Meet George, Kevin & Laura and Annabelle in 2025

In each one of the scenarios, we meet four senior citizens with different needs and desires in order to live an independent life. The four persons are introduced to show that different people face different challenges and opportunities. Those will differ throughout the scenarios.

 

George, 79 years old

George suffers from dementia. Being single, he depends on professional help and support in order to live on his own. As George and his wife were divorced 40 years ago and they had no children, George has no close relatives. George lives alone in his own house in a small town.

George had many different jobs over the years. During the last years of his working life, he was a long-distance bus driver. His retirement pension is relatively modest.

George is in good physical condition and enjoys moving around indoors and outdoors. As dementia causes disorientation, George needs help finding the way.

His occasional amnesia makes him dependent on help remembering and to control his personal economy in order to be able to live by himself. George enjoys different social activities – but he does not always remember to take the initiative.

 

Kevin and Laura, 72 and 68 years old

Kevin is a retired engineer. He lives with his wife Laura who used to work as a teacher. They live on the countryside with their son, where they share a house built for two generations. They have a smaller, personal apartment and they share the living room with their son and his family. Their family ties are strong, and they have daily contact with siblings, their son and their grandchildren.

Kevin has never been good at exercising nor had a healthy diet. Being a heavy smoker Kevin is severely affected by COPD^[1] and has trouble moving outside the house.

Laura has a cardiac disease. She has to monitor her heart condition regularly and adjust her medications carefully. She is dependant on daily exercises.

Kevin has always been the “tech freak” of his family. He loves new technology and still eagers to test new products – trying everything he manages to get hold of, from new mobile apps to assistive devices and medical equipment.

 

Annabelle, 85 years old

Annabelle is a retired lawyer, has a strong economy and lives in a large city. She has been exceptionally healthy almost all of her life, and has always cared for her own health. The last year, however, Annabelle has gone through intensive rehabilitation after a femoral neck fracture. She is still – to a certain degree – physically impaired and has become more anxious after the incident.

Annabelle enjoys the company of others. As her two children live elsewhere with their own families, and Annabelle was widowed many years ago, she wants to meet new people and establish a new network of likeminded.

Even though Annabelle used a pc for many years of her working life, she is not interested in computers or other digital tools. Annabelle finds new software or “gadgets” demanding. She is also sceptical to how safely the different systems process her personal information.