Brave new world: Will home technology make seniors safer?

Article from Fifty Plus Advocate By Brian Goslow

Jeanette Pearce lives hundreds of miles away from her son and daughter but is able to stay in daily contact with them — and they are able to check on her well being without having to constantly call her.
Pearce and her children are leading the way into a new frontier, one that could play a key role in allowing seniors to live in their homes for many extra years: The 87-year-old is one of the first people to have a GrandCare monitoring system installed in her home.
“We’ve always kept in close contact,” Pearce said, “but now, sometimes when they’re on the phone, they’ll tell me they’re about to send me a picture.”
When her son, Rod, moved his family into a new home in Ohio, Pearce, who lives at Ravenwood Village in Hagertown, Md., said she almost felt she had moved with them, thanks to the photos they posted soon afterwards. Her daughter, Laura, also sent photos when she moved into a new apartment in St. Louis.
“My daughter fixed the system so when they send me a new picture, a cuckoo sounds to let me know it’s arrived,” Pearce said.
GrandCare Systems, based in West Bend, Wis., began developing the product in the 1990s, and brought it to market in 2006 with the promise of helping to alleviate “the loneliness and social isolation associated with aging.”
A series of products allows family members and caretakers to remotely check up on the well being of their loved ones and charges. GrandCare’s most recent release can monitor a person’s weight and blood pressure, receive messages from pre-approved parties, get the latest news and weather and show videos from family events.
GrandCare is not alone in developing technology intended to help seniors stay at home. The MIT AgeLab in Cambridge (www.agelab.mit.edu) has been creating age-friendly technology since 1999. The goal of its eHome Social Kitchen Project is to create products that combine NASA-designed technology — intended for use in outer space — with its own monitoring technology that’ll lead to a domestic kitchen setup that allows caretakers to watch out-of-the-norm behavior from afar.
“We’re tying to make it safer for older adults to age at home longer and maintain their independence,” said AgeLab communications coordinator Angelina T. Gennis. “It’s aimed at not having caregivers and kids have to go over to their patient’s or parent’s home daily to make sure they’re safe.”
While the intention of these technologies is to help seniors live at home longer, there are some people who want nothing to do with “big brother” watching their every move. If a monitoring system of any kind diminished a person’s feeling of independence, it could negate the benefit it was intended to provide.
“I would be 100 percent opposed to a tracking device of this sort if the senior adult was disapproving of it,” said Alissa A. Cavanaugh, MSW, of Cornelius, N.C., a licensed clinical social worker. “The benefits of remaining in the home would be abolished if an older adult believed a tracking devise would impede on how they have decided to age optimally.”
Cavanaugh provides counseling services in the homes of older adults and their families. She works closely with caretakers who are unable to monitor their parents as much as they’d like to due to time constraints. She thought electronic monitoring systems sounds like an effective way to help aging parents stay in their own homes for as long as possible.
When seniors feel depressed, Cavanaugh said, a major contributing factor is the feeling of losing control of their lives, self-determination and independence.
“Providing the senior with the ability to make this important decision (to have a monitoring system installed) autonomously can be extremely empowering and allow them to own decisions about their health and well-being.”
Pearce had no problem having the GrandCare system installed. Thanks to six sensors set up throughout her apartment, her children can check in via computer or cell phone message to see if her day is moving routinely. On occasion, when she’s left or returned to her apartment at a non-routine time, her daughter has called to confirm her safety. “I was glad she called,” Pearce said. “If I didn’t come back in, it could have meant that I’d fallen. It’s good to have somebody else checking up on me. I’m perfectly satisfied with it.”
Pete McMillin, managing and marketing director for the Diakon Ravinwood and Robinwood Lutheran Senior Living Communities in Maryland, helped oversee the GrandCare installations there. His personal experience makes him want to see products that help seniors age at home safely — most notably the time his grandmother suffered a painful fall and wasn’t discovered for two days.
When GrandCare was being showcased for potential volunteers at Ravinwood and Robinwood, one resident signed on for the program after her daughter convinced her of the potential benefits. “She didn’t think it concerned her while her daughter was nodding her head, ‘Yes, yes, that would be a big help and big relief to me,’ ” McMillin said. “We both said to her, ‘Maam, you move around in a walker. When do you think you’ll need it?’ ”
