Remote care with technology

Do you have relative who needs extra care at home?

In this article, I’ll provide you with advice and suggestions on how technology can help.

We will look at how they can keep in touch, how you can monitor them and even let visitors and care givers into the property.? We wont look at the ethics or bigger picture of care in the community but focus on how to help them remain as independent as you can in their own home.

This is primarily aimed at the elders of our community and as they mature and sadly become more dependent on assistance.? It is probable that your relative may not use a computer, so all my suggestions are aimed at zero use of computers by your relative.

It’s possible that other products exist on the market, and some may be much cheaper, but the mix of products work and are secure.? I am an eight or nine hour round trip from my house to the home of my relative, so I have factored this in when recommending products.

We will cover, how they can stay in contact with their friends or family, how you can help them feel secure in their homes and what assistance can be remotely provided.

Getting connected to the Internet

Even though the person being remotely cared for may not need to use a computer, they will need a good, fast, solid Internet connection with a backup. This is because when you are using audio over the Internet, you need a good quality of service, and devices such as Amazon Echo do not have fantastic call quality on low bandwidth Internet.?

We ended up choosing a 500 Meg download with a built-in mobile backup which automatically kicks in should there be a problem. Before you think this is over the top, the solution is not just download, but upload as well, if you are chatting on an Alexa, and have various cameras and even a smoke detector all vying for connectivity, it can all end up with dropouts on voice quality.

If you have a power cut

Part of the issue you have when you're caring for somebody remotely is you don't know if the electricity supply has gone off. I ended up putting in a small battery system that kept the electricity supply to the essential network devices. Even a small, less than one-second break in the electricity supply can cause systems to reboot.? ?If you have any other critical items, they also need connecting to a battery backup.

Landline phone

Depending upon the age of the property, the installation of the telephone line may still have an analogue phone line. In our case, it is used for an elderly care system so that the person being cared for pressed a button on the pendant around their neck, and it called a central care centre. ??When we first installed a remote care system, Amazon had a link between a phone line and meant you could ask Alexa to answer calls. This feature was retired in February, so an EE mobile is used to forward all incoming calls to Alexa

Amazon Alexa Echo

The Echo devices are all voice activated, so ideal for visually impaired. It is used to make outgoing calls and also has a drop in feature to each device (from the same account) so an iPad can be used to remotely adjust device volume even play music remotely. ?As the newer 4th generation devices have good quality speakers, they make it ideal for anyone who is hard of hearing. Amazon also has Audible books that can be played using voice activation.

Security

Allowing you to remotely monitor somebody who needs remote care, depending upon your circumstances, is easily achieved with a Ring security system. This allows you to connect cameras and arm and disarm the intruder alarm system remotely.

Ring cameras all have speakers in them; however, depending upon the hearing ability of the person being cared for, they're probably not good enough quality audio. So, we tend to use multiple cameras around the property to allow us to see all areas (non-sensitive) to care and help the person find things. We also use a Ring doorbell, which allows us to see who's calling and talk to them remotely. It's also worth considering putting a very large sticker on the door politely requesting cold callers do not ring.

If you are remotely caring for a vulnerable person, having the ability to remotely manage and chat to care givers is a real bonus, you will need the approval of the care management company as their staff will be remotely monitored.

With door and motion sensors, you can also help if the relative could have memory lapses and inadvertently open doors or windows that could cause issues.

Switching things on and off - remotely

Philips hue offer a fantastic system which allows you to remotely control lights and electrical sockets. In our case the person being cared for was visually impaired, so it is used to turn on and of power sockets.

I've also installed Hue smart power sockets on all of the Amazon devices so I can remotely reboot them. I also added one to the TV which in case it was left on I could switch off remotely however with some manufacturers you can now turn on and off the TV using an app.

The Phillips Hue is not the cheapest, but it has never let us down and I even have several at home and work.

My relative was in the process of sight loss, and the Hue system allowed me to install LED neon lights around the door frames, with different colours for different rooms. As their only vision was peripheral, they knew the green room was the toilet and the red room was the bedroom.

Opening the door for visitors and care givers.

Its not uncommon to see a key safe located on the outside of properties, but this is not ideal and we wanted to offer something that could let emergency workers in, as well as visitors or car givers.

The Nuki door lock system attaches to the inside of the door and remotely locks and unlocks the door.

Nuki also produce a remote keypad so the visitors can enter a code to unlock the door. ?When they leave the property the providing handle is lifted the door automatically re locks. ?Nuki is also connected to a Hue power socket to remotely reboot if needed.

We changed the code monthly and certain friends have their own code which only works during certain hours.

Smoke detection

Remote monitoring for smoke or Co2 can be done via Google Nest Protect, and this means you get peace of mind should the person you are assisting is hard of hearing.

Heating

Depending on the complexity of the heating system, you can use Google Nest thermostat for basic one zone systems or Tado for full multi-room single radiator control. Often the devices can be linked to use the Amazon Echo to give voice control as well.

Keeping things separate

Part of the problem when you're trying to install systems in another person's house is remembering all the passwords and allowing the e-mail account to be used. It's a good idea to set up an e-mail specifically for the person or property that you have control over. This means you can sign up for new accounts and validate the emails, but it also means that you can run two services on Amazon Echo on separate devices using separate accounts.

Wi-Fi

If the house being covered has quite thick walls or the Internet is in one room and the signal doesn't get through to the other, installing a Google Mesh network where they all daisy chain from each other will give you more resilience. Because the devices all connect to the mesh network, you can change Internet providers and not have to worry about Wi-Fi password changing. If you don't go for a mesh-type network and you change Internet providers, there's nothing to stop you from copying the details from the Wi-Fi of the first router and renaming the Wi-Fi of the second one, including the passwords. That way, all of the cameras won't need resetting.

On site connectivity – when you cant? be there.

One of the problems that you find when you're remotely managing a network is determining or reconfiguring certain devices. Many of the items we use are cloud based which means you have a cloud login as well as an app login but for some instances such as changing the Wi-Fi password or sending a modem code string (such as getting the landline to divert its calls two EE) can only be done using a device that's on the same network or plugged in to the same phone system.

USB modems still exist, and you can use dialler to enter the hash and number string to the phone company on analogue (or do it remotely if it is a digital line)

Some micro-PCs can be configured to automatically boot when powered up this means that in the event of a total power failure and the battery pack not having enough power the unit will automatically restart and log in. ?I use a small 8 port network switch to connect all the devices (Hue, Ring etc) to get an internet connection.

Summary

You can now provide a reasonably good level of remote care for relatives using off ?the shelf products. They are not a substitute for being their in person, but if like me you don’t live close enough to visit that regularly, you can give them that little bit of independence they need to stay at home.

I have no affiliation to any of the organisations mentioned here and pay full price for the services and products.