of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs The VA is looking to do more to help veterans who want to retire in their current homes, including exploring smart home technology, according to a VA report. Federal News Network.
Smart home technology, including wearable devices such as smartwatches, could help alert older veterans who live alone if they're experiencing any sort of medical emergency, but VA Deputy Chief Medical and Technology Officer Joseph Ronzio added that the department wants to make sure veterans have a say in who has access to their data.
“Everybody now has some kind of smart device in their home: physical devices like speakers, light switches, different types of lights, cameras, motion sensors that leave digital services,” Ronzio explained. Advanced Technology Research Center I participated in a panel discussion moderated by Federal News Network at the (ATARC) DevSecOps Summit.
“Most of the time, that digital footprint is stored on cloud services and cloud systems that you can't access, so you don't know what's going on,” he said. “We've implemented some technologies that can actually uncover that and we've been able to evaluate what's best for us.” [health impact] And then you start to detect where the problems are.”
VA tech-focused officials see the situation in personal terms: Chief Medical Technology Officer Craig Luigert, himself a disabled veteran, believes a smartwatch has saved him “many times,” according to Ronzio. When Luigert had a medical emergency, his watch alerted his family, and the department is aware that such tools could be used for seniors.
“As we have a growing population of veterans aging at home and the need for long-term skilled nursing beds and skilled nursing facilities or retirement homes increases, there is certainly a need to refine and develop this capability,” Ronzio explained.
The VA already helps with home modifications to address the challenges of retirement and is currently providing older veterans with certain smart home technology to give them a better environment to age in place at home, Ronzio explained.
“We provide those sensors and those technologies,” he said. “Now we just need to take it a step further and start building better algorithms to detect and share that data with caregivers, whether that be a spouse, child, loved one, or family friend.”
Technology has recently featured prominently in discussions about how older people can continue to live in their homes, with smart home technology in particular becoming more widespread through major US technology companies. Amazon, apple and GoogleAnd more and more seniors are choosing to retire in the places they are familiar with.
A recent survey conducted in 2023 and 2024 found that US News & World Report It found that 93% of respondents consider aging in place to be an “important goal.” Respondents also named the specific technologies that would most help them achieve their aging in place goals.
These were primarily focused on medical and health-related mobile apps, service-related apps such as food and grocery delivery, wearable medical or health trackers, assistive smart home technology such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa devices, assistive hearing devices, and medical alert systems and devices such as LifeAlert.
The 2023 survey data also found that for seniors unsure about whether to remain in their homes, smart technology tools could help ease such anxieties.