Greg Lescalleet, Ravinwood and Robinwood’s facility manager, wanted to make sure his mother, Shirley Lescalleet, 74, of nearby State Line, Pa., follows her normal routine. He uses GrandCare to monitor her restroom, bed and recliner movement. If she doesn’t check her blood pressure and weight daily, the GrandCare system will send her a reminder to do so.
“When she goes to her doctor, I can print out 30 days of blood pressure and weight readings,” Lescalleet said. “The doctor sees it as a handy tool.”
Shirley Lescalleet is a late-night person — with a well-intended curfew. “Once it hits 11 p.m., if she opens her door, I get a message,” said her son. “One time, I got a message at 3 a.m. that her outside door had been opened. When I asked her about it, she said her dog wanted to go out. It was rational thinking on her part.”
Greg Lescalleet said the system makes him confident his mom can stay in her home another 10 to 15 years, her health willing.
Jude Harper, director of operations for the Harper Technology Group, which sells and installs GrandCare’s monitoring and communication systems, compares using the system to using a bank ATM. “It’s probably easier, along the lines with using a dishwasher and dryer. But not as hard as trying to fully use a microwave; some of those settings are difficult.”
Harper said the GrandCare technology is built simply so a senior wouldn’t have to deal with the frustration that goes into the set-up of a computer, let alone the series of technological challenges that would follow.
Rather, a simple touch of the screen allows seniors to access their favorite sources of news or the websites for local community centers, church organizations or town activities.
They can also get e-mail from preselected sources, normally family members and friends, which protects against the spam that has led to many a senior giving up their computer out of frustration or paying for repairs after a computer virus incapacitates their machine.
The systems also provide games intended to help keep seniors’ minds sharp. “Studies released by a lot of medical doctors show a lot of the benefits of mind engagement beyond crossword puzzles,” Harper said. “The games, which take 20 minutes to play and are normally played five times a week, stimulate different parts of the brain and brain health and brain fitness.”
The GrandCare games have proven to have another benefit as well. “A lot of the time, grandchildren will come over and start playing the games,” Harper said. “The children look up to their grandparents now because they’ve cool — they’ve got games.”
Due to its relative small size, the GrandCare system can be brought along when a senior travels or goes to a seasonal second home. “You can pack your devices into a bag,” Harper said. “It weighs about a pound and a half. It keeps your information and health data up to date. It’s a pro-active approach.”
GrandCare can be bought outright or leased. Along with an upfront care plan and installation fee, the monthly rental rate runs between $199 and $399. Currently, four monitoring systems with a variety of features and options are offered. For more information, visit www.grandcare.com.
Among the products in development at MIT’s AgeLab is a monitoring device that attaches to an electrical socket to detect energy use -— such as turning on a coffeemaker or electric stove or using an electric can opener -— as a way of notifying those monitoring a senior that they’re following their normal patterns for the day.
A “smart trashcan” monitors food usage and intake through a sensor that reads a package’s expiration date; a scale below calculates how much of the package contents were eaten. If something is tossed after its expiration date and detected to have been unused or barely eaten through its weight reading, it tells the caregiver that part of the senior’s nutritional needs may be being neglected.
AgeLab research associate Daisuke Asai said it plans to install eHome Social Kitchen prototypes in two homes in the United States and two in Japan this December to test its workability.
It’ll be a while until the eHome Social Kitchen can be used widely. “The major problem is affordability,” Gennis said. “We’re using NASA technology. It’s all very expensive. We have to find out how to make it affordable to bring into the kitchen at prices that people can afford.”
One major consideration for AgeLab in developing new monitoring technology is whether or not adult children are seeking these kinds of items to help them look after their parents. “We have the technology to place anything in the home,” Gennis said. “The question is how to go about doing it in a way that allows seniors to keep their independence and dignity.”
To gather this information, AgeLab regularly conducts focus group meetings, and has partnered with The Hartford, which has gone into older adult living communities to talk with residents about the kind of items they’d like to have in their homes in the future.
“The strength of AgeLab is looking at these things from many different levels,” Gennis said. “It’s not about creating fun and new devices, it’s about creating devices that will be beneficial to people’s lives.”

