Designing for Dignity

What would passive monitoring for older adults look like if nobody had to wear a device or remember it was there? Frank McDermott's 98-year-old grandmother-in-law won't leave the Augusta, Georgia, home she's lived in for 50 years, and her laundry room is in the basement. Now a smart plug down there tells the family when she goes down the stairs and when she comes back up. She's forgotten it's ther...

What separates the brain health startups that last from the ones that raise big and flame out? In 1988, Steve Ardire's older brother had surgery for a brain tumor, and for 26 years his MRIs came back normal. In 2016, the tumor regrew about two and a half months after a clean scan, and the second surgery left him with less mobility. It shaped how Steve sees neurotech: a product that stops at detect...

Why does so much technology built for older adults look like it was designed for a four-year-old? Erin went looking for a fidget product for her dad, who had advanced Alzheimer's disease and kept trying to take apart the mechanics of his wheelchair. Almost everything she found was oversized and primary-colored, made for a toddler. It is the physical version of something that ships in software ever...

What happens when a family plans for care and the plan falls apart in a week? Holly Larson spent two decades writing about technology for some of the largest companies in the world. Then her father was injured on a trip to Italy, and she and her sister found themselves running a care system at warp speed with no map for it. Nine years later they are still at it. Out of that came Family Care Horizo...

What does it take to truly understand the people you are designing for in aging and care? It starts with listening. And few people have been listening longer or more closely than Nicole Will. In this episode of Designing for Dignity, Erin Young speaks with Nicole Will, founder of WillGather, a platform and podcast focused on aging, caregiving, and AgeTech. Nicole also works with Rendever, a VR pla...

What if your voice could reveal what is happening in your brain years before any symptoms appear? In this episode of Designing for Dignity , host Erin Young sits down with Kara Uchtman , Clinical Research Officer at Vibes AI , a company building low-friction cognitive health tools based on voice and sound. They explore early cognitive detection, the ethics of longitudinal voice data, and what it t...

How important is technology when it comes to top-tier senior care? In this episode of Designing for Dignity, Erin Young interviews Christy Rockefeller, a caregiving veteran and with extensive experience at tech companies focused on improving home care. Christy shares her journey into senior care, and her experiences at nursing homes, memory care, hospice, and home care. The conversation delves int...

What happens when virtual reality becomes a bridge between generations? In this episode, Erin talks with David Wyatt, Head of Communications and Business Strategy at Mighty Coconut, about how the hit VR game Walkabout Mini Golf unexpectedly became a favorite among older players. 💡 What You’ll Learn Why half of Walkabout Mini Golf’s players are over 45 How the pandemic shaped a new kind of social...