Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#81

Post by bzmrgonz » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 4:35 PM UTC

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #68

binary132 wrote: post #60

The reality of elder care is that (especially) infirm old folks really need a lot of hard, difficult, unpleasant care that our economic system has made basically impossible for their children and extended families to perform, as would have probably been done in the past. This requirement isn’t going to go away. There will be no cheap, safe, efficient butt-wiping robot, and unmotivated, uninvolved third parties are go…

> care that our economic system has made basically impossible for their children and extended families to perform I don't wanna take care of my parents; I blame society. I don't wanna have kids; I blame society. We really can't keep letting society get away with all this.

Establish UBI and then we can blame families for not wanting to care for their elders, but until capitalism demands dual-income to sustain the nuclear family... we can't unfold that blame blanket you're proposing.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#82

Post by yurishimo » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 4:35 PM UTC

dgellow wrote: post #43

insane_dreamer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europeans have no problem using them

Never seen a bidet in Europe. What country do you have in mind?

Probably Italy. From my experience in the Netherlands, a bidet is quite rare and requires a new toilet in some cases as exposed plumbing went out of fashion 20 years ago so a retrofit is not easy like with most North American toilets.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#83

Post by bzmrgonz » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 4:43 PM UTC

I think improvements to the electric-exo-skeleton contraption can keep the elderly mobile for an additional 10 years.. There comes a time when an elderly person cannot take a flight of 2 or 3 step stairs and that's when they stop moving, so if the exoskeleton can get them to the track or a flat area where they can walk, I think it can help tremendously. Additionally, I think those 2 circle zero gravity contraptions might help with circulation. As for the butt wiping, that's a tough one, but only because of the stigma associated with wearing anything on the sphincter, I can see a 12v electric sphincter dilating aparatus being very efficient in controlling bowel movement, but I don't see our childish society accepting them with a straight face.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#84

Post by lazyasciiart » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:00 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #64

defrost wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That appears to be a useful solution to part of the challenges in the domain. I'm not sure what countries that spans (I'm in Australia) so there's perhaps scope for others to expand across other geographic locations. There's also the "don't babysit me" aspect, a good number of elders are often slowly diminishing in capability and have no desire to be immediately shifted to a full guardianship when what they want is i…

I agree. I’m also looking for the equivalent of a social worker CRM/platform if anyone has any recommendations. I would prefer to not have to roll my own with a contractor if at all possible.

For what context? One person keeping track of all the social workers they are in contact with for personal use?

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#85

Post by Ccecil » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:01 PM UTC

chillingeffect wrote: post #3

Yep. Spend an hour with an elderly person trying to do things like change a password, unsub from a mailing list, connect a Roku, look at a digital photo album, etc. Will blow your mind wide open. We basically need an entire tier of easy internet for the elderly.

Just went through this with my 80 year old father this week. He was attempting to switch his cell service. They kept telling him they sent him a verification code via text...problem is he does not text. He actually turns his phone off completely when he is not making a call. He had no idea how to check the message...nor did he understand that swiping down (android) would show the messages at the top...and the concept of "swipe to answer" was eluding him too...he kept tapping the answer button and getting mad that it wouldn't respond.

This is a person who spent half of his life driving trucks...after he retired he took a class called "overcoming computer phobia" which began quite literally with "this is the power button, this is the mouse". He refuses to get GPS in the car and does not use the internet at all. No email, no social media.

These people are out there and as they age they only get more confused by things that they do not understand. Customer service is getting more and more difficult to get in touch with a real person (even more rare for the agent to be fluent and coherent in the necessary language, it is frustrating to not understand the topic and not able to comprehend spoken instructions at the same time). Not totally sure what the fix here is since automated systems and outsourcing service seem to be where everything is headed. In the case described above my father drove to the local office and was told he needed to call the number. The person in the office claimed they could do nothing...

My county is over 35% retired people. Cost of living is way above what caregivers can afford (just in the last 5 years or so). Most businesses have "now hiring" signs. I am not sure who is going to be taking care of these people since it seems to be a growing population...and those who would be able to take care of them are leaving the area.

So yeah...I agree with the OP. This field is going to grow in the next few years...but as others have said it may drop off a bit after the boomers.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#86

Post by toomuchtodo » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:13 PM UTC

lazyasciiart wrote: post #84

toomuchtodo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I’m also looking for the equivalent of a social worker CRM/platform if anyone has any recommendations. I would prefer to not have to roll my own with a contractor if at all possible.

For what context? One person keeping track of all the social workers they are in contact with for personal use?

No, to keep track of consumers of social work for social workers. Think EHR system for social work, for shared provider access for each person in need of care and services, and central tracking for each person of service, care, and resources available and provided.

I’m currently tracking with spreadsheets, which is less than ideal.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#87

Post by harryvederci » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:30 PM UTC

johngladtj wrote: post #65

dgellow wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never seen a bidet in Europe. What country do you have in mind?

Up until a couple of years ago you were not legally allowed to build a house without at least one bathroom with a bidet, so essentially all houses built in the past 80 years in the country have bidets

Ah yes, the country named Europe.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#88

Post by bradgranath » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:38 PM UTC

"There is a huge volume of exploited laborers keeping the system afloat."

This is the problem that needs fixing.

And not with fuckin' robots with butt lasers.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#89

Post by silverquiet » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:41 PM UTC

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #68

binary132 wrote: post #60

The reality of elder care is that (especially) infirm old folks really need a lot of hard, difficult, unpleasant care that our economic system has made basically impossible for their children and extended families to perform, as would have probably been done in the past. This requirement isn’t going to go away. There will be no cheap, safe, efficient butt-wiping robot, and unmotivated, uninvolved third parties are go…

> care that our economic system has made basically impossible for their children and extended families to perform I don't wanna take care of my parents; I blame society. I don't wanna have kids; I blame society. We really can't keep letting society get away with all this.

I can’t have kids; I’m single.

Re: Tell HN: your next idea should focus on aged care

#90

Post by djokkataja » Sat, Jul 13, 2024, 5:44 PM UTC

aio2 wrote: post #78

dukeyukey wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US doesn't have an even population pyramid, there's a bulge of late baby boomers and late millennials, but none for Gen Z.

This is my source: https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/2... As you can see, the percentages for each age group are close to each other, meaning it's more even.

It's called a population pyramid because the shape of that graph for a growing population is a pyramid. If you look at some of the African countries on that site (like, say, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, if you're starting from the United States page), you can see they're closer to a pyramid shape because they have higher birth rates and higher mortality over time.

Also, on the graph you linked to, you can click on the line in the graph of population versus year to the right, and if you start back in the 1950s and work your way along to the present, you can see the big lump of the baby boomers getting older. That's why people say the United States has an aging population.