News - Television

Lifeline: Technology Keeping the Mind Young

June 8, 2007

Dennis Douda, reporter

Frank Vascellaro: In the world of science fiction technology sometimes takes over and strips humans of their freedom.

Amelia Santaniello: In reality technology today is often preserving our independence as we age. Dennis Douda explains in today’s Lifeline.

Dennis Douda: Thirty-six years of teaching was enough for Honor Hacker. So she retired. However, she intends to keep her brain fully employed.

Honor Hacker: It’s basically stimulating and you know, doing something instead of becoming stagnant. I don’t want to be a stagnant old lady.

Dennis Douda: Honor is part of a national pilot program to test [m]Power by Dakim. It’s a highly interactive computer driven system designed to keep aging American minds young as long as possible.

[m]Power throws out a daily mix of puzzles, memory games and math challenges at seniors. Notice, there’s no keyboard, no computer mouse to mess with. The system remembers each player’s skill levels and charts their progress. Honor says it’s far more engaging than even the most educational television programs.

Honor Hacker: I think this is completely different; it changes constantly and keeps you… You know, I’m playing cards one minute and the next minute I’m trying to figure out that song.

Dennis Douda: What they’re learning about aging well here could help any one of us. In fact, with an aging pool of baby boomers it’s estimated that by the year 2020 Minnesota will have more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 18.

Kathy Bakkenist: The client who participate are brighter, happier…

Dennis Douda: Kathy Bakkenist is chief operating officer for Ecumen, the states largest non-profit senior provider with over 100 facilities. Do not think nursing home however. Think of the things that preserve independence and dignity.

Kathy Bakkenist: We need to be challenged so that we are sharp as we can be. I think that crosses all ages.

Dennis Douda: Technology further preserves Honor Hacker’s independence in her Maplewood apartment. Electronic sensors record her pattern of daily movements from room to room. Confirm that she is taking her medications and is making her meals. But it’s not spying.

“There’s no audio, there’s no visual. It’s all done through motion detection.”

That way if Honor’s routine varies drastically from the computer charted baseline, staff can simply check in to make sure she is OK.

Although if she’s spending less time at home lately the first place they may want to look is in the [m]Power training room… Game on!

Amelia Santaniello: Dennis says the [m]Power study is taking place at 11 sites around the country. He also tells us the Quiet Care in-home monitoring system can be routed to the computers of family members anywhere in the world giving them the piece of mind that their senior relatives are doing OK.