Article posted: 2/10/2013 3:00 AM

High-tech ‘Granny Pod’ could change elder care

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Viola Baez eats yogurt in a MedCottage installed in her daughter's Alexandria, Va., backyard. The high-tech cottage, which some believe could change the face of elderly care, is an option to a nursing home.

Washington Post/Daniel C. Britt

Shannon Page monitors her grandmother's activity and the temperature in her room on a computer screen in a living room nook that doubles as an electronic command center.

Washington Post/Daniel C. Britt

A MedCottage is shown behind the Page-family home in Alexandria, Va., They're designed to allow a family to look after an aging or disabled loved one.

Washington Post/Sarah L. Voisin

Viola Baez inhales a vapor treatment in the MedCottage installed in her daughter's backyard. The small, high-tech cottages function like portable hospital rooms.

Washington Post/Daniel C. Britt

About this Article

Viola Baez wouldn't budge. Her daughter's family had just invested about $125,000 in a new kind of home for her, a high-tech cottage that might revolutionize the way Americans care for their aging relatives. But Viola wouldn't even step inside.