Canada are moving into care facilities
too soon
it’s about losses losing autonomy and
losing established community of families
and friends with new technology and
compassion we can help extend senior
living at home this means staying in
familiar surrounding hanging out with
familiar people savoring live important
memories do you know that if we reach
the age of 85 there’s a one in three
chance that we’ll live in a care
facility as my son will say Wow
last May I was visiting mom during
Mother’s Day weekend and right before
dinner we’re sitting right around a
little table reminiscing through old
photos mom says to me Wow look how much
I look like grandma the mom is right she
does look like grandma who do you look
like your mom your dad
what about 30 years from now who will
you look like looking at grandma’s eyes
I am her favorite grandson
I’m telling you that as one of eight
grandkids all of whom we’re told we’re
her favorite
ten years old suburban Hong Kong off to
the farmers market
grandma is wearing her great hop and
pans with that yellow umbrella she’s
using as a walking stick I have to slow
down
she cannot keep up grandma calls me by
her nickname for me Ming Tsai which in
Chinese means shining light Ming tight
we need fresh ingredients that day
grandma is cooking for the family and I
know she’s gonna cook my favorite spot
prawns fresh succulent prawns mmm sweet
tomato sauce that day grandma doesn’t
eat much her eyes sparkle as she watches
me devour all the spot prawns that she
grandma was very close to me and a big
part of my life until my parents and I
moved to Canada when I was in grade 12
my stayed in Canada our tours for
university and work like many families
will have distances apart grandma and
Hong Kong an even wooden floors narrow
stairways and forgetting to lock the
front door
grandma’s home is becoming more
dangerous with each birthday like many
others my grandma is forced into a care
established in my career I wanted to see
grandma I traveled to Hong Kong and in
that taxi going to Grandma’s care
facility for the very first time I
imagine an environment that is
appropriate for my grandma perhaps an
old heritage homes perhaps the smell of
home cooking in a background and perhaps
playing in the background grandma’s
favorite music Moon River wider than a
this cannot be right
grey industrial building run down part
of town noise zero construction maybe I
have two wrong address
I get out the taxi there’s no front desk
I push the elevator to go to the third
floor and there I smell something
pungent
sterile I get off the elevator still no
rows of steel car bears with waivers and
mattresses oh my god are you serious 80
euros seniors roaming all around the
place who is grandma some of them have
dementia I walked down the hallway where
is grandma I find this older lady
sitting in a steel cot bed her eye
staring blankly across the floor older
much more frail than I thought alright
canet yeah does the familiar smile
ming-tai
grandma that is them
I realize that of all people I could
have prevented this erm as a geriatric
sculpture look after seniors everyday to
help them stay as long as possible in
their own homes and yet I realize I’m
too late for my own grandma too late to
move her out of their care facility
because she is not medically stable to
move I never want this to happen to you
or your loved ones making the decision
of moving family and our loved ones into
a care facility can be really tough it
can generate heated debate an argument
when is the right time what is the right
thing to do
to stay or not to stay at home
that is the question what can we do to
prevent the premature placement of our
family into a care facility to prevent
losses and to add live at home society
is starting to call this move
warehousing of seniors not a pretty term
at all if you imagine our family being
packaged into warehouse containers and
then the door slammed shut you and I do
not need to warehouse family that we
love or that one in three chance that we
make a warehouse ourselves take heart
there is hope as a geriatric structure
who have looked after thousands of
patients over the years I’m telling you
that today we can implement technology
to do two things to increase safety and
increase socialization and immediately I
mom that doormat in front entrance has
to go but son you don’t understand that
doormat is beautiful because a lot of
well mom if you want to stay long at
home that doormat is going it’s a
tripping hazard and you can fall on it
a full kind of serious consequences
beside if you like you so much hanging
and likewise we walk around mom’s home
removing ordered decorative tables mom
used to bend her knees against the
tables another tripping hazard for a
fall they’re gone
mom’s home has carpeted floor which is
really nice keeping her feet warm and
soft thing is impact of a fall but deep
carpet makes it difficult to move a
walker around if she needs one so we
decide to change the carpeted floor into
hardwood floor ideally with warm and to
