By Lutheran Hillside Village
Before we talk about robots, let’s talk about the flying car. From “The Jetsons” to “Back to the Future” and beyond, the flying car has long been the quintessential American vision of what the future would (and should) look like. Recently, the Pew Research Center asked 1,000 U.S. residents what they thought about various futuristic technologies, and the flying car topped the list of inventions that we can’t wait to see come to market.
But let’s stop for just a second and think about this. On a daily basis, how many old cars do you see broken down on the side of the highway? Now think about what would have happened if one of those cars broke down… while flying over your house.
Which is not to say the flying car is a bad idea; after all, no invention is inherently good or bad. It’s all in how it’s used. And that brings us to another futuristic technology — one that Americans felt least optimistic about on that Pew study mentioned earlier — robotic caregivers for the elderly.
A national conversation has been brewing on this subject for some time now, spurred in part by the release of the 2012 feature film Robot & Frank. In that movie, Frank Langella plays a retiree (also named Frank) whose son is so overtaxed with busy work and family schedules that he is unable to provide the help his aging father needs. His answer: a robotic live-in caregiver to help Frank live safely in his home.
There are a lot of busy working families for whom Robot & Frank struck a chord. And when you add in the idea that the senior population is set to double in size within the next 15 years thanks to the aging Baby Boomers — and then add in predictions of nursing shortages to handle the growing need for caregivers — you can see why this conversation is beginning to heat up.
Right now, major companies and think tanks are working toward developing helper machines to assist seniors in their homes. One robotics firm, Giraff Technologies, predicts this new market could become a $10 billion a year industry by as soon as 2016.
Slowly but surely, robots are becoming a part of everyday life. After all, Roomba self-guided vacuums have been tidying up our houses for years and law enforcement agencies have been using robots for bomb disposal details for almost as long. But is it inevitable that robots will find their way into the medical industry?
The jury is still out on that. Either way, it’s important to remember that, just like the flying car, no invention is inherently good or bad. It’s all in how it’s used.
“I think it’s safe to say that no robot will ever really be able to replace a human nurse in the ways that really matter,” says Jennifer Duhon, director of assisted living at Peoria’s Lutheran Hillside Village senior living community. “It’s one thing to pass out medications and register vital signs, but human interaction plays such a crucial role in health care.”
“It’s all about the little things,” Jennifer says. “A comforting touch on the shoulder. Being able to ‘read’ the need in a person’s eyes when they don’t want to talk about what’s really bothering them. No matter how sophisticated a machine gets, it will never really ‘get’ how to give the kind of care people really need.”
It could be that robotic caregivers end up becoming very useful tools in a family’s toolbox — someone to help an aging parent out of bed or to place a call if a grandparent suffers a fall in the home. But if health care ever became entirely automated, it goes without saying that something important would be lost. It’s up to all of us to remember that when it comes time to make decisions about long-term care for our aging loved ones.
For 50 years, Lutheran Hillside Village has been the premier resource for older adults and their families in the Peoria area. To learn more about all the ways we help older adults live life to the fullest, call Ellyn at 309-692-4600 or visit LutheranHillsideVillage.org.
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