Do care homes or nursing homes ever use Amazon Alexa to help seniors?

I don’t have a problem with it. It could be helpful. It could also be very funny at times!

I love suspenseful movies. When my husband first installed tech devices, my husband and daughters waited until late at night and I was watching a scary movie and played tricks on me by turning the lights on and off. LOL

My husband is an engineer. We have Alexa and Google. My mom told me that I was very lazy when I said, “Hey Google, turn off kitchen lights.”

I know that my mom did not get the ‘tech’ world! Hahaha Perhaps other seniors will.

We live in a progressive society, so who am I to say that it isn’t possible to help seniors? I am for anything that can help facilities function better. Still, there is a learning curve for people not used it.

Some people like technology, others don’t. I personally like it. I believe in keeping things simple but I don’t believe that we shouldn’t move forward with the times. Google sets a timer for me when I am cooking. Tech devices do help us.

Will seniors feel it is impersonal? Will they reject it? My mom had a hard time with self service gas stations, etc. They are of the generation that offered personal services. Some seniors prefer being waited on. They see any type of AI (artificial intelligence) as lazy! To them it’s a shortcut.

I am still waiting for Rosie from The Jetsons to come live with me! I love Rosie! I used to want her when I was a kid to clean my room. Well, either Rosie or Mary Poppins who used magic! LOL

Antiquated ideas allow us to become stagnant and never progress. It’s uncomfortable for people to adjust to change.

I believe that is why change is slow. It is also slow because there is a testing period. People want trial runs before permanently moving forward.

I'm not aware of any, however, I have read online about some who do. I thought about it for my LO who is MC, but, it didn't sound very feasible. In order to be useful, the resident still needs to have a certain amount of memory and verbal skills. Perhaps, for some residents it would be helpful, but, for those who are not able to ask questions it might be limited. And, my LO would not likely listen to anyone who was not there, encouraging and ensuring she was getting along ok.
If anyone has success stories, I'd like to hear about them.

I’m at a skilled nursing/assisted living everyday. We discussed getting Alexa and it was voted down by all hands-on staff. Most felt that it would be more work for them. Most residents are not tech savvy. FaceTime and Zoom visits have been more than difficult. We actually hired a couple of aides to help with these visits. We are well staffed, but don’t want to add anything more to their workload. Ultimately, adding staff will lead to increased costs.

Saurav, I honestly don't think it is a good idea, for nursing homes. When my Mom was in a nursing homes, vast majority of people on her floor needed a lot of help from the Staff. And if that person was in his/her room by themselves and suddenly heard a voice talking to them, they would be startled. Imagine if that person told their family they were hearing voices.

It also depends on the senior's memory. What Alexa said five minutes ago may be totally forgotten by the resident.

Alexa might work in "assisted living" if the person was tech savy when they arrived. My Dad, in his 90's, would have been able to understand the concept as he was an electrical engineer. Only problem, he would try to take Alexa apart to see how it works :P

Neither I, nor my sig other, are into all the tech stuff that is around. Heck, I still use a flip-phone. My refrigerator doesn't talk to my stove. If I need to know something, I will go to my computer [been using PC's since late 1980's] and researching keeps my mind sharp.

With so much dependence on tech items, I can see the younger generation not being able to play "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" without their cellphone or Alexa parked next to them.

I think there might be an issue with follow-through, and documenting Alexa's "advice."     Med pros chart, and that's an absolute necessity.    I doubt if Alexa is programmed to chart, even though it might be programmed to issue reminders.   Still, for medical records, I think the certainty of a real live person needs to be there to ensure that instructions, etc. are properly conveyed.

There might also be a legal issue with delegation by  med pros of obligations to a machine.   Alexa has also been known to ad lib.   If that happens, and a patient suffers or is injured, who's liable?   I doubt if the med pros or the admin staff would want that responsibility.

Besides, people in care facilities in my opinion need and often crave interaction with real life people, and animals, but not machines.


FreqFlyer, my appliances don't communicate with each other either!  I wouldn't mind though if my furnace told me when the electronic filter needs to be cleaned.  

