. First and foremost, Mihailidis says, is "a gap in educating people about the role of technology. It’s essential to help older adults and caregivers see how it can support independence."

"It is equally important to engage health professionals,” he says, particularly family doctors, who he calls “one of the toughest audiences when it comes to adopting age tech” but who are often “the first to address concerns about independence and make recommendations about transitioning to care.”

“Given the heavy workload of family doctors, learning about new tools can be challenging. We need to collaborate with them to integrate tech education without adding to their burden."

The lack of reliable high-speed internet connectivity in many of Canada’s rural, remote and northern communities also poses barriers to deployment, while the diverse needs of the country’s senior population make it difficult to develop one-size-fits-all solutions.

"Startups often face difficulties in scaling up because their products often cater to niche groups,” Mihailidis says, adding that these offerings tend to cost more owing to correspondingly small target markets.

While smart home systems are becoming more affordable, many Canadians, particularly those on fixed incomes, still find them to be out of reach. "The real challenge is cost mitigation in healthcare,” Singh says. “We need a framework that ensures broader access to age tech."

Likewise, healthcare facilities often lack the resources to implement new solutions. "Even though they recognize the benefits, many institutions are just trying to survive the next hour," Singh says.

Mihailidis and Singh both highlight the crucial role that government policies and funding play in the development, deployment and affordability of age tech. Expanding tax exemptions to cover smart home systems and other age tech purchases could make these solutions more accessible to a wider population, they say, while more sustained government support, including research and development funding, could help Canada become a global leader in age tech.

The time is now, says Singh.

"We're living longer, which means managing more complex health conditions. Our healthcare system isn't equipped to handle this growing demand, so technology must play a crucial role. By 2040, Canada's population over the age of 65 is expected to nearly double, making age tech vital for both healthcare and quality of life.”

This piece is part of a partnership between the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and CTV News. For more information on the CMA, visit www.cma.ca