Tag Archive for: aging in place

Laurie Orlov predicts GrandCare will benefit from software-based design

Laurie Orlov had a great newsletter this month with a number of aging/technology industry predictions.

She mentions GrandCare Systems as a software-based platform that she predicts will benefit from the innate architecture and structure of the GrandCare technology.

“PREDICTION – mHEALTH REVIVES MONITORING:  The stationary nature of in-home activity and telehealth monitoring will give way to a disconnect-and-go tablet world that can be docked at home and plays nicely with a cell/smart cellular model. For those walking the floors at CES, you will see tablet apps of every type flowering hither and yon – perhaps you’ll see them tether to a phone. RIM, the anti-marketer, produced an early version of this with the Playbook-BlackBerry tethering. Why not a few tablet apps for seniors (in addition to health and activity monitoring) that sync up with a phone-like device? It may be like trying to cram a large box into a flat rectangle, to start at the hardware end — look at Care Innovations Guide, for example. Why not a partnership between a fitness device vendor (like Fitbit or Philips DirectLife) and a remote monitoring vendor like BeClose or Healthsense?  And software-only products like Independa and GrandCare may well benefit from both platform flexibility and a new interest in combining activity sensors and health monitoring.”

Read the entire newsletter here

‘It’s a gift from God’: Cybermation tele-health venture makes it easier to monitor activity, medications

Written by Kevin Allenspach
12:40 AM, Dec. 11, 2011

St. Cloud Times – www.sctimes.com

See a video of GrandCare Client, Ed Thelen, discussing why the GrandCare System works for him and how it has been a lifesaver and lifted his spirits! http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid950566939001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAACbynFGE~,sf-WXU5Jxxvzf0yBwv5ezSaUvcZFydJt&bctid=1320587839001

COLD SPRING — After complications from shoulder surgery made it difficult for 69-year-old Ed Thelen to sleep in a bed at night, he’s taken to dozing in a giant easy chair in the living room of his third-floor home at John Paul Apartments. That discomfort isn’t his only concern. He also has a pacemaker, battles diabetes, struggles with Parkinson’s disease and is in a constant fight against obesity and depression. His biggest worry, though, is whether he’ll be able to keep a new device that has revolutionized his life.

As Thelen relates how he came to this place after 45 years of moving around the region as an insurance underwriter, something that looks like a flat-screen TV chirps next to his chair. He reaches over, touches a prompt, and within seconds is talking with his daughter via Skype.

After their conversation, he shows a visitor how the screen also notifies him if he has letters, pictures or video sent from one of his six grandchildren. He calls up his blood-pressure readings from the past month, which he can provide directly to his doctor, and demonstrates how it prompts him to take his pills — morning, noon and night — from a dispenser in the kitchen.

Ed Thelen, 69, of Cold Spring is able to live in his apartment with the help of an integrated monitoring system marketed locally by Cybermation. With the system, Thelen and others can monitor his health and activities and communicate with him through a touch screen he has in his living room. Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com

“It’s phenomenal,” Thelen said with a hint of emotion behind his eyes. “If I forget to take my medication, it sends a signal and the phone rings. A voice says (with a nasal twang) ‘Mr. Thelen, you haven’t taken your medication.’ With all the things it does, to me it’s a gift from God.”

It is a GrandCare System, a product of a company in West Bend, Wis., that is being marketed locally for the first time by Cybermation, a Waite Park-based business that for 15 years was primarily known for home entertainment and security systems. Thelen has been working with it for about three weeks.

“We’ve mostly been about big boys toys,” Cybermation President Tom Ardolf said. “Commercial and residential people come to us and spend tens of thousands of dollars on their home theater, or they bring us a basket of remotes and ask us to create one that will run everything in their house. But late last year I got a call from a distributor that had known us for 10 years. They’d started a tele-health venture. I just wanted to ask the guy if we could go fishing. He said, ‘You really ought to look into this.’ ’’

Soon after he did, Ardolf decided to launch CyberHealth, a new division of Cybermation. His company is one of more than 300 authorized installers for the GrandCare System in the U.S. and Canada. Four are in Minnesota, with the other three in the Twin Cities metro area.