I totally understand that we can not replace the personal human care that is much needed by the seniors. I am an engineer and was wondering wouldn't it be nice if I could make something using Alexa that would help the staff at care/nursing homes.

What I had in mind was pretty simple - Put Alexa in every room and let it ask a set questions (can be pre programmed) every day at a set time (say 9am ).
This is what it would look like:

Every morning at 9am.

Alexa: Good morning Peter, its time for your daily check up. Please tell me if you are ready to proceed.
Peter (Senior): Sure, go ahead
Alexa: Alright, let's do today's check-up. Have you had a good sleep tonight?
Peter: Yes, I did
Alexa: That's great! And did you take your medications this morning?
Peter: No, I forgot.
Alexa: That's unfortunate. I am going to let the nurse know. Do you have any complaints?
Peter: Yes, I feel a bit feverish and have some cough and cold
Alexa: I am sorry to hear that you've got fever, cough and common cold. Would you want to talk to a nurse today?
Peter: Alright, I'll let the nurse know that you want to talk. Let me summarize our conversation. You had good sleep last nigh. You did not take your medications this morning. You feel feverish, cough and cold and would like to speak to a nurse. Did I get everything right?
Peter: Yes
Alexa: Great, then we are finished. Enjoy the rest of your day!

The answers captured by Alexa will be saved and sent directly to the Nurse/care aides and they can then prioritize whom to check first. The nurse can add more questions specific to the needs of the residents. Ultimately the goal is to make the work of staff more streamlined so that they can focus on providing better care to the residents.

I would love to know your thoughts on this!

Thanks

Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate your input on this topic. If you have a brief moment, please read my latest comment on the top and let me know what you think.
Thank you!

Just curious, have you ever even been in a nursing home?

A device should not be used. Patients need human contact. A device cannot see a patient. In some cases seeing a patient and their condition is vital. Plus programming and retrieval would be time that could be better spent with direct care. And there would be the costs of equipment.

SauravB,  I don't think those of us who responded are getting through to you.   So I'm taking the liberty of revising your proposed dialogue, to offer a different scenario, for someone who doesn't even have dementia, but has physical constraints, whether it's unstable gait, arthritis, osteoporosis, or something else, but who is still cognizant.

Alexa: Good morning Peter, its time for your daily check up. Please tell me if you are ready to proceed.
Peter (Senior): What???  I was sleeping; why did you wake me up?
Alexa: Well, let's do today's check-up. Have you had a good sleep tonight?
Peter: What's for?  I had one yesterday; why do I need another one?  You woke me up just for that?

Alexa: Have you had a good sleep tonight?
Peter:   Why the h*ll did you wake me up to ask such a stupid question?
Alexa: And did you take your medications this morning?
Peter: How the h*ll should I know?   Has anyone been here to give them to me?  They're locked up.  Don't YOU know that??  How do you expect me to get up when I can't walk w/o someone helping me?   And I can't get into the med cabinet b/c it's ALWAYS locked!

Alexa: Do you have any complaints?
Peter:   Yeah, I'm tired of being waken in the morning to answer a bunch of stupid questions.  Where's my nurse?   I need to go to the bathroom.   Are you gonna help with that?
Alexa: I am sorry to hear that have such an urgent need to go to the bathroom.   Can't you get up and go yourself?
Peter:   Don't you know the rules of the facility?   We have to CALL when we need to walk around, especially to the bathroom.   Now, I NEED to go, NOW!
Alexa:     Can't you go by yourself?
Peter:     Why do you think this place has those rules?    Some of us fall, but I guess as a machine you wouldn't understand that.

Alexa:    Alright, I'll let the nurse know that you need to go.    Is there anything else?
Peter:    Yeah, where's my breakfast?  
Alexa:   I don't know.   Did you order it?
Peter:   Look at the 3 ringed volume on the stand.  Of course I ordered it, this morning.    Sheesh!

