Leveraging Technology for Safety
 

By Mike Chaussee, Executive Director, North Dakota Assistive

February 2026

My wife and I just completed a little home improvement project at our house. We installed some doors, replaced some sheetrock, trimmed it out, painted, and even updated the flooring. It took a couple of months, but we finished. And I have to say, it looks pretty nice!

However, if we’d done this 25 years ago, it would have been a disaster. Yes, a little experience and confidence helped. But mostly, and I do say this to my wife all the time, “It’s all about the tools!”

I have the saws, levels, nail gun, stud finder (one that actually works!), and even the funky angle finder so we could work around all the corners. The right tools make all the difference.

It’s no different at work, school, or even catching fish on a sunny summer day. So, why can we be so resistant to tools that help us as we age? 

I work for an organization that helps people connect with assistive technology (AT). AT is an industry term that I wish we could avoid using, because what I really should write is that I work for an organization that helps people find the right tools. In our case, we’re helping them find tools to assist with physical or cognitive difficulties, including those that come from aging. They don’t have to be fancy or techy tools. Sometimes the right thing is just a grab bar or a medication dispenser. At other times, techy is the way to go. Eye-gaze technology, for example, allows someone who cannot speak or sign to communicate just by looking at letters, words, or symbols on a screen. It’s amazing stuff! Super techy, but very effective. 

There are barriers, though. Lots of them. People can be resistant for any number of reasons. But, in my experience, the biggest barrier to people not adopting the right tools is that they don’t even know they exist. 

That’s where North Dakota Assistive (the organization where I work) and other state Assistive Technology Act programs come in. Every U.S. state has a program. And it’s our job to generate awareness about AT (those awesome tools we’re talking about), demonstrate to interested people how the tools work, make them available for people (including professionals) to borrow, and provide some sort of access program. In our case, we award grants and provide low-interest financing for big-ticket items like hearing aids and accessible vehicles. 

All the programs work a little bit differently but can be valuable partners when working with any population who can benefit from AT, including vulnerable and aging adults. 

In North Dakota, we’re especially sensitive to helping people live where they want to for as long as possible. Much of our older population grew up in rural areas. They live an hour or more away from a town with robust medical facilities, but they’re intent on staying in their house and hometown. It’s where they’re comfortable, where their friends are, and it’s theirs — their family, their community, their home.

So, investing in tools to help them live where they choose makes a ton of sense, and most are a lot less expensive than we think. Monitoring and fall detection devices deliver peace of mind and safety. Medication management systems with alarms and locking mechanisms can alleviate the need for constant supervision. There are cool devices to help with low vision and hearing loss too. These can include $200 hearing assistance devices help people get less frustrated with each other and participate in their community (we had a guy recently say he started going back to church because of this device) to low vision glasses that can sense where someone is looking and describe to them what’s there through tiny speakers (I tried them the other day – it’s wild!). 

Industry is working fast in this area. If we present a problem, somebody somewhere is likely working to invent a tool to solve it. It’s our job to help you and your clients find it.

Another area that’s gaining a ton of momentum and can be very helpful is smart home technology. There aren’t too many things that can’t be connected to a smart hub these days. In our demonstration center we have a faucet you can ask Alexa to operate. And it’s not just turn on and off — we can ask Alexa to “dispense one cup of water” and she does it!

The company Brava created a smart oven that cooks using light. Yep, Easy Bake Oven style, only it’s high tech. It has three zones, so you can cook three different items at the same time. And you can watch it cooking on your phone. Those things are cool features, but the best part is the safety it provides. Once the food is done, the oven shuts off. There’s less heat and no fear of leaving the oven/stove on. 

The oven is a tool. Alexa, used in the way described above, is a tool. Monitoring, fall detection, walkers, they are tools — tools for independence and safety, and they are all at your fingertips. To learn more about any of them, contact your state’s Assistive Technology Act program. Here’s a link to the AT3Center — there’s a button on the front page that takes you to a list of all the state (and U.S. territories) programs. It’s our job to help you and your clients discover the possibilities using these awesome tools we call assistive technology.

 

The APS Blog is updated regularly with posts from contributing authors and new publications from the APS TARC.

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