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The market for products
designed specifically for older adults could reach $30 billion by next year,
and startups (初创公司) want in on the action. What they sometimes
lack is feedback from the people who they hope will use their products. So Brookdale,
the country's largest owner of retirement communication, has been inviting a
few select entrepreneurs just to move in for a few days, show off their
products and hear what the residents have to say.
That's what brought Dayle
Rodriguez, 28, all the way from England to the dining room of Brookdale South
Bay in Torrance, California. Rodriguez is the community and marketing manager
for a company called Sentab. The startup's product, Sentab TV, enables older
adults who may not be comfortable with computers to access email, video chat
and social media using just their televisions and a remote control.
"It's nothing new, it's
nothing too complicated and it's natural because lots of people have TV
remotes." says Rodriguez.
But none of that is the
topic of conversation in the Brookdale dining room. Instead, Rodriguez solicits
residents' advice on what he should get on his cheeseburger and how he should
spend the afternoon. Playing cards was on the agenda, as well as learning to
play mahjong(麻将).
Rodriguez says it's
important that residents here don't feel like he's selling them something. "I've
had more feedback in a passive approach." he says. "Playing pool,
playing cards, having dinner, having lunch, all work better than going through
a survey of questions. When they get to know me and to trust me, knowing for
sure I'm not selling them something—there'll be more honest feedback from them."
Rodriguez is just the
seventh entrepreneur to move into one of Brookdale's 1,100 senior living communities.
Other new products in the program have included a kind of full-body blow dryer
and specially designed clothing that allows people with disabilities to dress
and undress themselves.
"First and foremost,
the residents love it." says Smith. "It also provides Brookdale the
opportunity to learn about and experience new technologies quickly and
inexpensively and to make sure that we understand what residents want and need."
Mary Lou Busch, 93, agreed
to try the Sentab system. She tells Rodriguez that it might be good for someone, but not for her.
"I have the computer
and FaceTime, which I talk with my family on." she explains. She also has
an iPad and a smart phone. "So I do pretty much everything I need to do."
Rodriguez takes it pretty well.
"I'm not going to lie
to you, I would've liked a more positive response." he says. But "if
people don't need it or want it, it's up to us to change, adapt it or make it
more useful."
To be fair, if Rodriguez
had wanted feedback from some more technophobic (害怕技术的) seniors, he might have
ended up in the wrong Brookdale community. This one is located in the heart of
Southern California's aerospace corridor. Many residents have backgrounds in
engineering, business and academic circles.
But Rodriguez says he's
still learning something important by moving into this Brookdale community: "People
are more tech-skilled than we thought."
And besides, where else
would he learn to play mahjong?