Alexa:     Let me summarize our conversation.     You have to go to the bathroom and you want your breakfast.   Did I get everything right?
Peter: Yeah, after I explained it to you.
Alexa: Great, then we are finished. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Peter:   Don't come back and wake me up again.   And when will my daughter (or son) will come up to bring me more clean clothes.   I need clean underwear!

SuaravB, not all patients are like this, but many are.   And it takes the skill of TRAINED medical professionals to work with patients like this, not a programmed machine.

If facilities weren't shut down, I'd suggest you take a tour.  Even visiting a rehab facility, walking to various rooms and interviewing patients, especially those with walkers and wheelchairs in their rooms, would be a good experience for you.

Another thing you can try to simulate is what it can be like to be in a facility is attach a wooden stick, or board, or something to one of your legs and try to walk straight, w/o any help, or w/a walker.   Lack of mobility will help you understand what many if not most of the patients lack on a regular basis. 

And if you  need further explanation, drink lots of water, eat, and press the call button, then wait for someone to come help you go to the bathroom.

Lastly, for those of us who've cared for one or more of our relatives or friends, the last thing I'd want to be bothered with is an intervention between myself and the medical staff.     They are trained to identify certain conditions.  Alexa is not.

Did you know, BTW, that med pros are also trained to identify potential issues simply from observation?   In nursing school my niece and her classmates once had an assignment of observing people in various locations, and identifying potential medical conditions simply by observation.    That would include skin color (e.g., for potential jaundice), gait, ability to stand straight &walk evenly, etc.   

SauravB, another thought is on a totally different level.   Who's going to pay for all those Alexas?    The cost will  be incorporated into fees charged by the facilities, or might even be charged directly to patients if they agree to have one in their rooms.  

Paying for care is frequently hard enough as it is, even with assistance.

I can only imagine comedy and chaos to tell you the truth.

If you missed this before, you might like to take a look.
It’s SNLs take on an Alexa designed for seniors.

youtube.com snl alexa

"SauravB,"

I'm not trying to burst your bubble and I know people are always trying to find ways to improve a variety of life's demands but, where do we draw the line?

Just like us women (or men) caregivers are imperfect along with nursing staffs at facilities - "Alexa" as pretty as her name is will make mistakes too when she malfunctions. Just like sophisticated cars with all their fancy programming will malfunction and it will take a real "specialist" to fix that car back to working order at a higher price of course. Gone are the days when a man could pull underneath a car with his toolbox and fix what is wrong restoring it to driveable conditions.

It's no different with "Alexa" and how can one possibly foresee all the different questions/scenarios that could occur especially with dementia patients. When "Alexa" malfunctions, will the actual staff even know anymore how to handle a situation without the reliance of "Alexa" or any other technology?

I'm sorry, I just feel trying to push professional people more and more away from doing what they've spent years and money to be trained to do where they are taking care of human beings and being replaced by the same lady who can open your blinds, turn on your TV, turn off and on your lights - I don't think is such a great idea.

I can also see a real issue with noise levels. A bunch of hard of hearing people speaking loudly to Alexa or loud because they don’t understand Alexa. At times noise levels are hard to cope with in AL and SN.

NobodyGetsIt makes a good point about Alexa maintenance.   If devices were installed in every room, or even just some, and they break down, that disrupts care for the day while waiting for a repairperson.    The provider or sales entity would have to establish a priority care standard so that attention could be diverted from other owners to those in facilities.   And in the meantime, staff would also be diverted back to what Alexa was allegedly doing to assist in patient care.

Another issue is privacy and confidentiality.   I've heard from those more familiar with Alexa type devices that Alexa sometimes misuses confidential information.  I don't recall the specific incidents, but it was something to the effect that Alexa overheard and inappropriately retained comments not meant to be recorded.

If I was on the legal staff of the facility, or working for the attorney for the facility, I'd really tighten up the purchase or lease clauses to extend liability to the company providing or selling the units, as well as the manufacturer and all subs.   Wrap it up tight so any slips are covered by hefty liability obligations.  I don't think an NDA would be unreasonable.

