Today, motion sensors can monitor the comings and goings of elderly Americans so they can live safely and independently in their own homes.One day soon, a cellular telephone will detect any new quaver in the voice, and a cuff link will notice any worrisome change of gait.
Eventually a talking computer screen will tell the elderly whether they should take an aspirin for a headache -- considering their 12 or 16 or 20 other medications.
Yesterday's science fiction is tomorrow's assisted living, say prognosticators now watching 77 million baby boomers grow old.
The boomers' wish to age independently has businesses jumping in with a host of new products and services. The businesses include giants such as Intel and Pfizer as well as Minnesota enterprises such as Shoreview-based Ecumen, a nonprofit with senior housing centers in 80 communities, and HealthSense in Mendota Heights, which sells a monitoring system it calls eNeighbor.
And for good reason: One projection has the digital home-health market growing 36 percent a year, to $2.1 billion in 2010. And the United States is behind Europe and Japan when it comes to developing such technologies.
To help new technology reach Minnesota seniors, Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, plans to introduce a bill Monday with tax credits of up to $1,000 for assistive technologies -- everything from telephone amplifiers to devices yet to be imagined -- that help them stay in their homes.
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