Thursday 9-30-10 GrandCare Call: Aging in Place2.0 by Louis Tenenbaum

Thursdays at 2pm Eastern Time (1p Central).
WHERE: http://my.dimdim.com/grandcare
WHY: We need to work together to build this new aging & technology category!  Remember, the Aging Tsunami will float ALL boats!

 

Calls created & hosted by GrandCare Systems (since 2008).  Sponsored by various industry participants

9-30-10 2pm Eastern Time
Topic Title: Aging in Place 2.0 by Louis Tenenbaum

This session will review the key points of Aging in Place 2.0 and introduce a roadmap to reaching the infrastructure and business model spelled out in the report. Louis will describe his plans for the Aging in Place 2.0 Institute to create the market for business success serving older folks in their homes that is so tantalizing yet too often seems out of reach. Familiarity with the report before the call will be helpful, though not necessary.

About Louis Tenenbaum:
A former carpenter and contractor, Louis Tenenbaum is now a leading thinker, speaker and consultant on Aging in Place–the idea that our homes are the most desirable and economical place for housing and care. Based in Washington, DC’s Maryland suburbs, Louis helps businesses, nonprofits and individuals formulate and refine design, strategies, marketing and programming for Aging in Place homes, products and age friendly communities. Recently, he authored Aging in Place 2.0 – Rethinking Solutions to the Home Care Challenge, published by the MetLife Mature Marketing Institute.
http://www.metlife.com/mmi/research/aging-in-place.html?WT.ac=Pro2_NewMMI_5-18421_T4297-MM-mmi&oc_id=Pro2_NewMMI_5-18421_T4297-MM-mmi#insights

Age in Place : A Watchful Eye


GrandCare Systems grants independence to the elderly and peace of mind to caregivers.

Demographics are changing. The elderly are growing as a group, and many of them want to maintain independence and stay in their homes. GrandCare System’s range of products creates a communication and monitoring path for the elderly, allowing them to retain their independent lifestyle.

Technology serves the elderly by using simple-to-operate touch screens that create a care triangle among seniors, families and caregivers. This allows the elderly to communicate with their family, doctors and even a monitoring company. In addition, it gives the elderly several layers of monitoring that assure family and friends that the senior citizen is safe and secure in their environment.
Ken Kerr, CEO of Home Controls, the nationwide distributor for GrandCare Systems, believes in the opportunity custom installers have with GrandCare Systems products.
“The elderly want to stay where they are and not go into assisted living. This demand is increasing as the baby boomer population ages. The time has come to meet this demand and technology has met the demand through GrandCare Systems products.”
The value proposition, as Kerr explains it, is that the family can constantly monitor the activities of their loved one. From making sure that they don’t leave their home unexpectedly through the use of door monitors, to monitoring blood pressure and other measureable health parameters, to offering a communication system via the touch panel, the elderly remain in contact with family members and health care providers.
Additionally, sensors can be installed to show whether a pill draw has been opened on time or if a bed has been slept in by using pressure-sensitive monitoring pads on the bed…All of this monitoring is pre-programmed so the elderly person does not need to be a technology expert to operate.
The touch screen can be programmed to have as many or as few buttons on the screen as needed for easy operation. The elderly person does not have to interact with the system at all, but if they are able, it can be the center for e-mail, Web browsing or any communication possible via the Internet. The system even has a button on the screen for getting the local weather.
Asking Kerr about the benefits of selling GrandCare for the typically A/V installer, he talked about the ease of installation and the remote programming of the system. Typically, it takes about half day to install, and most of the system uses wireless communication.

The recurring revenue stream from monitoring is an important part of the value proposition for the dealer. Although Kerr does not recommend a specific price for (monthly maintenance fee), he did mention that many dealers charge from $49.95 to $79.95 per month depending on the level of service included in the price.
Kerr’s company, Home Controls, is a national distributor. and by representing over 110 manufacturers, he emphasized that he understands what the dealer needs to be successful with GrandCare products. Education and training are fundamental, but they also need help with the marketing side. Kerr realizes that for dealers to be successful, they need to get the word out about this product range.
GrandCare products are selling to a market that is growing, working with families who want to take care of their loved ones. -end

NOTE FROM GRANDCARE SYSTEMS:
Hello and thanks to Custom Retailer Magazine for reporting on the Aging Tsunami and enabling technologies like the GrandCare System! I wanted to make a few clarifications: Ken Kerr’s company is called Home Controls (www.homecontrols.com). Also, there is no monitoring center officially involved with the GrandCare System. The system is a tool that authorized family & care providers can use to remotely access activity of daily living & tele-wellness information. They can use that info to set up automated notifications (someone didn’t take meds, left the house during the night, excessive weight gain, etc).