I have an Alexa set up in my father's assisted living apartment. I set the reminders on it for appointments and mealtimes and sometimes will even have it read the menu to him, especially if one of his favorite foods is on offer. He also uses it for music and news. The Assisted Living staff are not responsible for updating it. It does take me a little time each week and month when the menus and activity schedules come out to update the reminders but it isn't hard to do from my home. When I first did this the facility management said that Alexas weren't allowed but when I pushed back a bit they admitted they had no good reason for the unwritten rule and agreed that it could be useful. I offered to post a sign on the door in case any staff were concerned with having it in the apartment and they said that was not necessary. The only problem I've had that it will occassionally lose contact withe the internet and I have to stop in to reconnect but I'm over there several times a week (pre-Covid) and it's not a big problem. During Covid it's lost contact and I haven't been able to get it reconnected and I imagine it will have been so long since it was working my dad will have forgotten how it works by the time I get back to fix it.

what is one of the residents or workers is named Alexa? It could cause confusion.

SauraV, you responded to jkm999 stating that you "would love to talk more with [her/him] about different use cases for Alexa for Seniors."    I was quite hard on you with my earlier response, so I'll try to compensate for that by sharing what I think are fairly common approaches by caregivers:

Instead of searching for uses of a specific device, think of what devices elders and caregivers need, or want, and then tailor a device to those needs.

E.g.,  I doubt if many caregivers look at walkers, or rollators, or phone enhancers and ask how they can be used.   They/we identify a need, such as assistance getting out of chairs, of walking, of going down steps, getting in and out of cars, and ask which devices can be of assistance. 

Identify a need and ask yourself how, and if, Alexa could help, and/or how it could be adapted to do so.  

To me, focusing first on the need and identifying solutions is a goal of problem solving, and would make an item more useful if it can be adapted.    Seniors shouldn't have to adapt to consumer products.   We/they have enough issues to deal with already.

SauravB, There are regulations for Assisted Living and other facilities to document all interactions with residents and patients. This is necessary to maintain licensing, and also for continuum of care and liability issues.

All interactions would have to be transferred by staff to the person’s electronic record. This would require additional staff to do this additional work. Currently staff use a laptop in patient rooms or at the desk as they work with patients, other staff and speaking with family or outside providers. It’s part of our electronic charts, backed up to a second unit so we never lose a record. Alexa would be a big time waster and additional expense. Our goal is to not only provide the best care, but also at the lowest cost. Alexa would mean extra costs in a couple of different ways from start up costs, equipment maintenance, and time teaching patients, additional staff.

I mentioned this at a meeting of facility managers Friday. All agreed it was a nonstarter for them. As suggested by another poster you need to go spend time at a facility. And you need to spend some time with the elderly. There are many factors that would affect for them to use Alexa; hearing loss, memory loss issues, etc.

This a business venture for this poster. It will increase costs for facilities. There are several court cases involving privacy issues because Alexa records everything it hears. There are questions about whether Amazon has access to Alexa recordings.

There are so many negatives that I would not consider using. Ultimately, it cause price increases. We keep a monthly log of all increases in cost. Annually we review our costs. The initial basic expenditures would be about $4000.00. Big expense to absorb.

I have reported this questions to administrators because the forum is for caregiver support, not business people who stand to make a profit off of this endeavor.

I want quality care and service for each resident and cost increases kept at a minimum. We have spent over $80,000 invested in upgrading our record keeping, digital and electronic services. We provide Nest cameras to any family that wants them in their LO’s room. I’m not tossing paid upgrades for an unproven technology. And I will not pass costs to families for an experiment.

I’m done with question. I believe it should be closed. We don’t need to be guinea pigs for a poster who is not involved in elder care.

I'm bringing this recent response back in the mainstream b/c I think the poster raises a relevant issue.  Lymie61 posted this a few moments ago:

"...the cost is pretty minimal. The units run between $100 & $200 with video capability regular retail and there are no monthly fees or anything after that. The Alexa Shows anyway but there are other similar units that aren’t Amazon products too, I don’t know their cost. I’m. Or convinced the cost makes it prohibitive for whoever is shouldering it the facility or for the customer."

