CareLab has been doing research on how the caregiving equation (caregivers helping care recipients) affects different aspects of daily life and the products and services involved. In this project, we’re looking specifically at the process of doing laundry, and related tasks and issues in the home.

It's a very preliminary part of an initiative we’re calling independence@home. The goal is to set a baseline for ideation regarding solutions.

Care recipients doing their own laundry has a number of benefits …

The MetLife Mature Market Institute has done a study estimating the cost to U.S. business due to lost productivity of working caregivers.

"According to The MetLife Caregiving Costs Study: Productivity Losses to U.S. Business, produced in conjunction with the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), the average caregiver costs an employer $2,110 per year. For those caregivers providing the most intense levels of care, the cost per employee is $2,441, totaling $17.1 billion. The total annual cost for all caregivers is $33.6 billion."

Robotics have certainly been part of our "Future of Care" thinking.  So how likely is it that there will be significant adoptions of robotics as a home care solution, in the U.S. particularly?  

Gecko Systems is developing robots specifically for "family care for the elderly, chronically ill, and children".  They cite market research and demographics (with 65-and-older making up more than 71 million people by 2030, for why telehealth, especially cost effectiveness in home, represents a big potential market.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population age 65 and older is projected to double between 2000 and 2050.  National research conducted by Home Instead Senior Care reveals that 86 percent of seniors want to continue living in their homes as they age.  

As one result, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting an increase in the personal and home care aides job category, calling it the second fastest-growing job group in the nation over the next decade.  But some experts are worried that a severe shortage is possible.

 We're looking for interns and volunteers to work with us at CareLab as we develop ideas to help caregivers of people with long-term care needs.  Unfortunately we can't pay a stipend, but it's very interesting work!

The healthcare reform bill (actually called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) provides for 5 pilot projects and 30 demonstration programs, with the general goal of supporting innovation, improving quality and reducing costs.

One of them is particularly interesting.  The Independence at Home Demonstration (SEC. 3024) establishes a system of incentives, based on a spending target and a "risk corridor", for primary care physicians or nurse practitioners to be paid for care coordination in addition to home-based primary care.  The goal of the demonstration is to:

Patient communities, often enabled by the web and social media, are an important part of the caregiving equation. Susannah Fox recently posted an "open letter to anyone who wants to start or join a patient community" on http://e-patients.net/

Susannah is Associate Director, Digital Strategy, for the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and principal author of the Project’s reports on e-patients and online health.  The e-patients.net blog is a project of the Society for Participatory Medicine, another very important theme and organization.

Many caregivers are already active in one or both of these areas.  But for others, there's little time to participate or advocate strongly, due to the demands of day-to-day caregiving.  We're very interested in the challenge of integrating patient communities and participatory medicine approaches into the basket of solutions for caregivers.  

Georgia Tech has a fascinating program called the Aware Home Research Initiative (AHRI) exploring a diverse range of technologies aimed at creating a "home environment that is aware of its occupants whereabouts and activities."

Although caregiving is not the only focus, it's a strong theme.

There's a related project (called OLDES) in Europe, co-funded by the European Union User Information Society Programme and the Bologna town council. It's a three year project to provide "e-services at home for elderly people". The goal is to develop an easy to use, low cost tech platform to aid people to live more independently in their home.

 We're working closely with Sheila Warnock of Share The Care (sharethecare.org) to develop a prospectus for her program that will help in developing partnerships with non-profit agencies, sponsors, and facilities that work in the home-care and long-term care field.

Share The Care (described in a book of the same name, now in its second version) is an amazing program that helps people come together to spread the challenges (and joys) of caregiving among a much larger group.  

It's extremely well thought out, from the first meeting to assigning tasks, scheduling, sharing information and resolving problems.  

And it's been tested in a wide range of groups around the world, with different types of medical issues and in different communities.  

Please go to the website (or purchase the book) for more information, and we'll try to keep writing about our progress as well.