#009 Smart Homes For Grandma
The best smart home technologies for grandparents or elderly relatives. We discuss using Alexa to power smart homes for the elderly.
#009 Smart Homes For Grandma
Hosted by-James Both
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from friends, family and listeners about using smart home technology for their elderly parents or grandparents to help make things a little easier as they age.
The biggest concern people seem to have about implementing smart home technology for their grandparents is that it will be complicated to use or that it won’t work as intended. The reality is that if you choose the right devices and keep the system simple it can be easy for your grandparent or parent to use and make their life and yours a little easier.
In this smart home podcast episode we focus on simple technologies that are easy to use for elderly people to help them stay independent, prevent falls and stay safe.
Related Podcast: How To Control Your Home With Voice
This Episode Features:
Challenges faced by elderly family members as they age.
How smart home technology can be used to keep your parent or grandparent safe and live independently.
Addressing mobility, and vision issues with smart home devices. he different sensors you can connect to the Ring Security system.
How to set up voice communication with your family member so they can call you with just their voice in an emergency.
#009 Smart Homes For Grandma
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Best Smart Home Devices For Grandma
Below is the list of the smart home devices we mentioned in the episode. If you have to pick on device on this list getting an Amazon Echo device will give you the most bang for your buck and you can always add the other smart devices to the Echo Dot or Echo Show at a later time.
Voice Communication For Grandma
To allow your grandparent to call you without the need for going to the telephone, they can call you using only their voice by saying “Call my Son” or “Call my Daughter”. This is great for an emergency situation like a fall or illness preventing a person from getting to the phone.
To do this you will need a compatible Amazon Echo device like the Echo Dot or Echo Show for your parent or grandparent and you will also need one of the devices. The Echo Dot is a voice assistant that will play music, allow voice calling, play news, radio stations and read audio books. The Echo Show has all of the same features but also a built in touchscreen and camera to allow for two way video chats just by saying “Alexa call Grandma”
Using a voice assistant is easy for grandparents because there are no buttons to use, or remotes to learn they can just talk directly to the assistant to make calls or adjust other smart home devices in their home.
If someone has fallen and they can’t get up this a great option for communication because they can speak to the smart speaker to call someone.
Recommenced Voice Assistant Devices: Echo Dot & Echo Show
Smart Locks For Grandma
A smart lock can help you manage access to your parents or grandparents home. With a smart lock you can assign cleaning people, care providers and contractors their own codes to allow access only durring certain times of the day or have codes that expire after 24 hours if it is for a temporary visitor.
Smart locks are a great option to allow you or your neighbors to stop by and check in on your parent of grandparent without the need to have a key. The smart locks we recommend all have a keypad on the front that allows to to push in a code to gain access. Another nice feature is that the locks can be set to auto lock after 5 minutes to ensure your grandparent remains safe and secure.
Recommended Smart Locks
Smart Thermostat For Grandma
A smart thermostat can help make life easter by allowing your grandma to control her heating and cooling with voice. When a smart thermostat like the Nest or Ecobee is connected to Alexa it allows for voice control to set the temperature.
Related Post: How to connect nest to Alexa
connecting a smart thermostat to Alexa can help increase your grandmas comfort and prevent unneeded trips in at night or in the dark to adjust the thermostat which can help prevent falls. The Nest thermostat offers the easiest installation process and can be done by most homeowners using just a screwdriver.
Recommended Smart Thermostat
Smart Lighting For Grandma
Swapping out existing light switches for smart switches and connecting them to Alexa will allow for smart voice control of your grandmothers lighting. The great thing about smart lights is that they work just like normal light switches when in use and there is no learning curve. Just press them to turn them on or off. You can turn on or off the smart switches with your voice when connected to Amazon Alexa. This can prevent person needing to walk across a dark room to turn off a lights switch which increases safety. The smart switches also have a built in LED light which makes them easy to find in the dark in an emergency.
Our One Hour Smart Home Devices:
Smart WiFi Controlled Plugs-They work with wifi, Amazon Alexa & Google Home to give you seamless voice control of your home.
Smart Wifi Controlled Switches-Our Smart Wifi Switches work with Amazon Alexa & Google Home to give you control of any light switch you want to replace in your home. Our switches don't require a smart home hub and
Smart Homes For Grandma Show Notes
We all face challenges as we age, how can technology be used to adapt to these changes to help us live independently?
What technology can you use as a caregiver to help your parent of grandparent live with independence but also ensure their safety.
Sight and Mobility issues are faced by most of us as we age how can we use smart home technology to prevent falls and make living independently safer?
Best Smart Home Tech For Grandma
Voice Communication & Entertainment Use Alexa: Echo Dot or Echo Show
Caregiver Access: Smart Locks Yale August Lock or Yale x Nest Lock
HVAC Control: Nest Thermostat
Smart Lighting: Prevent Falls Smart Wifi Light Switches
Related Smart Home Posts
Ring Security System Review Full Blog Post
How to connect Ring Security System to Alexa
Learn How To Start Your Smart Home, Podcast Episode #001
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