FREE Event*: Smart technologies help elderly people live lives they want to live.

Wednesday 19th November, Smart technologies generously hosted by Hill Dickinson, The Balance, Pinfold Street, Sheffield S1 2GU (links to Google Maps) ONLINE BOOKING Speakers include:

• Bridget Strong, Deputy CEO, AgeUK Sheffield
• John Grant, Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University
• Eddie Murphy, Technical Director, Mott MacDonald
• Amanda Sharkey, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield

The KEY issues which Bridget, John, Eddie and Amanda will focus on to inform our thinking relates to how we can help elderly people live the lives they want to live through:

1. Encouragement of social support
2. Reduction of isolation
3. Improved mental health
4. Increased/improved online financial awareness and security
5. Emergency support
6. Management at home:
   1. safe, supported without initiating degradation;
   2. make the degradation curve as shallow as possible
7. Fuel poverty and sustaintability
8. Align domestic building sector to sustainably meet needs of ageing population
9. Consider tensions of cost driven health care via innovative, occupant focused solution
10. Raise awareness of need to provide sustainable communities for an ageing population

Our event will take account of barriers to a better quality of life such as poverty, health and well-being and making better use of online technological resources which prevent elderly people from achieving their potential. Some of the barriers to achieving a better quality of life for elderly people

1. Barriers to better quality of life
   1. Technology is a barrier to well-being
   2. People are struggling with online technology
   3. Difficulties in managing computer based living: price comparison websites, call centres.
2. Poverty
   1. Poverty campaign
   2. Debt and money advice
   3. Exacerbated where elderly person is inexperienced in paying their bills, eg, recently widowed where the husband previously dealt with all the financials;
   4. Benefit checks drawing down £100K quarterly for elderly people;
   5. How to deal with financials and benefit from online utility comparison sites.
3. Health, well-being and Mental health
   1. Depression and anxiety
   2. Social implications
   3. Isolation of older people with general acceptance
   4. Correlation between depression, long term medical conditions (LTMC) and heart disease
   5. Difficulty in managing LTMC eg effect is difficulty in getting out of bed in the morning, forgetting to take medication/hospital appointments, getting to GP/Hospital appointments
   6. Physical health
      1. Assessing living environment for grab rails, aids and adaptations
      2. Balance risk and falls
      3. Affects on independence of scooters and chairlifts such as muscle wastage increases risk of falls and potential for broken hips etc, tendency to be over cautious.
      4. Greater immobility leads to more vulnerability, tendency to be over cautious and lose confidence in mobility, walking, using stairs and going out.

• * Please give generously to help with the production costs of our event report and other media costs. Donations can be made via paypal on our home page or at the event.
• £15 Standard charge applies for booking without letting us know you’ve cancelled.