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In my meager experience with my dad, it all comes back to two things: comfort and entertainment.
At 70+ with very advanced Parkinson's, the more comfortable and entertained my father is, the less he asks for help.
You can see how comfort and entertainment increase quality of life for everyone in the equation.
Family caregivers listen up! I'm showing you a shortcut to the Parkinson's living room setup of the future. Oh yeah!
The TV screen is the focus of most of my dad’s attention, time-wise.
The TV in the Advanced Parkinson’s Entertainment Center I’m building in my living room must be huge, because my dad’s eyesight isn’t what it used to be either.
My dad can't use the TV remote anymore, but sometimes he successfully asks Alexa to put some TV on the Echo Show #ad.
My over-simplified overview of 2023’s viable Smart TVs with Voice Activation for aging family members to use is this: Samsung and Sony win for quality. Vizio and Hisense win for value.
But my family already uses Alexa, so we’re choosing the Amazon Fire TV for the ultimate Alexa voice command user experience. “Alexa, put on soothing animal babies for my dad.”
It's got to be immersive sound.
To build a DJ party business for the seniors and their families in Gratiot County, I've recently purchased a pair of JBL EON ONE COMPACT speakers, which are professional grade loud speakers that connect wirelessly via Bluetooth.
Having a sound system with four or more speakers wireless is doable on a budget in 2023.
I’m looking for the Sonos One series as a wireless modular home speaker system that’s simple to start and can grow as you go - because it’s high-reviewed, best-selling, bluetooth ready for as many devices as I can handle, and works with Alexa voice commands.
There you have it - beautiful surround sound to make my dad’s late stage Parkinson’s entertainment experience that much more pleasing to the senses.
We're talking about the future. One way the future is already here is VR (Virtual Reality). Anyone with an iPhone can experience a basic version of virtual reality, or those ready to pay for a specialized headset can get a full-on experience.
In your living room, it happens when you put on a VR headset, which is like a heavy pair of goggles or binoculars. It gives your left eye a left image and your right eye a right image, so it feels like you’re in 3D space - Virtual Reality.
No, it’s not just for video games. More and more TV, movies, and online video content is becoming available in VR.
Virtual Reality Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease is a real thing. Why chouldn’t Virtual Reality Entertainment for Parkinson’s Delight be a real thing too?
I need more time to research the gizmos and gadgets to build a virtual world where my father is back to his old able bodied self. The Vive Focus 3, for example, is durable enough for businesses to use with customers, but will it hold up to dementia?
Just off of top of my head, my dad would need a chair that helps him get up, and get down and lie down and lie up.
We already have a Pride brand living room lift chair for him. It’s a model 10+ years old. I’m wondering if that’s part of the reason my dad can’t use the Pride lift chair remote with his hands anymore.
What’d be really future-fantastic if my Pride automatic recliner chair would recline by voice activated comment. “Alexa, can you help bump me up?”
To my densely limited knowledge, 2023’s Human Touch Alexa voice activated recliner is the only Alexa-compatible self-reclining chair that you can control with your voice - but it’s well out my price range. If you already have Alexa, you might be able to try the Human Touch Skill without even buying the chair - since it’s Free to Enable on any Alexa Device.
But a Zero Gravity recliner seems to fit the ticket. I’d need to investigate further to determine if Zero Gravity with Manual Recline wouldn’t have been better for my dad earlier than the Parkinson’s has advanced.
Call me a shoe shiner, but I'm thinking about a real high stool.
The L-shaped sofa reigns supreme as the ultimate lounge gear for an American living room. The L-shaped sofa lets you sit down, lie down, sit with our legs out straight, and curl your body into an L if you’re in the corner part.
But the problem for the elderly is, too many American sofas are so soft that it’s hard for my debilitated dad to get up from it. It’s too squishy and low!
So I'm wondering if they make an L-shaped sofa with an especially high seat, so it's more like a bar stool height.
That’d make it easier for people with weak muscles to get up and down more conveniently, and you’d still get the benefits of a soft cushy couch.
As high as a bar stool, sleeping might even feel like a bunk bed. Makes me feel like a kid again thinking about it.
In our current living room, my dad gets lots of use from his set of three standard yoga blocks.
We put them by his side when he sits in a lounge chair, to keep him sitting up straight. We put them between his inward trending knees to stretch out his leg muscles a bit.
I’d be interested to learn what the cushion of the future looks like. I’d imagine it’s like a pyramid or trapezoid or semicircle three-dimensional shape, big enough to fit under both legs, and big enough to rest your back against.
Like a big yoga block pyramid that can prop your whole body in a variety of healthy positions. That’s the future advanced Parkinson’s body block I dream of.
Living like an iguana cain’t be so bad!
My dad's Parkinson's is advancing faster than technology.
So here I am in rural Michigan with my family caregiving for my dad and wondering how we can make the tomorrow of living rooms today.
What does a futuristic Parkinson’s living room look like?
Comfort and Entertainment: enabled through voice activated technology that can help stay comfortable when staying in place, and make getting up and down to get around easier and safer too.
Welcome to your Family Parkinson’s Entertainment Center.
The Future is Today.
