By Jules Lavallee
Los Angeles, California (The Hollywood Times) 6/17/2021- Aging expert Lisa Cini shares her top Father’s Day gifts that dad will love with products. Lisa M. Cini is an award-winning senior living designer, President / CEO of Mosaic Design Studio and author of BOOM: The Baby Boomers Guide to Leveraging Technology, so that you can Preserve Your Independent Lifestyle & Thrive, The Future is Here: Senior Living Re-imagined, and Hive, The Simple Guide to Multigenerational Living: How Our Family Makes it Work.
You are a well-known aging expert. As we approach Father’s Day. What are your favorite picks?
Father’s Day is the perfect time to gift gadget-loving dads and granddads with useful new innovative technologies to enhance their lives.
- Shine a light on dad – The Better Vision 2-in-1 LED Magnifier Floor and Table Light combines 30 Super Bright Natural Daylight LEDs with optical grade magnifiers and a rugged built-in handle so you have hands-free magnification exactly where you need it. For something more portable, the Better Vision Task Lamp helps you see everything clearly and comfortably with a unique fold-up design and a multi-position shade to easily adjust the light.
- For the fitness Fan – More than just a fitness tracker, the iHealth Wave Wireless Swim, Activity and Sleep Tracker tracks your calories burned, distance traveled and your quality of sleep. Personalized alerts may motivate you to move more throughout the day. Share reports with your trainer, doctor, or fitness friends right from your smartphone or tablet.
- For a breath of fresh air – Bring the fresh air inside for dad on Father’s Day by surprising him with the Brondell Pro Sanitizing Air Purifier with AG+ Technology. Already protecting millions from viruses globally, the Brondell Pro is proven to eliminate ≥99.9% of COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) within 15 minutes by MRIGlobal.
- For the grill master – Ekogrips BBQ Gloves are perfect for the BBQ king in your life. From the backyard to the campsite, these heat resistant gloves are also reinforced to prevent rips or tears to ensure both hands and wrists are fully protected.
- Let dad catch some zzz’s – Part pillow speaker, part sound machine, the UnderPillow Sound System will help soothe tinnitus or drown out background noise to help you get a restful night’s sleep. Choose to listen to pre-recorded nature sounds, plug in your own device, or upload 30 minutes of your own music.
As an award-winning senior living designer and President / CEO of Mosaic Design Studio what are the trends of today?
- Unique office spaces – Whether it’s convertible closets or cubicles dedicated to home schooling, the home office will be reimagined and more customized to accommodate different needs like having stylish zoom backgrounds and better acoustics during a meeting or class.
- Convertible furniture – With the quarantine, it is critical to have furniture that does more than one thing. For instance, a coffee table that can also double as a desk when the top is raised.
- Grey and Yellow – Ultimate Grey and Illuminating Yellow are the Pantone colors of the year. These colors are the perfect blend that will go with any style of design. It is clean yet warm, and it adds that perfect bit of natural sunshine to any space.
- Multi-generational living – Many families moved back together with multiple generations together in one home. By doing so, living costs are reduced and support for each other increases. This creates the need to provide more separate spaces designated for work, school, entertainment, and exercise.
- Multi-functional space – Utilize a fluid, open design throughout the space by removing and replacing walls with sliding pocket doors and creating alcoves with built-in organizers to maximize the space. Get transparent art dividers to keep the space bright and open, you can easily close it to ensure people don’t see every part of the house all at once (like dirty dishes for example). Get creative and maximize storage by using the vertical space above sofas to install cabinets all the way to the ceiling.
- Modernizing spaces with the help of technology – Add a bidet toilet seat, smart, night & LED lighting, Google home personal assistant.
We don’t believe in neutral spaces; we want our spaces to cause a reaction, a positive reaction. Expound on this idea
- Use color theory to underscore the purpose of the space. If you’re using an energizing and refreshing blue, this can stimulate creativity and capture the natural light.
How are you helping seniors Embrace Aging and Live Independently?
- I showcase how aging adults can age in place through technology and design to ensure one can live independently, safely, and comfortably regardless of age, income, or ability level. I’ve worked on a number of projects aimed to help older adults and multigenerational families age in place and transform their households into their personable, home-like ‘soul spaces’. In other words, the home should be a space where your soul feels at ease. It’s important to have safe, warm, and home-like spaces so families love the home they have. As Lisa has a lot of experience with designing for multi-generational families and senior citizens, she prefers using the “LOVE” method for these communities (although it is not limited to these audiences).
- L stands for “light”: Have as much natural light as possible, use sensor lights to find your way in the dark, and make sure the space is bright enough for those who are older and may have limited vision.
- O stands for “optimize”: Make things easy with a heat/light combo in the bathroom or a grab bar toilet paper holder.
- V is for “visualize”: Use contrast to make the handrail easy to see. We also installed a camera in my grandmother’s living room to make sure she was OK when we were out of the house.
- E is for “ease”: We removed a wall in the living room so my grandmother would not get trapped when she was wandering. This helped her not to get frustrated.
Tell us about your book, BOOM: The Baby Boomers Guide to Leveraging Technology, so that you can Preserve Your Independent Lifestyle & Thrive.
- The second edition of “BOOM: The Baby Boomers’ Guide to Preserving Your Freedom and Thriving As You Age In Place” is launching on July 6, 2021. This updated and expanded version of “Boom” offers you key insights with positive actions that will allow you to age on your own terms. “Boom” is your personal guide to all the technology, ideas, and advancements you’ll need to live your life to the fullest.
What are key points from your book?
- “Boom” is filled with key insights and actions to live a safer and less stressful life while saving tens of thousands per year. The book outlines how to leverage the latest state-of-the-art technologies to facilitate aging in the right place and traveling with freedom while also accounting for the challenges of aging like declining memory, vision impairment, and more. BOOM explains how using technology for health issues can move us from reactive to proactive with the use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Data Mining and Sensors, and explains those terms so the reader fully understands them, as opposed to considering them scary science fiction or a dystopian future nightmare.
- BOOM helps readers sort through what can seem like a dizzying labyrinth of technologies and the many options the boomer generation and older have available. Cini’s “Big Three” questions are:
- How are you going to live your life with freedom and confidence with the help of the many tech tools available that can make life easier?
- Where will you be living your life? What feels right? If you want to age in a “home,” technology can aid in your understanding of which home will be the best fit for you. Freedom is making the choice yourself, so you don’t have it made for you and end up living out your life in a place where you don’t feel you belong.
- How are you going to care for your mind, body and spirit if we are able to live decades longer than expected?
- “BOOM: The Baby Boomers Guide to Leveraging Technology, so that you can Preserve Your Independent Lifestyle & Thrive” is available for purchase and download on Amazon in print and Kindle e-book format.
Tell us about Senior Living Re-Imagined.
- “Senior Living Reimagined” is about senior living technology that will increase one’s quality of life and reduce risk. In each chapter, you will be introduced to technology advancements such as sensors and wearable technology, OLED lighting, exoskeletons, induction looping technology, robotics, gamification, and 3D food printing machines. Through my firsthand experiences, research, and expert interviews, I highlight and provide senior living providers current, cutting-edge technology that will change the face of senior living in the coming years.
Find Lisa Cini on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest!
