Elderly Challenge - Observation 4

I noticed that some of our seniors, despite their age, continue to do grocery shopping and they have a terrible time trying to carry the load, especially when they need to walk from place to place. This is very tiring and tough for our elderly. Some of them might hire maids to help them with the chore. How about those who do not hire maids (due to personal reasons or so)?


This incident reminded me of a short clip from Mr. Bean animated series (yeah I used to love watching Mr Bean HAHAHA).









From 0:59 to 1:05

I feel that we could make a trolley like that for our elderly to use when shopping. Each supermarket (or any other kind of markets) could allow our seniors to use these trolleys when shopping. It would also allow our elderly to have a better trip home.

Elderly Challenge - Observation 3

Even with perfect eyesight since young, our eyesight would deteriorate as we grow older.


The above clip is a short comment from my Grandmother.
After coming home last week, my Grandmother began complaining about the hawker selling hor fun. She stated that one packet of hor fun was $4 and since she wanted to pack back, she needed to pay an extra $0.20. She gave the hawker $5 and in return, he gave her one 20 cent coin, one 10 cent coin and a bigger coin which she assumed was 50 cents. However, on the way home, she checked her money again and realised the hawker had given her a ren min bi (China money) $1 (which is equivalent to Singapore 20 cent) instead of giving her a 50 cent SGD. As such, she was "cheated".


I asked her why did she not check the money properly. She replied saying that she could not see clearly, only when she held it close to her eyes did she realise it was not a 50 cent. Below are the pictures of the ren min bi and 50 cent coin.
































See how similar they are? Seniors would not be able to tell the difference at first sight.

Presbyopia (老花眼) is a common sign for elderly (although my Grandmother does not suffer from that cause she has short-sightedness instead) where they need to hold books or magazines at a distance to be able to read clearly. As such, I researched on the possible ways to help treat Presbyopia.

Possible ways to treat Presbyopia
- wear reading glasses
- wear bifocal eyeglasses
- surgery
- vision therapy

The treatments would involve the use of money and might be a burden for certain groups of elderly, even for vision therapy (you'll need a therapist to guide you through). As such, I feel that we could help raise money for the financially burdened seniors to help them see better and lead a better life.

Elderly Challenge - Observation 2

The above video shows a short scene of my grandma preparing a meal. I have observed that she constantly "travels" between the chopping board, basin,stove and refrigerator. This is very tiring and tough for seniors like her.



















Although the picture above is not clear, my grandma is actually trying to reach for the frozen meat in the refrigerator. I noticed she had trouble trying to get the frozen meat as she has to strain her arms to get it.


















It is equally difficult for seniors to bend down to get vegetables from the refrigerator.



SIDE VIEW
As for the refrigerator part, I proposed that the refrigerator uses sliding trays with bearings. The bearings is to allow the seniors to get frozen food without using much strength and thus they do not need to strain.
















The sliding tray would first be pulled horizontally.
















Then slide down diagonally for the seniors to reach the food.

Elderly Challenge - Observation 1

Elderly taking their pets for walks is a common sight.
During walks, pets are likely to do their business among the plants or even on pavements. The elderly would then have to clean up after them. This task is difficult for some seniors who have problems bending down. At the same time, they would have to keep an eye on their pet to make sure that they don't run off, which makes the task doubly difficult. This is one of the challenges the elderly faces.




As such, I decided to work on designing a product which helps the seniors to pick up pets' wastes easily .
I started off designing a product which can be made from "normal" materials, without any use of technological machinery. The picture is a rough description of the product I have in mind.


The main aim of the product is to help the seniors to clean up after their pets easily and at the same time, make sure that their pets are safe with them.

Holiday work - Part 1: Understanding the ‘The Elderly Challenge’

Four key recommendations of the report
- Housing for the seniors
Singapore would be an elder-friendly place,with a range of housing options to meet the needs of the elderly

- Accessibility for the seniors
The built environment and transport system will be elder-friendly and allow seniors to lead active lives

- Caring for Seniors
Catering to elderly with different healthcare and eldercare needs

- Opportunities for Seniors
Allow elderly to lead active lifestyles, with healthy relationships and active involvement in the community

One way that the CAI report is recommending to make our public housing more elderly-friendly
- To provide housing with features which are elder-friendly. Such features include :
>lifts modified to stop on every floor
> non-slip floor tiles and a support hand bar in the toilet
> lever taps
> an alert alarm system

Two ways on how we can ensure that the quality of elderly care here in Singapore is affordable
- The Government could help seniors who can’t afford care by chipping in money for them
- We can have voluntary services to help take care of the elderly

The three things that I can do, as an SST student, to help overcome these elderly challenges
- I can observe the "daily routines" of the elderly to see what is the biggest barrier they are facing, hopefully to come up with a plan to help solve it
- I can do voluntary work to aid the financially burdened elderly
- I can communicate with the elderly and find out their views on the environment they are living in