Fitbits, Healthcare Start-ups, Baby Boomers, Millennials, and more . . .

By Steve Moran

I am sort of a researcher . . . I use that term cautiously because it implies academic and that I am not. I just barely made it through freshman English and therefore college because my English comp professor had the good graces to die, forcing the college to convert my incomplete to a passing grade.

I spend a lot of time looking at all kinds of stories and articles on the internet. A few . . . maybe 5 or 6 are just plain cool. Some are cool but not worth turning into an article and others are cool and really have nothing to do with senior living, but I am thinking you might think are cool too.

Not sure how often we will do this, no more than once a week. Let me know what you think.

A Great Video for Your Residents . . . And Maybe for You

In this politically correct world you could easily point out that this was not the reality for all elders living today, but it is likely the reality of most residents. This is particularly true because, for reasons we don’t completely understand, nostalgia is all about having more vivid memories of the good stuff than the bad stuff.


Do Fitbit’s Provide Real Value?

I am really fascinated by this question. I have one, wear it almost continuously and think it does keep me more active (7,840 steps out of my 10,000 goal for the day — 1:21PM).  But my scale is telling me it is not doing that much good.  

I tend to believe wearables have the potential to provide an early warning of change in conditions for residents, but there is no data to support this wishful thinking.  

There is Money Flowing Into Healthcare Start-up’s Beyond Apps

There may be some app-based stuff that will revolutionize healthcare but I am a skeptic. Apps are the place where a lot of money and effort is going because development is relatively easy and it is sexy. Not as sexy but more useful there are a bunch of folks out there who are working on some things that could solve big costly problems in the healthcare system and this is really good.

Baby Boomer Generosity

This article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that there are substantial numbers of Boomers with significant wealth that will look to change the world. It is hard to know what it means for the general senior living marketplace except that it suggests there will be a large group of well-heeled seniors that can afford our product.

It also might represent a unique opportunity for not-for-profit providers to figure out how to tell their story in a way that will make themselves a compelling beneficiary of those funds.  

Millennials Live Like Residents

I don’t quite like the title either mine or the article’s itself because it sort of suggests seniors are some kind of alien from another planet. But it is actually kind of a cool story about about how some tech entrepreneurs spend a week living in a Brookdale senior living community with the goal of understanding who they are inventing for.

Do you have something that ought to be included in the feature? Please let us know.