If you need to collect medicines from your local pharmacy over the next few weeks, you may receive them in a brightly coloured pharmacy bag covered in smart gadgets!The gadgets are pictures of smar...
If you need to collect medicines from your local pharmacy over the next few weeks, you may receive them in a brightly coloured pharmacy bag covered in smart gadgets!
The gadgets are pictures of smart technology such as automatic pill dispensers, fall detectors and reminder clocks that could provide simple solutions to make daily tasks easier for people at home.
The pharmacy bags are the latest way that Warwickshire County Council is raising awareness of its easy-to-use AskSARA website (www.warwickshire.gov.uk/asksara) which helps to improve people’s access to a range of ‘self-help’ smart technology and services in Warwickshire so they can stay well for longer.
The AskSARA website has been launched in the county by Warwickshire County Council as part of their commitment, through the Warwickshire Cares Better Together programme, to give people improved access to Assistive Technology and to help them focus on their strengths.
From cooking and washing to taking medicines, or doing pastimes and day-to-day errands, AskSARA provides information, advice and guidance on smart gadgets and solutions that can enable people to help themselves.
The website signposts people to a choice of gadgets and solutions based on their own requirements and produces an individual report with suggested ideas, based on the responses to some simple, multiple-choice questions.
For instance, if a person needs help remembering to take their tablets, it might recommend an automatic pill dispenser or a digital reminder clock; or if someone needs help with remaining hydrated or has mobility problems as a consequence of a health condition, AskSARA may advise the use of a special ‘hand steady’ mug, a fall detector ‘watch’, or a personal alarm.
This could lessen their dependence on friends, family and professional carers, and help them to stay healthy in their own home.
The County Council is hoping that pharmacists across Warwickshire, who play an important role in providing frontline heath advice, will help to raise awareness of the website and the gadgets and services available.
Councillor Les Caborn, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health, said: “I encourage everybody to visit the AskSARA website as we aim to improve and increase access to Assistive Technology for people in Warwickshire.
“AskSARA can help people to stay safe, well and independent by suggesting solutions that they and their relations or carers may not have thought of beforehand, or they may not have been aware of.
“It’s for adults of all ages who need a variety of support to make their lives and everyday tasks easier.
“There’s an extensive assortment of Assistive Technology out there that is really simple to use, but people often don’t know what it is they need to support them. The AskSARA website presents them with the information, assistance and guidance that they need.”