The monthly fee involves 24-7 online user access, full installation/maintenance support, automated software updates, automated GrandCare email, text, phone alerts to designated Care-partners.

Thanks so much to Ken Kerr from Home Controls & Custom Retailer Magazine for spreading the word on the ever-growing aging & technology industry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD0qdEZd1PM

To find a dealer near you: www.grandcare.com
The GrandCare Team!

GrandCare Featured in Smart Money Magazine!

GrandCare Featured in Smart Money Magazine!!!
Gadgets for Grandma
HomeBase home monitoring system
GrandCare Systems; 262-338-6147
GrandCare products combine telehealth and social-connection technology: their sensors transmit information such as blood pressure readings, while their touchscreen monitors give clients easy access to e-mail, news and calendar reminders. HomeBase, the company’s latest system, can monitor and provide regular updates on everything from bathroom scale readings to whether doors are opening or closing throughout a loved one’s home. Cost: $2,000 to $8,000, depending on what kind of sensors you install… That’s expensive, but not as expensive as assisted-living or nursing-home care.

Read more: HomeBase Monitoring System: Gadgets for Grandma – Personal Finance – Retirement – SmartMoney.com http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Retirement/gadgets-for-grandma/?page=7#ixzz0zoQbtGGJ

CORRECTION: Pricing of the GrandCare System can range between $2500-$8000 with a monthly software maintenance & Call-out amount – – This can average out to between $15-$25/day (compared to $200 – $600 per day for skilled care). We have dealers throughout the country, Canada & Australia. There are payment plans options available as well as rental & leasing options. Please contact info@grandcare.com for more info – watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD0qdEZd1PM Thanks to Peter from Smart Money Magazine for covering this important topic of aging & technology and including GrandCare Systems.

9-15 GrandCare Aging/Tech Topic: State-Level Aging Services Technology Provider and Policy Initiatives

Every Thursday at 2p ET (1p CT), GrandCare Systems hosts an aging & technology industry call.

Thursday, 9-9-10, 2p Eastern Time
Topic: State-Level Aging Services Technology Provider and Policy Initiatives

Scott Peifer, MPPA, MSW, Associate Director Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) speaks

The State of Technology in Aging Services in Ohiohttp://www.aahsa.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=11941&libID=11955
CAST, AAHSA in partnership with Association of Ohio Philanthropic Homes, Housing and Services for the Aging (AOPHA) released its fourth of a series of state-level reports on technology in aging services – September 2010

Join us: http://my.dimdim.com/grandcare
Optional Dial In listed on the webinar

Scott Peifer serves as Associate Director of the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST), a program of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA). In this capacity, Scott leads CAST’s state-level policy efforts to educate and advocate for the advancement of aging services technologies to improve the aging experience. Scott previously served as Policy Director of Aging for Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, leading the policy and legislative activities of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, and served as a Legislative Director in the Pennsylvania State Senate. Scott began his policy experience in California, first working for the California Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (now Aging Services of California), and as lead staff of the California State Senate Subcommittee on Aging and Long-term Care. Scott has earned a Master of Public Policy and Administration and a Master of Social Work from California State University, Sacramento.

Sponsored by Worthington Distribution

Baby boomers use technology to keep an eye on Mom and Dad

An Article featuring GrandCare from the Toronto Star
September 10, 2010
Susan Pigg
LIVING REPORTER

Olive Howe had barely unpacked from her July vacation when her daughter called with a pressing personal question.

“Are you okay Mom? Because you’ve gained five pounds in the last two days?”

It has been hard for the 81-year-old South Carolina great grandmother to get away with much the last two years, since her daughter started monitoring her every move, blood-pressure blip and weight fluctuation via computer from her home five kilometres away.

“I just laughed. It doesn’t bother me. It’s a comfort knowing that if anything happens to me, or I have a fall, someone will know,” says Howe. “I do not want to go to a nursing home.”

Howe has heart problems. She needs to take her medication and watch what she eats. When she doesn’t, her daughter Sandra Pierce knows almost immediately via email or phone alerts, thanks to the remote monitoring technology GrandCare Systems.

It’s coming to Ontario soon, and just one of a fast-growing number of technologies turning the tables on the traditional parent-child relationship. Suddenly, aging parents who spent decades trying to keep on top of their kids are finding they’re the ones being watched — from across town or across the country.

