Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit and Business Plan Competition

There will be an additional 53+ million people over 50 in the next 20 years.

Since 2004, Santa Clara University and Mary Furlong & Associates have co-produced the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit and Business Plan Competition, and each year has been more successful than the one before. The event brings together entrepreneurs, leaders in the field of aging and the venture community to create a unique forum to explore, share and design products and services that will dominate the baby boomer market in coming years. In addition, this program is designed to teach entrepreneurs how to think through a business.

Business Plan Competition

The culmination of the Boomer Venture Summit will be the ninth annual Boomer Business Plan Competition. Since 2004, this competition has fostered a cutting-edge forum to explore, share and design the products and services that will dominate the growing boomer marketplace. Contestants will meet investors and partners, secure resources and get media exposure that can help turn dreams into realities.

This year’s competition will be offering a
$10,000 grand prize for the best business plan.

All entries will be judged by a panel of distinguished professionals from the venture capital, business, media and education communities, each of whom will have expertise in the various segments represented. Laura Mitchell, VP Marketing, GrandCare Systems, will be one of this year’s expert screening judges. Take a look at this years judges.

Register for the 2012 SCU Boomer Venture Summit 

 Learn More

Mary Furlong & Associates

Mary Furlong & Associates works with companies seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the boomer market. MFA provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50 market.

Visit www.maryfurlong.com for more information.

Tennessee GrandCare Representative, Golden Age Technology, featured on KnoxNews.com

Home health technology is gaining ground, as more and more boomers and seniors learn about the possibilities these technologies can provide in ensuring the safety and well being of those who wish to remain independent in their own homes.

Wireless technologies can provide users with a means to record and track health information, such as blood pressure and glucose levels, as well as help keep track of advanced medication schedules, provide reminders and dosing information and contact caregivers if medications are not taken.  Communications now go beyond the simple email, often including video chat, Facebook feeds and YouTube videos.  Motion, door and bed sensors can be used to verify that all is well in the home, or to alert caregivers if something is amiss.

Golden Age uses technology to help seniors stay independent

www.knoxnews.com | Hugh G. Willett

 

“The graying of America continues to create opportunities for entrepreneurs who find widespread demand for solutions they developed to meet the needs of their own families.

Kyra and Jim Clements of Harriman founded Golden Age Technology after confronting the challenge of helping to care for her elderly parents.[…]

Golden Age uses modern sensor technology, including sensors for beds, chairs, bathrooms and kitchens. These sensors can detect and measure a variety of activities including motion, sound, temperature, timing and lighting.

A home network equipped with these sensors can determine where the occupants are in the house, whether they are in the bed or the bedroom, the bathroom or the kitchen. The sensors can also measure how long the occupants spend in one place and whether or not they have used appliances or lighting. […]

The sensors work with service providers including GrandCare and Close By, companies that can provide monitoring and communications for a monthly fee that varies from $40 to $80 depending on the type of service.”

 The full article can be found online on KnoxNews.com 

KnoxNews, May 22nd, 2012 at 4 a.m.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/22/golden-age-uses-technology-to-help-seniors-stay/

Laura Mitchell to Speak on Hospital Readmission

At the First National Medicare-Medicaid Payment Incentives and Penalties Summit

“The Leading Forum on Recovery Audits, Readmissions, Value-Based Purchasing, HACs and Never Events, and Managing to Medicare Margins.”

Laura Mitchell, VP Business Development will be speaking alongside Dr. Erick Eiting on “Healing in Place™ — Using Technology to Reduce the Risk of Hospital Readmissions.” Conference Theme II: Thursday, May 31, 2012, from 4:45pm-5:15pm in the Prince William room. 

Laura has also recently published a whitepaper under the same title.

The following is an excerpt form “Healing in Place™”:

From Hospital to Home: The Grand Transition
One cannot seriously talk about healthcare reform, improving outcomes, or reducing cost without talking about the aging of America, given the large portion of healthcare costs that are incurred in the later stages of life.1 Healthcare already consumes a distressing 17% percentage of GDP, and with the “Boomers” entering their chronic condition years, the financial strain on our society is certain to become more acute, if not critical. As a society, we pay for many pounds of cure. GrandCare Systems is passionate about providing those ounces of prevention that allow patients to successfully transition from acute care to heal at home with a technology assist. Only by moving from the monitored life to the analyzed life to the influenced life, can we reverse the cost spiral of post-acute and chronic care.

