Riding the Silver Tsunami

CATLab to Support Aging-in-Place

By Russ L. Hudson

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Although the threatened “silver tsunami” of retiring baby boomers is a constant refrain in the national debate over Social Security, the nation has done little to prepare for it, warns California’s Department of Aging Director Lynn Daucher.

Daucher, who has had the responsibility of thinking about such matters statewide since her appointment by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2007, recently spoke on campus at the ECS Affiliates Technology Breakfast, a series of forums on technology-driven issues by the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Statistics show that more than half of those 65 and older have some disability, and more than half of those 85 or older are likely to suffer some degree of dementia. Hearing loss, glaucoma, difficulty walking or climbing stairs, arthritis, diabetes, and other livable but chronic conditions will only increase, Daucher pointed out.

“There just isn’t enough money to build the nursing homes those millions of boomers will need by the time they reach their 80s, and this cohort is rejecting the idea of nursing homes anyway. They want to work longer and are expected to live longer, so assistive devices and innovative services are crucial to keep them in the workforce and in their own homes.”

When Pauline Abbott, director of Cal State Fullerton’s Institute of Gerontology, Raman Unnikrishnan, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Daucher started discussing the issue, they came up with the idea of an interdisciplinary CATLab (California Assistive Technology Laboratory), with gerontologists, sociologists and engineers working together. “I look at the CATLab as being an innovation incubator,” Daucher said, and she is promoting the proposed CATLab in Sacramento and Washington.

“It is my greatest hope that people who want quality of life as they age will look at the growing assistive technology and say, loud and clear, ‘I want this!’ The technology and services industry that could grow to fulfill that need and profit by it would be a tremendous economic engine for the state,” Daucher said. “The innovations would benefit everyone — the aging, their caregivers and those who get the jobs that are created.”

The CATLab initiative, advanced by the College of Health and Human Development and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, along with ECS — also includes plans to offer students a minor in assistive technology.

Along with nursing, the CATLab is one of six fundraising priorities adopted by the CSUF Philanthropic Foundation, with a five-year plan to generate $12.5-million in support of development, operation and expansion of the lab.

Boomers, while aging fast, nevertheless are healthier, more tech-savvy and more affluent than previous generations. U.S. industries have not lost sight of this, said Unnikrishnan, who has submitted a grant application to the National Science Foundation to fund the CATLab. The application includes a letter of support from Daucher.

“I would like to see the development of a whole new area of study that I call gerontological engineering. We have only just begun to scratch the surface of what we can do, and I think Cal State Fullerton is well positioned to become a leader in this new endeavor,” said Abbott.