Over the coming months a raft of new-and-improved remote monitoring devices will hit the market, from GPS shoes that can track the whereabouts of wandering seniors to MedCottages, portable RV-like units equipped with motion and monitoring systems that allow seniors to maintain some independence from the backyard of their adult childrens’ homes.

“As we age, this is going to be a growing trend,” says Laurie Orlov, a Florida-based expert on so-called “aging-in-place technology” aimed at keeping seniors in their houses and out of nursing homes as long as possible.

“We have to get past the fear and antagonism among the older people who need it the most. I don’t think they’re that technology-ready, but the boomers, who are their adult children, certainly are.”

Motion sensors strategically placed in the three-bedroom home where Howe has lived for 53 years feed information right to her daughter’s laptop, detailing when she got out of bed (the Friday we chatted it was 9 a.m.), walked into the bathroom (9:15 a.m.) or hovered at the kitchen table where she keeps her pills (9:30 a.m.)

Even her blood-pressure reading (165/76) is fed to her daughter’s computer, along with her daily weigh-in tally, providing a detailed graph which she often takes to her doctor appointments.

The only thing GrandCare can’t tell Pierce, because her system doesn’t include cameras, is if her mother actually swallowed her pills.

“She can’t have a bit of fun,” jokes Pierce, 59, whose mother explained her sudden weight gain by confessing to indulging in too many roasted nuts and slices of red velvet cake on vacation.

“I have the capability of going online and watching every move she makes, but I don’t typically do that. My mother is very independent and always says she doesn’t want to be a burden on anyone,” says Pierce.

Monitoring and in-home help technologies will be a $20 billion U.S. business in North America by 2020, predicts Orlov, founder of Aging In Place Technology Watch.

Already some baby boomers are able to remotely lock their parents’ doors, track calls coming into their homes and even see who is ringing the doorbell, in many cases right from their smart phones.

Systems such as QuietCare, WellAWARE, FineThanx and SimplyHome are already fixtures in some U.S. homes and seniors’ communities, although Orlov estimates fewer than 10,000 units are in active use because the systems can be so costly.

Next month, Paul Whyte, a Markham dealer of smart-home technology that allows ordinary electronics and appliances to communicate with each other, will unveil the GrandCare system at the Zoomer show in Toronto.

“I call it the invisible caregiver,” says Whyte of Cybernetics Systems Inc. “The minute I saw this system I thought, ‘There’s something that actually makes sense.’

Howe loves the system for another reason. She doesn’t use a computer, but GrandCare enables her relatives to fire off messages and photographs which come up on its large monitor (some versions of the system also plug into the TV.)

The system not only lights the way to the bathroom when Howe gets up in the middle of night, it alerts her daughter if, as happened recently, there was unusual activity in the house: A visiting relative was pacing late at night.

But all these systems remain so cutting edge, they’re intimidatingly costly and complicated, says Orlov.

“We’re not talking about something you just pick off the shelf, run home and plug in.”

GrandCare Systems, for instance, can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $9,000, depending on the level of service, plus there’s a monthly monitoring fee of $50.

Whyte plans to rent out the units for roughly $125 to $350 per month.

Virginia Wesleyan minister Kenneth Dupin has gone one step further with MEDCottages, portable units — some have dubbed them “Granny pods” or “hospital room in your backyard” — that allow seniors to be plunked for as long as needed in their adult children’s backyard.

Dupin refers to the controversial innovation as “family managed care” that he believes could become a key alternative to the overwhelmed and costly nursing home system. (In Ontario alone, for instance, there are 76,000 nursing home beds but 24,000 people on the waiting list.)

The State of Virginia has passed a law allowing installation of MEDCottages in residential backyards, over the objections of local homeowners who have already expressed fears they don’t belong in neighbourhoods.

The key, of course, with all these technologies is that the senior be relatively able-bodied and sound of mind — most are of limited value if the senior is suffering from dementia, which is expected to become a major public health issue in the next few decades.

But developers are also working hard on that challenging front.

Sometime later this fall or next spring the first GPS-equipped shoe, the Aetrex Ambulator, will go on sale through www.gpsshoe.com or www.foot.com.

Originally designed for children by Los Angeles-based GTX Corp., the new shoes are expected to retail for about $250 U.S. They enable caregivers to track those afflicted with dementia or Alzheimer’s thanks to GPS and cellular technology that will relay their whereabouts back to a monitoring centre.

