Introduction
Singapore is facing a rising greying population, with baby boomers entering their golden years. (Tham, 2014) The term baby boomers indicates people who are born between 1947 and 1964. (MCYS, Jan 2009) As the country progresses toward a technologically advanced era, a group of these baby boomers are unintentionally left behind - they are the group of independent living elderly who are not technologically connected. This is also the focal point of this paper, which discusses the divide between independent living elderly who receives home based healthcare and those who do not due to the insufficient technological infrastructure in their homes.
Problem
Home-based healthcare is when medical assistance is provided for at the comfort of the homes of the elderly. In the present hi-tech society, home-based healthcare includes the use of highly intelligent devices. Majority of these medical devices are intentionally designed to have a tracking or monitoring system so that movements can be instantaneously detected and then recorded. This is helpful as user can be notified with the situation in an independent-living elderly home. e-Guardian is the epitome of such intelligent device. It takes the form of a wrist watch and picks up signals when the wearer has fallen down or fainted at home. These signals are transmitted wirelessly to a base station which then sends out messages to family members or even doctors about the accident at home. In other instances, some medical devices may require substantial technological infrastructure support in the homes of the patient - such as the support of fiber broadband. This is when the gap between those who can afford and cannot afford such home-based healthcare becomes apparent. It is reasonable to understand that some independent-living elderly are not able to afford broadband as they are poor. On the flip side, we have to also consider a small group of elderly who does not wish to be plugged in as they do not see the need to, or elderly who are not educated at all to understand the concept of Internet. It is this group of elderly that lies on the other end of the spectrum.
The group of independent-living elderly who does not wish to be connected and those who are technology ignorant is the ones who are unable to receive home-based healthcare due to the absence of broadband or relevant technological support in their homes, Ministry of Health can implement a "limited free wifi zone" in the buildings these elderly reside in to allow connectivity for approved medical devices and the initiation of IT campaign to educate the elderly about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to help these elderly stay connected to enjoy full benefits of home-based healthcare
Limited free wifi zone
The proposed solution can be deem as a luxury for these group of elderly, and as such, it should not be exploited to the use of those who are not under this scheme. This means that only qualified and approved households and medical devices by the Ministry of Health (MOH) can be connected via the "limited free wifi zone". Elderly who uses intelligent medical devices which require broadband support and are technology-ignorant are those who fall under this qualified households category. The medical devices that they use will have to be endorsed and authorised by MOH before it can be use through the "wifi zone". Helping these elderly stay connected, family members or doctors can tap on the intellectual and efficient system of the medical devices created for home-based healthcare, and also allow them to monitor and assist when out of compound. The concept of "limited free wifi zone" will serve as a primary tool to help these group of unplugged elderly stay connected while not allowing them to exploit the notion of "free wifi" by limiting their usage.
IT campaigns for the independent living elderly
Another group of these independent living elderly are those who are not willing to be plugged in. Statistics from Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in 2012 have also shown that 60 years old and above individuals who uses a computer and internet is only a meager 16% compared to 51% for individuals aged 50 to 59. Based on statistics and personal experience at an independent living elderly home, most of these elderly do not have the support of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their homes. With such absence of ICT, it does not entitle the elderly to enjoy the full benefits of home-based healthcare as they will not be able to support certain hi-tech medical devices or equipment that require technical support. The initiation of an IT campaign for the elderly can help to tackle this issue. MOH can work together with welfare organisation and community centers to launch series of events that educates the use of ICT through talk show and hands-on workshops. Such initiation will only drive enthusiasm amongst the disinterested elderly about ICT but the implementation of financial aids, ICT schemes and packages will help to encourage use. Subsequent follow through will have to be made in order to ensure these elderly will upgrade their status from "offline" to "online".
Conclusion
The digital divide in Singapore is real with a group of people who are still not connected. The digital gap between elderly who can afford home-based healthcare and those who cannot is an existing issue and the government play a crucial role in the efforts to bridge this gap.
References
Health Exchange, 2013 January 01, Keeping a Watch on Seniors Living Alone, Retrieved October 3, 2014 from http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/keeping-watch-seniors-living.aspx
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Infocomm-Usage-Households-and-Individuals
SG Press Centre, 2009 January 09, Singapore's Baby Boomers Wish To Age Meaningfully And Stay Active In Their Golden Years, Retrieved Date, October 6, 2014
The Straits Times, 2014 March 13, Bridging the digital divide, Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/case-you-missed-it/story/bridging-the-digital-divide-20140317
Hi Anjie
ReplyDeletePerhaps substitute another word for unwittingly?
Do put "the" or "a" before majority
"E-guardian is the epitome of such intelligent device" - This sounds word.
Try not to use "on the flip side", perhaps use "In addition"
"...does not wish to be connect and those who are technology ignorant..." (should be technologically)
Your problem is not very coherent. For example, you described the example of e-guardian and also how medical devices require infrastructure. But you did not say how thiese lack of infrastructure would result in lack of access to medical devices amongst these elderly.
"Based on statistics and personal experience..." (do remove your personal experience)
"entitle" - "entitled"
Under your IT CAMPAIGNS FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING ELDERLY, you mentioned statistics from IDA, but you didnt mention how it supports the fact that mostl elderly do not want to be plugged in.
Good Luck!
Hi Sean,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback!! :) It's really useful for my subsequent drafts.
All the best for your mid-terms tomorrow!