How PRM Fittings Benefit Older Adults
Contents
– PRM fittings: making a home more practical, reassuring, and comfortable
– Home automation and connected objects for PRM
– The home automation bathroom is equipped for PRM
– The IoT relieves various forms of disability
– Home automation for PRM
Home automation and connected devices for people with reduced mobility (PRM) put technology at the person’s service. Numerous equipment and connected objects now make the daily life of people with reduced mobility much more manageable.
PRM equipment: making a home more practical, reassuring, and comfortable
The smarthome (smart house, or connected place) for frail people has evolved considerably and offers significant help for mobility inside the home. Home automation and PRM equipment improve daily life, give peace of mind to people and their families and help preserve autonomy.
Let’s consider mobility handicap, for instance. Reducing the painful actions at home, such as operating an appliance or turning on and off the light, are an essential part of home automation for PRM. Home automation and connected objects that you can add to it, all connected to a box and controlled with a tablet or smartphone, obey the concept of a smart home.
Home automation and connected objects for PRM
In the construction of houses, the solutions are much less visible because they are integrated inside the walls of new homes. On the other hand, it is essential to be vigilant in the renovation because juggling wires throughout the house is forbidden for PRM.
Limiting movement with remote controls
It is now possible to limit movements in one’s environment thanks to ingenious systems. We can mention the home automation remote control, which allows controlling all the environment without having to move: standard remote control, remote control with more marked colors or big buttons, or remote control for more specific handicaps like the foot remote control.
Very practical to automate objects that are not initially automated; the remote control plugs will control an object or a device that you will have plugged into it, the whole installed on an existing pin in your walls.
Finally, and often proposed for seniors, the wider stairlift for PRM is also equipment that allows you to stay at home and keep a certain form of autonomy.
Detecting your movements with sensors
The home automation sensor helps to build scenarios of actions to be reproduced according to the life habits of the PRM. These sensors are assisted by a system and a home automation box.
Home automation sensors also limit repetitive movements such as operating a switch by detecting the passage and instantly triggering the lighting, or pressure sensors under a chair that identify a suspicious absence of activity, etc.
Connected objects (IoT: Internet of Things)
Many connected objects, not originally designed for PRMs, make life easier, such as the refrigerator that goes as far as ordering your groceries according to pre-established lists and missing items or the button necklace with a reassuring alert service if you fall out of the chair.
Home automation bathroom equipped for PRM
Many proposals are aimed at the ergonomics of bathrooms that are dangerous for PRM. The principle is to facilitate movement to avoid slipping and falling with the help of various equipment, not part of home automation in general (shower bar, anti-slip strips, etc.).
For home automation, automating your existing bathroom installations or buying new ones is possible, for example, with removable cabinets that go up and down to the height you want.
As for connected bathroom objects, some innovations are useful for PRMs in their movements: the connected mirror (tactile or not), the shower head that stops when a defined amount of water is reached, the shower that lights up with presence sensors, a connected urinal that cleans the penis, the connected toothbrush, and scale, etc.
The IoT relieves various forms of disability
Recently, connected aids related to blindness have been born. Examples include glasses with screens that give explanations, connected watches in Braille, sonar bracelets, the smartphone…
Home automation for PRM
Here is an overview of different installations and connected objects for people with reduced mobility.
Installation/Connected object:
- Home automation remote control
- Remote control socket
- Home automation sensor
- Alert button necklace
- Shower wheelchairs
- Connected mirror
- Connected shower head
- Connected urinal
- Connected toothbrush
- Connected bathroom scale
- Connected watch in Braille
- Removable automated cupboards
- Bathroom equipped with home automation
- Automatic roller shutters