Senator Plans To Push Elderly Home Monitor System

I don’t know if this is a good thing, or just really Big Brother-creepy…truly.

From The Iowa Channel on-line:

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa senator is planning to push for a new program to save the state in Medicaid costs.Marguerite Avant, 81, lives alone in big house, and is surrounded by pictures of her family.Now, her family can keep tabs her with a new monitoring system called QuietCare, which is made by a division of the ADT security company.

There are motion detectors in the refrigerator, near Avant’s medications, and in her bedroom that report her activities to a Web site.”You can see by the activity index she woke up on Monday at 4 a.m.,” said Tom Vasquez, of ADT. Caregivers can then watch her activities online.

“I’m excited about it, until I do something wrong,” Avant said. The computer keeps track of how often she reaches for her pills, how many times she opens the refrigerator and learns how active she is on a daily basis. If something changes, the system alerts the family with a phone call.

A sensor is set up inside and outside the bathroom to monitor how long the person is in there, since bathroom falls are common.  State Sen. Matt McCoy said the system can give peace of mind to children and save the state money.

“The average cost of a nursing home is $2,500,” McCoy said. He said taxpayers would say $30,000 per year if an elderly person were prevented from entering a nursing home for a year.

Avant said the $90 monthly fee for the service is worth it. “It makes me feel not so alone,” she said.
Avant wants to stay in her home and welcomes in modern technology like an old friend.  “It will stop my family from worrying about me so much,” she said.

…next thing you know, she’ll have a chip in her head.…