By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, and by 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. About three in four adults over 50 want to age in their communities, in their homes, with their family and friends.
That shift brings real challenges. How do you keep older adults safe at home when they face cognitive decline or balance problems? How do you build and sustain community in long-term care facilities, especially when they are short-staffed and money is tight? How do you know which technologies are worth investing in for aging parents, ones that are effective and safe without adding stress?
As we work out which questions to ask and how to answer them, more companies and health care systems are turning to nurses. That makes sense. Nurses are uniquely positioned to lead and innovate in long-term care. Through both personal and professional experience, they sit closest to the gaps in care and the daily challenges. They are also closest to patients, so they know what will work and how. And they are building the technology and designing the solutions that foster human connection and help people of all ages thrive.
In this episode, we meet three nurses building that future. Dr. Cami Peterson-DeVries, VP of Senior Services at St. Francis Health Services of Morris, is bringing robots and smart-room technology to her 14 nursing homes. Roschelle “Shelly” Fritz, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., develops nurse-driven AI and smart homes for aging in place. Shu-Fen Wung, Ph.D., M.S., R.N., A.C.N.P.-B.C., F.A.A.N., studies wearable and radar sensors for fall detection and responsible AI. Together, they show a wide-open, nurse-shaped frontier where technology extends human connection at every touchpoint.
