KNOX BOX

My WLLO Village (age in place) group started a campaign this summer to install Knox Box rapid entry systems to all of our members and volunteers who wanted one. We applied to both cities that we cover and received $6,500 in grants and voted to add some of our money as well.  The boxes we chose cost about $450.  Our full service members received one for free, other members paid subsidized $115 and volunteers $220.  Our handyman volunteers installed for free. 

The first Knox Box was introduced in 1975 by the Knox Company, headquartered in Phoenix. A Knox Box is a wall-mounted safe that contains keys to buildings or homes, which are used by emergency services to quickly enter a building in an emergency. 

If you have ever asked your local Fire Department or Police department to do a wellness check on a friend, they often have to break a window or door to get inside to check.  It’s always a last resort but we have had two friends encounter this process.  Homeowner bears the cost of getting things repaired.

Here at my condo complex, the Fire Department did have to break a large window when a resident’s new employer called her out of state son (emergency contact) to ask if she was sick or what.  He called a neighbor here but she did not have a key.  Upon forcefully entering, she was found dead in her bed with a book on her chest.  Just died in her sleep.  I don’t remember the exact cause.  One of our WLLO members also suffered the same demise.  Very fit, healthy and active 60 year old … died of a heart attack.  Which is what prompted our project.

(Our HOA will not allow any of us to install a Knox Box)

Aging alone does need some compromises.  We had a long term renter, 87, fall and was not able to get up or reach a phone.  She lay on her bedroom floor for four days!  I think everyone should have someone they contact daily.  I was part of a group of 8 widows in Maui who partnered up with one another, agreed upon a time for a call, then had a tiny chat every day.  WLLO had a member join just so she could get a phone call every day at 8:30 am.  

She now has a device (invented by our tech guru volunteer) that registers movement and reports to the WLLO office every day at noon.  (And she stills gets a phone call from her favorite seven who all became friends)  If there has been no movement, we contact the person to be sure things are OK.  It also measures the temperature in the home so if it gets too low in the winter, or too hot in the summer, we also get an alert.

Mark, our tech volunteer, also wrote an app that we can use on our phone or computer.  Each member/volunteer has an accompanying photo as well as contact information.  As an office volunteer I can also look at hourly or daily activity or mark someone away on vacation so we don’t worry if there is no activity.  He is looking for some venture capital to build and sell the unit and software to others.  First, to our 13 local Villages here (ranging from 80 members to 200 members)  I was invited to the first meeting since I use the app daily, learning more features.  In fact, I asked if we could sort by phone number in addition to first name or last name as some people call the virtual office and don’t leave a message.  If it is one of our more frail members, we usually give them a call back to check in.  And now we can.

Aging.  We get by with a little help from our friends. 

FINDOUTOLOGIST

I think I missed my career calling.  After high school, I have been a secretary.  Oh yeh, lots of different titles but really a secretary.  I still am.  A Jill of All Trades who manages routine and detail work for others.  (Yes, I still know enough shorthand so I can make secret lists that no one else can read).  I should have been a Private Eye.

Private detectives and investigators gather, analyze, and report information to clients regarding legal or personal matters.  As a secretary, I did all of these!  I kept notes on a Rolodex (those were the days before computers) so before a meeting I would remind my boss of the invitee’s spouse, kids, things from the news, bring in all files relating … and how they took their coffee.  Yes, I even did coffee.

Now in my volunteer life, I still enjoy keeping track of things.  And writing them down.  People are often amazed but it’s just instinct to me.  If our organization asks for RSVPs for an event, I write them down.  Even if it comes in on a day I am not managing the virtual office, I add it to my list.  The day before the Ted Talk or Happy Hour or whatever, I will forward the names and a head count to the host.

We do a monthly newsletter so if I see something interesting in the news, I send it to our Chair to let them decide whether or not to use.  Our Village represents two cities with most members in my city.  I research both cities (Parks and Rec, Library, Adult Centers, etc) so the other city gets equal info.

I just like finding out things.  A Findoutologist. I have total Senior ADD as one thing leads to another and somehow three hours go by.  I need to start setting an alarm for an hour at a time so I get up and move around!

AARP Founder Ethel Percy Andrus once said, “old age is not a defeat, but a victory, not a punishment, but a privilege.”

A THOUSAND WORDS

Lake Oswego is having great Autumn weather.  Crisp and cold at night, sunny and 70 during the day.  I've been going out and about more before the rains begin.

Black Vampire Flamingos

The spiders caught a baby

Welcome!

Sometimes it's nice to enjoy photos and not so many words!  More next week!

QUICK RESPONSE CODE

What is a QR code?  

It was initially designed in 1994 by a Japanese company to track parts as they moved through the automobile assembly process.  QR codes (or Quick Response codes) are two-dimensional codes that you can scan with a smartphone. The code contains information, usually a site address, and once you scan it, the code connects you with a resource on the web.

It is basically a barcode on steroids. While the barcode holds information horizontally, the QR code does so both horizontally and vertically. This enables the QR code to hold over a hundred times more information

The QR code might have just remained a workhorse for product cataloguing if it had not been for another invention: mobile devices with cameras. As people soon became inseparable from their smartphones, everyone always had a QR code scanner at their fingertips wherever they went.

That said, its rise to mainstream adoption wasn’t easy. As recent as the 2010s, you needed to download a variety of apps to scan various codes. Very frustrating and not exactly what we’d call good user experience.

But as it turns out, QR codes were just ahead of their time. It took awhile for smartphones to catch up, but these days, you no longer need a separate app to scan QR codes. For instance, iPhones with iOS 11 (launched in 2017) or later can read QR codes using just the standard camera app.

Nowadays, QR codes are used for a myriad of purposes, such as:

• Advertising (connecting consumers to a brand’s website for discounts)
• E-payments 
• Joining WiFi networks without having to enter passwords
• Providing more information about exhibits at museums, art galleries 
• Restaurant Menus
• Coupons in the store

The first time I used a QR code was in the late 90’s at a historic State Park and I had to download a special QR reader.  Now?  My iPhone is a reader!  When my sister was in town, we went to a restaurant where you have to order via QR and we paid that way also.

In the future (and some trendsetters are already doing some of these) you might be able to scan a house For Sale Sign and get all the details.  Packaged goods might have a QR that shows you recipes using that item, name tags at conventions (no more running out of business cards), to get more signatures for a petition (change.org) is already doing this)