Technology and Long Distance Care

They were simpler times that our parents lived in. Multigenerational families lived in the same house, or usually just blocks away from each other. Today, many families live hundreds, even thousands of miles away from each other making caring for aging parents difficult when life stage events occur.

The world we live in today allows us to become educated allowing us to secure jobs with the potential to relocate us around the globe. Growing up, many of us dream of the day when we can move away from our home town. New and exciting cities and jobs lure us away from our friends and most importantly, our families. We live our lives usually going home for holidays and significant life stage events such as birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. This is fine and life goes on keeping in contact with our families on those special occasions mixing in the occasional phone call and text message. As we age, it’s inevitable that our parents age too. While many of us think of our parents as always young it’s reality that they age as we age.

The reality is that we will all be faced with helping our parents through those life stage events in their golden years. The challenge is doing that effectively, while living thousands of miles away. Technology today in many ways seems to complicate the lives of our parents. Many have no desire to learn how to use technology to their advantage. We must show our parents that they can overcome their fears of technology and that overcoming those obstacles can help in the communication and decision making. The example I’ll use is the use of computers and webcams. I realize that working through health care issues and setting up in home care or assisted living arrangements probably will require visits and extended stays, but teaching your parent to use a computer and webcam can provide you daily face to face opportunities to chat with your loved ones.

I’ve learned from experience. I chat daily with my Mom and can tell when she is not feeling well. Using a telephone and calling daily is great, and I encourage that, but having a face to face conversation using the webcam is priceless. Webcams today are easy to use, and many come built into laptops now and even in desktop monitors. The software is free as most instant messaging services offer free webcam service. It all sounds great, but how do you get someone who can’t or won’t program the VCR to use a computer?

Like I mentioned, webcam software has become very easy to use. You just open the instant message window, and click on the person you want to chat with, and finally, click on the webcam icon. The person you are calling must then accept the call, and once that happens, both parties can see and hear each other. Many senior centers offer computer classes that will help teach the basics and train our seniors on everything they need to know to quickly become subject matter experts on the basics of computing. This is a great way to get your parents involved in a hobby, and just think of the hours of fun you and your children can have chatting face to face with Grandma and Grandpa.

It’s a great way to improve communications, but also a good tool in helping to manage the issues of the sandwich generation.