CASE STUDY - Using Smart Home Technology to help Elderly Relatives stay cool on hot nights

I live in Northumberland, in a lovely little market town called Morpeth. From here I run my business, providing practical support for elderly relatives and peace of mind for their far away families. Living in the far North East of England, you wouldn’t think there was much need for advice on how to deal with hot weather. Of course every year we forget that it does occasionally get very hot, even here, and we’re just not set up to deal with it. Trying to sleep when it’s hot is probably the worst part of all.

For elderly people who have difficulties with their mobility, getting in and out of bed in the middle of the night to make adjustments is particularly difficult, and annoying (and increases the risk of falls). Some may also have problems with arm and hand movements, making it difficult to reach across to fumble with a switch.

One of my clients wasn't keen on the idea of a using a fan in the bedroom, even though they were struggling with the heat overnight. They had tried it before and argued that it was too noisy and even on the lowest setting the breeze was too strong.

We did some experiments to see what might help. We found that if the fan was put anywhere on the bedside table, it was impossible to get the breeze gentle enough, and the noise was also a problem. Even if we had been able to locate it within easy reach, problems with arthritis still made it difficult to turn on and off.

To get the right effect, we needed to position the fan much further away, in the far diagonal corner of the bedroom. But then the next objection was having to get out of bed to turn it on, then possibly 10 minutes later to turn it off again, if they became too cold.

The solution for this lady was an Alexa voice-controlled speaker, and a smart plug for the fan. With this set-up she could turn her fan on and off as required, from the comfort of her bed, just by saying "Alexa, turn the fan on" or "Alexa, turn the fan off".

Trouble shooting tip:

When I first set this up we practised saying the ‘magic’ words until the client was happy it worked and she could do it. Unfortunately the next day she reported that Alexa had misbehaved during the night. I checked the voice recordings (accessed from Settings - Account Settings - Alexa Privacy - Review Voice History) and discovered that she was saying "put" the fan on or off. Although Alexa seemed to recognise the instruction "turn" or "switch" on or off, it wasn't recognising "put". To fix this I set up a specific ‘Routine’ in Alexa to trigger the desired action when those words were used (assuming that if this was the phrase that automatically came to mind when half asleep, it would be difficult to retrain the brain to say something different).

If you’re setting this up for elderly relatives who live a long distance away from you, it’s good to note that actions like checking voice history and setting up Routines can be done remotely using the App on your phone. One caution for any far away helpers is that if there’s a power cut, I’ve found that Alexa and Smart Plugs sometimes need to be switched on and off to get them working again. So if sockets are hard to reach, it’s worth having them plugged into an extension with a separate switch and positioning them where they can be easily accessed without bending and reaching.

Having got this all in place, we gradually introduced some other ways of using the smart speaker, including setting it as a morning alarm (playing Classic FM), and announcing daily medication reminders. It’s now also used a number of times every night to ask what the time is (stopping the need to twist round to try to see the clock on the bedside table). And on one occasion when her daughter was worried because she couldn’t get through on the phone, the daughter used the ‘drop-in’ function to speak directly to her mother who was lying in bed feeling unwell. The smart plug is also repurposed during the winter and used as a way to easily turn the Christmas Tree lights on and off.

This is an example of the practical, tailored support I provide for families, so that older adults can live well at home, and their family have peace of mind that they're ok. I like to work out what really matters to people, remove barriers and help people to live the lives they want. For more information on how I can help, please visit my Services page.

For another case study which includes ideas on using Smart home technology click here, or browse through other cases studies on my Blog page.