Patent Application
20110108363
The present invention generally relates to services for the elderly, and more specifically to a shopping, services, and entertainment center for elderly persons.
The growing generation of independent elderly citizens currently does not have a place specifically for them to shop for daily needs and services, or to obtain entertainment with pride and dignity. Social security is being drained, and will be inadequate to assure quality of living for the baby boomer generation, who number in the millions. Families cannot maintain elderly parents for decades, while living their own lives with quality. Everywhere there are elderly people needing a place for shopping, living, entertainment, and other services. Demographic and retail studies show that an appropriate environment for the elderly is desired.
A person is “elderly” if the person has reduced dexterity, vision, or hearing, or has an elderly lifestyle. Some “elderly” persons are not old at all, but would benefit from specialized accommodations, such as a shopping and living center for the handicapped or the lesser-abled.
It would be desirable to have a system for economic, quality accommodation of elderly persons.
In one aspect of the present invention, a system for providing shopping and entertainment to a user includes: a motorized scooter adapted to be ridden by the user; a shopping structure to dispense provisions, including a shelf adapted to store and dispense the provisions at a distance above the ground that allows the user to access the provisions while riding the scooter, and a lane adjacent the shelf that is wide enough to allow the user to access the provisions while riding the scooter without blocking the lane; an entertainment structure to provide entertainment, including a module for seating the user while riding the scooter so that the user may receive the entertainment; wherein the scooter, the shopping structure, and the entertainment structure cooperate to provide shopping and entertainment to the user.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method for providing services to a user includes: providing a vehicle to transport the user; providing a shopping facility having shelves and lanes adapted to help the user navigate the shopping facility to shop; providing a communications facility having visual and audio enhancements to help the user communicate; and providing a sanitary facility having rails to help the user perform sanitary functions.
The preferred embodiment and other embodiments, including the best mode of carrying out the invention, are hereby described in detail with reference to the drawings. Further embodiments, features and advantages will become apparent from the ensuing description or may be learned without undue experimentation. The figures are not drawn to scale, except where otherwise indicated. The following description of embodiments, even if phrased in terms of “the invention,” is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but describes the manner and process of making and using the invention. The coverage of this patent will be described in the claims. The order in which steps are listed in the claims does not indicate that the steps must be performed in that order.
An embodiment of the invention provides a shopping, services, and social entertainment center for independent elderly senior citizens.
An embodiment includes a convenient, all-in-one center that meets the needs of elderly senior citizens, who may be totally handicapped. Embodiments may have facilities with overhangs, covered drops off areas, and an entire complex designed for the elderly, along with retail stores. An embodiment of the current invention may provide a system for independent elderly citizens to remain independent, including shopping, services, entertainment and living accommodations, making the booming and growing elderly market happy in addition to keeping them in their homes vs. assisted living places. Embodiments include visual and audio enhancements to help with vision or hearing problems.
An embodiment may enable persons to remain independent in their own homes longer than existing systems, thus avoiding the need for nursing homes, assisted living, etc. An embodiment enables elderly senior citizens to remain and live independently of assisted living and nursing homes without family or paid live-in care intervention for a much longer period of time happily.
To use an embodiment of the present invention, persons could use it to exist independently longer. An embodiment may provide daily maintenance needs & services, groceries, entertainment, possible living accommodations all with that dimension of caring and assistance with covered areas and such necessary equipment other facilities do not provide.
An embodiment of the present invention, which may be called “Quality Superior Shopping, Services and Entertainment for Independent Elderly Senior Citizens”, may include some, or any, or all, of the following elements:
An embodiment of the entire complex may be designed to accommodate elderly seniors with every thought to shopping, services, and entertainment designed to help them maintain an independent life prolonging the need for assisted living or nursing homes for their daily survival. An embodiment of shopping shelves may be between 1 feet and 5 and ½ feet above the ground, with lanes at least 8 feet wide, and the signage having lettering at least 0.5 inches tall. Dining ware for the elderly may include lighter, larger cups & glasses, filled lower to avoid embarrassing spills, the cups with wider finger holes to accommodate enlarged knuckles and arthritic hands. Wider doorways and paths may accommodate wheelchairs or scooters. Holding bars may be provided in the tub, shower, and by the toilet. Kitchen aisles may be wide, and cabinets may be low and within reach. Living spaces may have a flow designed for scooter use, with no steps or stairs.
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