Alexa Says

Technology permeates our lives—from our smartphones to our work computers to our automobiles and our smart speakers (Alexa, Google  Home, Siri).  So while I don’t just brush aside concerns about privacy in all of this tech connectedness, I am really excited about what it can do for us in healthcare.  Sharing health information can only make all of us caregivers better at what we do.  And I firmly believe that people who actively are engaged in their health and “health knowledge” can be better consumers of health services.  To that end here is an article about advances that Amazon has made with their smart speaker, Alexa.

I think we have only scratched the surface of this type of device’s capability to connect and better each of us.  I mentioned to one patient who was struggling to help her elderly mother with daily oral hygiene reminders due to her dementia that she could just put in a reminder for Alexa to tell her mom to brush her teeth every night at 8pm.  To test this out I put in a reminder on my Alexa to tell me every Thursday night to put out the milk bottles for Lakeview Farms to pick them up overnight (Lakeview has awesome milk BTW!).  Works like a charm and I’ve never missed putting them out.  And for that patient she could even control the Alexa remotely as her mom lived in a care facility.  Now I just need to find more ways to use mine than just as a milk reminder and kitchen timer!”