Today I read about a great “kill app” or maybe we could call it a “liver app” in the NY Times (thanks to a heads up from John Schultz). The NY Times wrote about the role of technology (and broadband) in taking care of aging parents.

There are a host of applications out there that will monitor you (or a loved one) that don’t require much participation or even a computer. I loved the example of the grandparents in Minneapolis who were being monitored by their children all over the world. The mother suddenly required a complicated regimen of medication and the father was describes as a former math teacher who was not interested in technology but would be most likely holed up with a math book wearing his socks and sandals. The kids were worried but found out about a MedMinder, a computerized pillbox. Here’s how the NY Times describes it…

It is basically a computerized pillbox. The correct daily dosages of her mother’s 10 different medications are arranged in boxes. When it is time to take them, the pillbox beeps and flashes. If she takes them, Ms. Meyers gets a phone call in Brooklyn saying, essentially, Mom took her pills. Her siblings, including a brother who lives in Australia, get e-mail notifications.
But if her mother doesn’t take the pills within a two-hour window, the system starts nagging. It calls her. It flashes and beeps. Then Ms. Meyers gets a phone call in New York with a message saying her mother missed her dose.

What a great way to keep people in their homes and provide comfort to scattered relatives. Not to mention a great way to reduce healthcare costs by reducing the number of visits to a healthcare professional, reducing the trips the aging parents need to take (in Minneapolis a trip to the hospital might not be as hard as in International Falls – but it still saves someone the time and effort) and the potential for an early warning system.