The Senior Scene

Many of us stand in our closets in the morning staring at our racks of clothes agonizing over what to wear that day, but worrying about how we are going to get dressed never crosses our minds. For the 1 million people living with Parkinson’s disease and 50 million people living with arthritis in the United States dressing is a daily challenge. A task as simple as buttoning a shirt in the morning is physically impossible. MagnaReady®, the first fashionable dress shirts infused with a magnetic closure system, solves the problem of difficult to navigate buttons making dressing independently a possibility again. Hidden inside the placket of a MagnaReady® shirt are powerful magnets that link together for a secure closure.  For more information, go to www.magnaready.com.

Kyocera Communications and Sprint say a mobile phone feature they’ve introduced could be life-changing for the 55 million Americans over the age of 60. Kyocera Verve is an affordable ($19.99 with two-year contract at Sprint) feature phone with a sliding QWERTY keypad and a standard numeric keypad which also includes a unique “Text-to-Speech” capability that offers verbal translation of menus, messaging, Internet browsing, contacts, notifications and more. It also offers other accessibility features such as text-to-speech for SMS, high contrast interface options, large menu fonts, dedicated 911 and In Case of Emergency (IEC) shortcuts and well-defined, tactile buttons on both keypads. Verve’s accessibility features open up a whole new mobile way for the visually-impaired to communicate, research, purchase and more – all the things we’ve come to expect on Internet-enabled mobile devices, according to Kyocera. The product is being launched at Boost Mobile and payLo for those who prefer a pre-paid option.

As loved ones age, new worries surface among their children and other family members. Is my parent safe at home alone? What if I can’t physically visit them as often as I should? VideoCare, by Assisted Living Technologies Inc. (assistedlivingtechnologies.com) provides an elderly person with a touch-screen system that requires no keyboard, mouse or technical skill to use. It’s a large touch-screen monitor with simple prompts and large visual icons for different functions. The user can be connected for a face-to-face visit, leave an email message by voice, view photos and videos sent by family, get reminders from a calendar or sent remotely, listen to music and even play games which help sharpen memory.

The Intellident Toothbrush Shield protects toothbrushes — and the mouths they go into — from germs and bacteria. The cover, available at Walgreens and other major pharmacy retailers, works like a surgical mask. It can replace caps and holders that trap bacteria, is effective for seven days and is easily disposable, according to its manufacturer. Information is available at toothbrushshield.com