A downloadable copy of this whitepaper is available HERE.

For more information on the summit visit http://www.medicaremedicaidpaymentsummit.com

Register at http://medicaremedicaidpaymentsummit.com/registration.php

GrandCare Systems™ – May 2012 Software Tour

The recording of Thursday’s LIVE Software Demonstration is now available on YouTube.

http://youtu.be/yFShxGXTfOw

This software demonstration, covers system capabilities for in home use as well as a our caregiver menu and touch screen interface.

“GrandCare offers ‘peace of mind’ for the entire caregiving network, while giving the loved one independence, freedom and happiness.”

GrandCare Systems is considered a pioneer in the aging and technology industry. Available since 2006, GrandCare Systems combines digital health assessments, daily activity monitoring, medication management, smart home automation, and virtual communications for all ages into one easy, flexible and comprehensive solution!

Webinar recordings NOW easier than ever to access!

Starting with last weeks recording, you will now be able to view each webinar on our GCSys YouTube Channel. No more downloads required! We will also be going back and systematically adding our past recordings from 2012 over the next few weeks.

“PERS – More Than a Button & a Box”?! with Bill Lyon

 

As always our viewers will be able to find direct links to the recordings from DealerWeb and our Blog.

Rounding the Circle of Love: Growing Up As She Grows Old

Now available from Amazon.com

“How many of us will need to care for aging parents?” … “Fact filled book with easy reference. When you keep an elder in her home, she receives more personalized care than might otherwise be the case. Her world can be adapted to meet her needs, something that might not be possible within an institutional setting. Because it offers these obvious advantages among many others residential care has become a national trend. In spite of this, a strong warning seems warranted. Though it is often described in glowing terms, this arrangement demands a great deal from caregivers, placing them under considerable stress.”

GrandCare Systems featured in Harriet Tramer’s newest book.

We are happy to support author and journalist Harriet Tramer as she shares with us her discoveries and insights on caring for an aging parent. Not only is this book a fantastic resource guide, but it also provides support to caregivers. Harriet knows first hand how daunting and demanding providing long term care can be, and offers valuable ideas and worthwhile technologies that can turn distress into success.

GrandCare Systems is featured in ‘Chapter 7 – Alternatives to Residential Care’ under “Living at Home but Monitored Electronically”. The book contains a total of 8 fascinating chapters: Care Givers and Stress, One Size Does Not Fit All, Building Memories, How One Woman Came to Value Art Therapy, Paying the Bills, Can She Come Home?, Alternatives to Residential Care, and One Family’s Story. These chapters include valuable information on finding a adult day center that’s right for you, how to take advantage of respite care, finding help, and makes the top studies on aging simple to read and easy to understand.

Thank you Harriet for the great opportunity and congratulations on your book.

GrandCare Systems listed by AARP blogger as a top technology must have

GrandCare is honored to be listed by AARP blogger, Sally Abrahms as one of the top 9 technology must haves.

9 Need-to-Know Technologies for Caregivers

“Can you say the Jetsons? Increasingly, family caregivers are getting a helping hand through high-tech products and services.

Bone up on these trends:

GPS safety technology provides the location of the wearer: devices can be used on the wrist, as a clip-on, or on a pendant. Some cars and smart phones have them – enabling you to speak or touch your desired destination – and see or hear turn-by-turn instructions.

With some devices, the caregiver sets the parameters of where the recipient can be – sometimes referred to as ‘geo-fencing’. If the person goes outside those areas, the caregiver is alerted via phone, text, or email. At any time, the caregiver can log on to a website and track the location of the elder

Personal emergency response systems, known as PERS, also contain GPS technology. It’s the Medic Alert model—if in trouble, the wearer can press a button and be connected with a call center that can dispatch help and notify caregivers. Many PERS devices only work at home, but a few allow the wearer to get help wherever they are—on the golf course, in the car, around the block.

