Area aging institute partners with Calif. firm

SARASOTA — The Institute for the Ages, through a new partnership with a California company, will test a computer tablet designed specifically to help seniors live at home.

The institute is a Sarasota-based nonprofit organization that studies the impact of aging on businesses and the community. The product, CareConnect, is a 7-inch touch screen tablet, manufactured by Garden Grove, Calif.-based Ceretec, where the applications launch automatically. Those apps, the company says, allow users to complete a host of functions, including personal alert response, medication and appointment management and 24-hour activity monitoring. A user can also email, text and video chat on the device.

The Institute for the Ages contract with Ceretec, according to a release, sets up a 21-day usage trial of the CareConnect product. The study, to kick off in October, will be available to residents of Sunnyside Village in Sarasota and the Village On the Isle in Venice. It will also be available to a number of regular participants in the institute's 50+ Community Research Network, a database of engaged seniors.

This is the 10th research contract for the Institute for the Ages since it was founded in 2012.