slip Footwear and is easier for her to
move a walker in case she needs one in
the future and then into the bathroom we
want to make sure that the toilet seat
is high enough and then a grab bars
there for support so the mom doesn’t
fall while sitting down in the bathroom
take action now prevents Falls do you
know that Falls are the most common
cause of injuries in seniors and every
year on average
3 out of 10 seniors would fall
accidentally a simple fall can result in
a broken hip creating disability and
lots of independence take action now
make your home safe safety is the most
important consideration for extending
senior living at home talking about
safety do you know someone who is
do you know someone who puts salt
instead of sugar in baking that apple
pie do you know someone who leave a
burner on and – the pot is burned and do
you know someone who puts laundry
detergent into the dishwasher and I
don’t count a time when you do it after
a few drinks on a Friday night I am
committed to watching out for the
warning signs of dementia as a geriatric
specialist I can tell you that seniors
with mild or early dementia can still
live in a community they can still live
at home without moving into a care
what they need is a smartphone one that
has GPS function so that you can use an
app on your smartphone to locate them
and you can use the same smartphone to
make sure the front door is locked at
night and the home appliances are turned
off at night all made possible by
connecting home devices by the Internet
of Things or IOT and I know that all of
us should be more patients walking
through seniors how to use each of the
app on their smartphone when the memory
is still good so that they won’t send us
although they won’t send us a text
message that contains a bunch of
or they won’t keep screaming at you on
FaceTime
can you hear me can you hear me yes I
can hear you I also think about
socialization it can extend senior
living by adding images conversations
and connections do you know that
loneliness is the new smoking loneliness
can have harmful effect on our health
just like smoking 15 cigarettes a day
shaving eight years of our life
socialization can overcome loneliness
and can improve health let me introduce
you to my aunt Agatha my mom’s older
sister having washed what happened to
Grandma
aunt Agatha is determined touch is not
gonna move into a care facility so what
does she do she picks up Tai Chi at the
age of 70 who knows what’s next for her
aunt Agatha would go to social functions
organized by our Taiji groups all around
the world and recently she won the gold
medal in the senior age category of a
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and of course she would polls her metal
pictures all over a Facebook page I used
to think differently about social media
I used to think it is the ways of time
but now I’m connected with my loved ones
on Facebook on Instagram on whatsapp and
on skype
do you know that the number of seniors
over 75 on social media has doubled in
the last year I am convinced that
getting seniors into the digital age as
early as possible is the way to go
embrace technology before it is too late
now
face-to-face connection is still
important because technology cannot
replace a real heart
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for my loved ones as they grow older to
stay or not to stay at home that is the
question when it is the right time do
the right thing there is going to be a
time when moving into a care facility
can be the right thing to do for example
when you can no longer walk or transfer
independently when you’re losing your
urine or power or the time when you’re
so frail and your family is totally
burned out when you keep dropping a
smartphone in the toilet bowl okay I
don’t count that but these are tough
times and it takes courage courage to
get out early from community services
there are many things that all of us can
do really to extend senior living at
home in particular use technology to
increase safety and increase
socialization and now let me share with
you what happened with Grandma my last
vacation day in Hong Kong grandma in
that care facility in the steel caught
that her eyes staring blankly across the
floor of wandering older people as I
sing to her Moon River wider than a mile
I’m crossing you in style some day creme
us has to me tight
I’m so sorry but I cannot cook spot
they won’t let us cook in here crema
don’t be sorry
I love you is there anything that I can
do for you
nothing grandson I love you too
six months later in the care facility in
the steel core that grandma passed away
my invitation for you my challenge for
you is to think of one way one way that
you can use technology and your
compassion to extend senior living at
home so that they can be in familiar
surrounding hanging out with familiar
people savoring familiar memories act
before it is too late do it for yourself
or someone you know or your parent or
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