“Privacy may be a talking point, but it’s not really an issue,” says Patrick Bertagna, chairman and CEO of GTX Corp.

MEDCottage creator Dupin expects concerns around privacy will fade quickly as families and health-care systems here and in the U.S. become overwhelmed by aging baby boomers — more than 76 million in the U.S., 10 million in Canada — who start hitting 65 next year.

“I see remote monitoring becoming an integral part of health care as we all age,” says Dupin. “One of the issues around aging in place is going to be making trade-offs. Privacy may be something we have to give up.”

Susan Pigg focuses on issues about aging and baby boomers.spigg@thestar.ca

Building a Continuum of Care

Today’s GrandCare Aging & Technology Industry Call – sponsored by Dakim!

Special thanks to Art Carr from Progressive Retirement for offering an insightful look at the current Continuum of Care and how this is changing as we add enabling services (including technologies) into the mix. This changes our entire concept of a Continuum of Care. If you could not make today’s presentation, please simply email info(at)grandcare.com to receive a copy of the recording!

GrandCare Systems offers industry-wide aging & technology conference call/webinars. GrandCare has been selling into private homes & facilities since 2006 and has opportunities for new dealers & providers. For more info, contact GrandCare directly. These weekly calls are open to anyone and everyone in the aging & technology industry each week and designed for us to learn from each other, network, and together help the industry grow as a whole! Like we always say: The Aging Tsunami will float all boats! Let’s all work together to build up this brand new aging/technology category!

Thanks for joining us today (Over 65 joined us on the web and/or dial in number)

9-9 GC CALL TOPIC: Building a New Aging Continuum

Every Thursday at 2p ET (1p CT), GrandCare Systems hosts an aging & technology industry call.

Thursday, 9-9-10

TOPIC: The senior services market is evolving and the companies that
provide those services, including the emerging technology companies must
adapt to those changes to successfully meet the demands of the ensuing generations of potential customers. This presentation challenges some of today’s commonly accepted concepts and offers collaborative solutions for the future.

Join us: http://my.dimdim.com/grandcare
Optional Dial In listed on the webinar

Art Carr is acknowledged as a progressive thought leader for the senior living / care industry with a successful track record in implementing innovative concepts to improve operations and marketability across the senior services spectrum. He has provided exceptional corporate-level leadership for more than 20 years with all types and sizes of organizations – from fledgling enterprises to complex operations worth more than one billion dollars. Art has been recognized for his resourceful leadership and acclaimed as “affable, talented, with a razor-sharp intellect” and “one of the most articulate people …in the senior services sector.”

This call is sponsored by Dakim, the leader in the Brain Fitness for Seniors and Boomers movement. Dakim has created a unique brain fitness approach, suitable for active Seniors with normal brain function who want to maintain their brain health, as well as those who may have mild-to-moderate cognitive issues.

Living Well at Home – Assisted-living company uses GrandCare technology to monitor elders at home

 

…Technology used to monitor elders at home

Living Well co-founder and CEO Tessa ten Tusscher said the company provides an assortment of in-home support for elders. The Mill Valley resident co-founded the company with Doris Bersing, Ph.D., an authority on diversity and aging.

Technology plays a pivotal role in the organization, as each client has a webpage the caregivers and family members can use to look at schedules and medical information, and communicate with one another.

Living Well offers an in-house technology system with options that include monitoring the resident’s movement (with motion and door sensors), screening phone calls and turning off lights…

The sensors can track basic behavior and be set up to call a certain person, or emergency officials, if someone deviates significantly (spends more than 30 minutes in the bathroom, doesn’t come downstairs in the morning)

Travis Woods, Living Well’s technology consultant, set up the software (called GrandCare). He said the touch-screen computer system people would have in their homes also has games, e-mail, a Web browser and capability for relatives to share photos.

Tusscher said that while some people may feel the technology is too intrusive, it provides a round-the-clock monitoring system that diminished the need to pay for someone in the home 24 hours a day…
to read the entire story: http://www.marinscope.com/articles/2010/09/01/sausalito_marin_scope/news/doc4c7ece0434664985002657.txt

GrandCare on ABC: TECH THIS OUT!

GrandCare & Aging Technology Industry Analyst Laurie Orlov, Featured on ABC NEWS program: Tech This Out: 3rd story a little over 8 mins in: http://ow.ly/2zknV

http://www.hulu.com/watch/175794/tech-this-out-fri-sep-3-2010#s-p1-so-i0