One gets you a ride, the other doesn’t

Does our brain scramble signals as we age? Consider this story:

I have a toll-free business line (an 800 number). For several years, I’ve periodically retrieved voicemail messages from elderly people, requesting a ride from or to unfamiliar destinations, leaving only their name and a 7-digit number. Though this doesn’t happen often, it’s grown increasingly frustrating — not because I mind getting the misdialed calls, but because these seniors obviously need a ride somewhere, and I’m unable to let them know that I’m not the service they want.

The other day I received such a call, twice within the hour, but this time the caller left her full name as well as phone number with area code. I returned the call, explained I was not the business she intended to contact, and asked what number she wanted. It turns out callers who reach me have been transposing the final two digits of the transport service’s number — which results in my number! I was surprised so many seniors have made the same mistake over the years, but immediately searched the company online, and called to explain the situation.
It’s a non-profit, rural transportation service in Minnesota, serving seniors in eight counties. When I saw their phone number prominently displayed on their website, it looked so much like mine at a glance I could understand how an elder might confuse the digits. The question is, how could we resolve the issue going forward? Since neither they nor I wish to change our business phone number, this calls for some ingenuity. As a start, I suggested they might want to print attractive, wallet-sized cards with the number in large type, and encourage men and women to keep the card handy for easy use.

Aging dyslexia

I joked, “Maybe aging makes us dyslexic.” And then I found this article. According to a study published in the journal Aphasiology, “normal aging makes us mildly ‘dyslexic’ [by impairing] higher brain functioning. In part, this is consistent with slower mentation and speech processing, lapses in memory and concentration, etc.”

While dyslexia generally focuses more on language skills than numbers, people who are aware of their dyslexia early on (such as filmmaker Steven Spielberg) learn to compensate by emphasizing their strengths.

At the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, researchers are focused on identifying whether the dyslexic trait influences the aging process, thus helping to understand how aging-related diseases might be misdiagnosed or incorrectly treated in individuals who have a life-long history of dyslexia.

So if some of your reverse mortgage prospects arrive at the office across the street, or insist they’ve left you several phone messages, now you’ll have a better understanding of what may be behind the apparent errors.

“Distracted aging”?

To put a positive spin on it, maybe “dyslexia” is our brain’s way of attempting to subconsciously reverse the aging process.

Or maybe, says humorist Joyce Wadler, it’s simply “distracted aging”, which is akin to distracted driving, though possibly more dangerous. Wadler writes:

“Walking into a room and forgetting what I wanted is something I have read often happens to people in their 60s and is not a cause for worry. I do now and then have something I think of as spatial dyslexia, in which, to give an example, I am heading to the kitchen cabinet to put away the Special K, and find myself opening the refrigerator door. This does worry me a bit, mostly because of a story a girlfriend told me about a great-aunt when we were young and callow, i.e., in our late 20s: The aunt is ironing when the phone rings. She picks up the iron and puts it to her ear. We thought this was so preposterous it was hilarious. Now in the rare instances I use an iron I regard it like a tiger in the living room I have raised from birth: It seems O.K., but any minute it could turn on me.”

Transposed telephone numbers may not get seniors the ride they request, but at least it’s a safe mistake.

The dictum, “You are what you eat,” just leapt to the next level. Yes, it’s important to eat right, especially as we age, and to take appropriate, doctor-prescribed medications on schedule. Smartphone apps such as Medminder and e-Pill (which also offer locked pill dispensers that only unlock the specified compartment at the right time), Tricella (which pings a reminder if a senior forgets a dose) and PillPack (which delivers each dose to a senior’s door as needed) have sprung up to make remembering which pill to take when a lot easier.

Now technology takes it even further, with tiny ingestible sensors that track when elders take their medication. It’s like having a microscopic AI keeping your HECM clients and prospects on track, health wise. And it is huge: according to the report Smart Pills Technologies Market (2012-2017), the global smart pills market is expected to reach nearly one billion dollars in sales this year.

Leading the ingestibles evolution is Proteus Digital Health, a health technology company partnering with U.S. health care systems to optimize outcomes for patients with heart failure, cardio metabolic risk and hepatitis-C.

Not Hard to Swallow

For some seniors, especially those wary of technology, it may be somewhat easier to swallow the pill than the concept. Here’s how Proteus works:

The system is comprised of ingestible FDA-approved sensors, a small wearable sensor patch, a mobile app and a provider portal. Each pill contains a sensor the size of a grain of sand, coated in two digestible metals: copper and magnesium. These minerals are safe to consume because they occur naturally in our diets, as well as being sold in vitamin and mineral supplements.

Once swallowed, electrolytes within the body activate the sensor when it reaches the stomach, sending a signal to a small wearable sensor patch on the elder’s torso. The patch records the type of medicine ingested, dosage, and when it was taken. It then relays this information to a senior’s (or designated family member’s or caregiver’s) mobile device. If someone forgets to take their medication, the Proteus software sends a reminder to the designated mobile.

Oh, and the ingestible sensor? It passes harmlessly through your reverse mortgage client’s body like food. If you recall Star Trek: The Next Generation tiny bots capably repairing parts of the engineering system no person could safely reach, you have a grasp of how ingestible sensors work. The 24^th century is happening now.

Eight major U.S. health care systems are currently testing Proteus smart pills. According to company co-founder Dr. George Savage, fewer than 50 percent of people take their medication correctly. “Digital medicine helps doctors make better decisions,” he says. “Physicians can see if patients are failing to respond to the therapy or if it’s how they are taking the medicine that is at fault.”

More Palatable Than A Colonoscopy

Another welcome role for ingestibles is diagnostic imaging. In lieu of the typically invasive colonoscopy procedure recommended for people over 50 to screen for colorectal cancer, the PillCam™ COLON system sends a tiny camera inside an ingestible capsule to provide a direct view of the colon. This simple, completely non-invasive procedure enables a physician to conduct a thorough, accurate exam.

On the horizon: ingestible sensors that can diagnose heart conditions such as abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), or breathing problems, including emphysema or asthma. Because swallowing a capsule is much simpler than wearing an electronic monitor, this technology will improve patient compliance, and thus, health outcomes, say researchers.

Since we’re already becoming bionic, perhaps the idea of ingestible health sensors will soon become as easy to swallow as the pills themselves.

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