For me any additional cost, whether purchasing an Alexa directly for home use, or paying it through facility use, would challenge my ability to maintain support for critical purposes.    $100 is not something I have to spare from SS,  even though I've worked since I was in my early teens.    $200 would require either not paying another bill or drawing down on savings that hopefully will last until I'm ready to depart this earth.

Not prohibitive?   It is for some of us.   I'm not criticizing you, just trying to raise  a different perspective on cost.

If I were in a facility, I'd rather spend extra money on (a) more therapy (b) more organic food prepared, and (c) contribution toward a piano to entertain other residents.

Personally, I have tried the Echo Dot and the Show 10.

The Dot was $10, including a month of Amazon's music program.

But you need to remember that Alexa is an Amazon employee. She is good at reading audible books but not so good with library audio books. She can play music, but if you want a specific song, you'll need an Amazon subscription. She is happy to offer to sell you something, but hit or miss on finding an answer on the web.

There are tons of free skills, but many are hit or miss with understanding voice input and or have limited/nonintuitive commands.
Play country song quiz: in seven questions, she will miss hearing one of the answers.
Try to use Logitech harmony to change the channel on the TV, she won't understand more than 80% of the time.

Something is always needing an adjustment. Sync this, reposition that, unplug and plug in again the other.

These devices can also be quite loud. Keep in mind that folks in facilities often don't have private rooms with closed doors.

Siri and, I imagine, Google have similar issues.

So, we ended up finding the dot quite useful for making reminder announcements, serving as a backup telephone, and with a little patience, playing the occasional podcast. It also makes an ok Bluetooth speaker for my smartphone.

SauravB, you really cross a line here when you insult another poster.   I'm reposting your virulent comments back in the mainstream, as I think others have a right to know what the position is of someone attacks someone else.  

"Post by SauravB, 31 min. ago

Bridger46164
First of all let me make it clear that I am an educated informed citizen who is genuinely curious and somewhat shocked to know why technology adoption is so low in care homes. I AM NOT A BUSINESS!

You are calling me a business when its you who is running the business and spreading the fear on here that technology is bad and its the introduction of new technology that would increase the cost when its your fat margins that increase the cost for the residents.

I can sense the fear in you that you would lose control over the residents or that your margin would be reduced if a new technology proves helpful to the seniors.

There are big research organizations and tech companies spending billions every year in researching technology to help people in every demographic, including seniors. And its people like you - living in the past century and greedy for money that makes it impossible for the end consumers to benefit from that research and development.

I think you should have an open mind and be accepting to the change because that's what the law of nature is. Change is must and change is inevitable!"

I can only repeat that you need to spend some time in nursing homes and similar facilities to see what really takes place.   It would be insightful and a learning experience.

OK, when first I responded to the Alexa thing I honestly thought it was a joke. I have been in the middle of a somewhat competent group of Seniors in Assisted Living often when my bro was in one. And the thought of ALEXA joining that crowd just tickled me. They bicker over EVERYTHING including how high or low the shades are pulled. My bro likened it to a 60s commune for seniors where everyone needs a community meeting once a day. They STEAL the remote out of the common room so others can't change channels. I had to laugh at the thought of me screaming above the fray "Alexa!!!! Play KGO TALK RADIO!" I would be shouted down in seconds by someone else.
I mean business idea or not, the idea of Alexa in a senior living place? Really? Until you can say "Alexa, walk the DOG" I am not in. But then I am sure that is coming.
The idea isn't so much ludicrous as it is comical.
I will await my "attack".
Saurav, do understand, we Seniors have to be dragged kicking and screaming in to any new century. That's just how it works. I got my first jitterbug when my bro fell ill and I HAD to have it. I finally bowed to the vagaries of failing eyesight with a Kindle, and I love it. But please. I am 78. Wait on the Alexa until I am gone.

Very few residents would actually get this type of technology.

Residents truly deserve personal care from staff members. This is too impersonal for seniors.

It reminds me of the robot notifying the hospital patient that they had cancer and were going to die. imminent death should be explained to the patient from their doctor.