Senate Aging Committee to Examine How Technology Can Help Seniors Age In Place

               WASHINGTON, DC-- Every day, 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65, and Americans 85 and older are the fastest growing segment of our population. At the same time that our nation’s population is aging, the number of caregivers upon which these aging Americans can rely is decreasing.  According to numerous surveys, most seniors want to continue to live independently in their own homes and avoid nursing homes and other institutionalized care as long as possible. 

The Senate Special Committee on Aging, led by Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Claire McCaskill, will hold a hearing today titled, “Aging in Place: Can Advancements in Technology Help Seniors Live Independently?” The Committee will examine how many advancements in technology, such as telehealth, electronic sensors, and medical alert devices, have and will continue to play a role in helping seniors to stay in their homes longer than they otherwise would have.  Witnesses will include Dr. Maureen McCarthy, a physician from the Department of Veterans Affairs, to discuss that agency’s telehealth program.

Additional witnesses include: Laurie Orlov, founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch; Carol Kim, PhD, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maine; Professor Marjorie Skubic, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Missouri, and Charles Strickler, a caregiver who credits technology with enabling his mother and mother-in-law to stay in their homes.

Details of the hearing are as follows:

SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING

Aging in Place:  Can Advances in Technology Help Seniors Live Independently?

Today, May 6, 2015,   2:00 PM

Hart Room 216

####