Stories

Larry is 82 years old and lives alone in a small cottage next door to his daughter, Jane.

Larry goes to church on Sundays, reads to 4th grade students twice a week, and volunteers at a local retirement community. Every day he walks to Jane's house for breakfast and supper.

Living in Wisconsin, Jane worried that he might fall on the ice some night, and she would not know until the next morning.

With GrandCare, she will get a call if he doesn't get back home. She also uses GrandCare to let her know when he arises from his afternoon nap so she doesn't wake him up with a phone call.

For the good times, Jane and her siblings take advantage of the GrandCare calendar to coordinate activities.

Usually, Jane takes Larry to church on Sunday, but sometimes her brother takes him at a different time. To keep everyone from getting mixed up, they enter the information on the GrandCare calendar, and Larry sees it on the television. His memory is constantly being refreshed, (and so is Jane's!)

When Larry watches television, he doesn't like complicated plots, violence or bad news. Now, he either watches re-runs of Mash, the religious channel, or GrandCare. The headline news, weather forecast, famous quotes and word definitions provided by GrandCare give Larry new topics to discuss with his family and help to keep him current. In fact, Larry takes the word of the day to the elementary school where he reads, and he tests the librarians on their vocabulary.

Larry remembers the times before GrandCare when he was the caregiver for his mother. Once her furnace almost burned the house down. She had been hearing noises and enduring temperature swings but didn't want to bother anyone. GrandCare would have provided the Peace of Mind to him then that it provides to his daughter now.

Jean is an independent 75 year old who lives alone in Daytona Beach, Florida. Her 48 year old daughter, Carol, lives just a few miles down the beach. Jean is mentally acute and physically able.

Some of her daily activities include walking, growing orchids under lights, genealogical research, surfing the Internet and baking bread. A few years ago she developed a disorder which causes occasional night time seizures. The next day she experiences a period of disorientation, wandering and confusion.

Daughter Carol is very concerned about this disoriented state, and Jean's physicians recommended that she move to an assisted living facility. Jean felt strongly that she didn't want to leave her home; however, as brave as she was, she too was nervous about being alone.

Jean found GrandCare Systems.

Now, Carol gets a phone call if Jean begins to wander inside her home or walks out the door. Then Carol goes over to stay until Jean is normal again. Carol will also get a call if Jean pushes one of the call buttons or even if it gets too hot or cold in the home.

Usually, we say that GrandCare is for the good times. Jean has two sons and several grandchildren living out of town. Since GrandCare is also a communication system, they all can log-in on the GrandCare.com website and send pictures and messages to Jean's TV set. They can even send emails directly to the television.

For Jean, the best thing about GrandCare is that Carol has the freedom to live her own life and that she can stop calling so often. Jean's blood pressure has gone down, and she has a renewed sense of confidence!

Edward is an engineering consultant who travels the world. He is highly technical and uses the latest and greatest in technology, including a GrandCare system.

A number of years ago, Edward's doctor mentioned that Edward might need medication for his high blood pressure. Edward knew that his doctor only saw him once a year and could not possibly make that judgement with any certainty. So, Edward began taking his blood pressure every morning, which was wirelessly saved by the system. Viewing his history, Edward has not only learned more about his health and what affects his blood pressure, but now brings the data for his doctor to review.

The upshot is that he is still medication free and strives for behavior which will continue that state.

His wife Linda uses the system to remind her via email if she has forgotten to take her morning medications. She also likes to be reminded of appointments, birthdays, and anniversaries.

Some evenings Edward and Linda just sit in front of their TV to enjoy the hundreds of pictures that their children have sent of their six grandchildren. When they have a party, Linda likes to show her friends these same pictures on GrandCare.

Edward and Linda spend some of the winter in Florida. They do so with the assurance that, should their furnace malfunction, the GrandCare system will alert them well before their pipes have frozen. They can also keep track of motion in their house and make sure that the next door neighbor teenager is watering their plants.

Helen had Grandcare in her independent home mostly because she was lonely and her children and grandchildren wanted to be able to send pictures and messages to her TV.

When Helen began falling, GrandCare called her daughter, Kristin, who lived 20 minutes away. Kristin was happy to go help her, even in the middle of the night. When the falls became frequent, the children made the decision to move Helen into assisted living.

When Helen moved into her new apartment, she brought her own furniture and she brought GrandCare.

Helen found the GrandCare channel so comforting that her family chose to install a dedicated flat screen monitor on her wall that always plays the GrandCare channel.

Now anytime Helen gets out of bed in the night, the nursing staff is alerted. They can prevent falls before they happen. They don't have to worry about her hurting herself, or worse, that she would not be near a call button and just wouldn't show up to breakfast the next morning. If she does press a call button, she knows someone can come quickly.

Helen's daughter still picks her up for doctor's appointments and breakfast outings. She uses the GrandCare calendar to help remind Helen, but she also has the calendar send an email to the staff, so they know when Helen is planning on leaving. The staff can also enter social activities on all residents' GrandCare calendars.

Helen's extended family members record their vacations on her calendar. She is anxious about them being out of town, and before GrandCare, she called them frequently to refresh her memory about their plans.

With GrandCare, the dates are on her calendar, and sometimes a banner runs across the bottom of her monitor with special information.

Helen has a touch of dementia. A few years ago, an investment broker called her many times and finally convinced her to bring her portfolio to his office. He "rolled over" all of her investments for a cost of over $15,000.00. Now, GrandCare alerts the family if there are repeated phone calls from an unfamiliar number.

The staff at Helen's facility will spend less time on the phone with relatives of the seniors who have GrandCare in their rooms. Those families take an active role in the care of their loved ones. They share the monitoring, and they contribute to well-being with the enhanced communication.

Helen particularly enjoys inviting her new friends to her apartment so they can see her constantly updated picture album, right on her wall.

Henry is 75 years old and lives independently in Sun City West, Arizona. He's physically fit, works out and goes to an exercise class in the community. Henry used to live in Michigan, but after his retirement, he decided to move to a warmer climate. His children and grandchildren live all around the country from California to Boston.

Even though Henry stays healthy and fit, his children can't help but worry about him. They decided to install GrandCare, COMO, into his home so they could have that "peace of mind" from a distance.

Henry enjoys watching his COMO TV Channel and sees all of the updated information that his children and grandchildren have added. His grandchildren send cell phone pictures on a daily basis.

Since all of the children live out of state, they elected to work with a home-based care organization.

A caregiver named Molly comes to Henry's apartment twice a week to do some light house work, take him on outings and provide him with some companionship.

Molly and her organization work directly with Henry, his extended family and GrandCare Systems. If a situation arises, GrandCare alerts Molly directly, so she can respond quickly. Henry's family loves it, because they can continually check GrandCare and be a part of Henry's caregiver network from afar.

Molly leaves notes right on GrandCare for Henry's family to see.

If Henry wins at bingo or if he has a cold, Henry's family knows immediately and can feel "in the loop".