Other safety technology includes wireless sensors around the house (in the bathroom, on the bed, door, or refrigerator, for example) that that let caregivers know if there is activity out of the ordinary i.e. not leaving the bathroom. A fall, perhaps?”

GrandCare, on the market since 2006, is a fully-featured care management platform designed to solve the healthcare crisis and aging boom. 

The GrandCare solution is the most comprehensive system available today, combining 6 technologies into ONE system with extensive remote caregiving capabilities.

Read the whole article HERE

GrandCare gets “called out” by Forbes on Social Media!!

To tweet or not to tweet….that is the question….

Back in March, I spoke on a social media panel for the 2012 What’s Next Boomer Summit hosted by Mary Furlong & Associates.  I spoke ( too quickly and spastically.. or so I’m told…) on guerilla marketing and using social media to promote your brand on a panel with Stephen Chen from NewRetirement.comAndy Cohen from Caring.com and moderated by Lori Bitter from The Business of Aging. When the panel was finished, Deborah Jacobs of Forbes introduced herself and said she was in the process of writing an article for Forbes on dos and don’ts for social media from a business perspective.  She wanted to know if she could interview me on my thoughts.  Not being one to hold my thoughts back (like….ever), I eagerly agreed.

I told her about how we got the word out about GrandCare Systems, back in 2005 when the market was in its prenatal stage.  As a high tech start-up, we didn’t have a large marketing budget and we certainly didn’t want to throw money at a deaf audience. There was so much education that needed to be done on digital health technology in general, much less which one to choose.  It was a bit of lucky thing that social media was really starting to hit its prime right around that time period as well. In the early days, having more time than money and the fascinating NEW world of social media was a perfect mix.  I unofficially began what would later be coined as our social media campaign.

It was odd and exciting because there really were no rules. There was nobody out there that could really say you were doing something wrong, because no etiquette had been defined (yet).  Nobody was considered an expert, because people were still exploring and experimenting and really trying to see how the new platforms worked and how they could benefit a business.  It was the perfect time to just try marketing strategies out. I still remember when LinkedIn was new enough that you could simply send an inMail to someone (and maybe you still can do this a little bit) and they would actually respond…well…if they were actually continually checking their account. Through LinkedIn, I managed to get in touch with people that I believe would have never responded to a basic email.

This reminds me a bit of back in the mid-nineties when email was new enough that you actually READ them! Remember when forwards and chain letters were actually things that people read and weren’t embarrassed to send?  It’s all about timing and the number one thing we are aiming to gain is someone’s attention.  Getting someone’s attention will continually evolve…we will need to move to new platforms to keep them engaged and interested in what we have to say and it will be even more important HOW we say it; whether it’s a video, a picture, an insightful comment, a quote, humor, etc.

The resulting article that Deborah released today on Forbes.com was an interesting and insightful piece on what social media etiquette might be…  She did a great job and I was proud to be a contributing source.

And as far as Deborah’s grandstanding? A+ for grace!!! 🙂

How To Grandstand (Gracefully) On The Web

by Deborah Jacobs

“For Laura Mitchell, who describes herself as a “grassroots guerrilla marketer,” the key to using social media is starting an engaging conversation. In 2005 she co-founded GrandCare Systems–a Milwaukee company that provides elderly people with technology that helps them age in place.

Mitchell writes her own blog, then drives traffic to her posts by a variety of routes. For example, if she sees an article somewhere else that interests her–say on Forbes.com–she might comment directly on the FORBES site; quote the article on her own blog and link to the FORBES story; then go on her LinkedIn groups and post her comments on LinkedIn, along with a link to her blog.

“Social media is about providing information on yourself and your interests,” says Mitchell. “That includes where you work and what you do.” Whether you’re selling a product, a service or entertainment, think of your website as a store, and social media as the tool that draws people into that store, she adds. The key is to offer some insightful comment, rather than purely trying to get attention.

By using that approach when she commented on an August 2010 NPR segment, Mitchell brought her company prime billing on the Discovery Channel …

To read the entire article, click here