He said he’s working with an unnamed rural health care provider to distribute the GrandCare System on a wider scale. And, with baby boomers entering retirement and becoming elderly, remote monitoring is expected to be a $9.3 billion industry by 2014.

“My mom passed in 2007, and I often think of how my life, my mom’s life and that of my sisters would’ve been different if we’d had something like this,” Ardolf said.

Family connections

Gladys Ardolf lived in Maple Lake and was 78 when she died of complications from dystonia, a movement disorder that causes muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. For the last six to eight years of her life, two of Tom Ardolf’s three sisters living in the area made daily — sometimes twice-daily — visits to make sure she was all right.

“The average caregiver puts in 24 hours a week — that’s a significant part-time job,” said Ardolf, 50. “People are willing to do it, especially when it’s their mom or their dad. But around year one or two, there’s invariably some resentment about ‘Why doesn’t this sibling who lives far away do something to help?’ If we’d had one of these systems, I could’ve played a role in her care — even though I’m 40 miles away.”

While the screen is in the user’s home, like the one next to Thelen’s easy chair, it provides a window for family members, caregivers and physicians to monitor the user’s health and activities.

“Just by placing sensors around my mom’s home, I could’ve had a call or text sent to my phone if she didn’t get up between 6 and 9 a.m.,” Ardolf said. “I would’ve known if she was restless in bed, went to the bathroom or didn’t take a shower. We could’ve put a magnet on the microwave that would’ve told us if she’d had coffee in the morning. It’s little things like that which can give you peace of mind — or alert you to trouble if they don’t happen.”

Read more

Independence through Assistive Technology Cybermation Delivers the GrandCare System

Just thought we’d share a press story that was written about one of our dealers in Minnesota, Cybermation!

The tele-health industry is garnering a great deal of attention these days.  There is more than one reason this is occurring.  The baseline is that the senior and disabled population is rapidly growing, and hence, the expense to care for this demographic is also rapidly growing.  To further magnify this, the nation’s economic situation creates additional, overwhelming difficulties to provide the necessary services with limited financial resources.

One solution is the GrandCare system, configured and developed by Cybermation in Waite Park, MN.  Not only does GrandCare benefit our aging and disabled population, but it provides a system to remain independent in the home of their choice.

Products targeting remote health services have been in use for years.  Health care organizations and hospitals have implemented consumer electronic devices that are FDA compliant and provide a specific function, e.g., blood pressure, weight, glucose levels, etc.  Tremendous cost savings and better care have been two primary results.  More recently, products that help track activities of daily living (ADL) have also improved people’s lives and health by providing data that addresses the living patterns and tasks that must successfully be performed for someone to continue to live independently in their home.

Various electronic devices, from simple machines for emailing, personal computers, and more recently iPads and similar devices have all provided the opportunity for someone to have remote communication with family members, friends and caregivers in various ways, such as email, pictures, faxes, text messages, even video conferencing from free services such as Skype.

Products have and will continue to evolve that embrace the social, clinical and ADL aspects of maintaining, even improving the health of a person that wishes to remain in their home.  No product has more completely and holistically embraced all aspects of these facets of tele-health than the HomeBase system from GrandCare system.

Available since 2006, GrandCare Systems is a pioneer in the aging, disabled and technology digital home health industry.  The system integrates various remote monitoring technologies to provide an array of wellness and activity information, easily accessible by health care professionals and family members via the Internet.

GrandCare allows remote caregivers and health care professionals access to detailed information on the resident’s general activity levels, activities of daily living, home environment, health data, medication adherence, and more.  GrandCare notices sudden changes in behavior, drastic activity level changes, noncompliance, and other critical issues, which can be programmed to notify the correct caregiver via text, email or phone call.  GrandCare can also send care coordination notes, caregiving reports to designated caregivers and can even prompt a resident with a helpful reminder or cognitive assist.

GrandCare’s Smart home features can provide residents a variety of simple enhancements to daily living, including safe path lighting for late night bathroom trips, temperature moderation and secure call screening.

To the resident, the GrandCare system is a friendly, interactive connection to family, one touch video chat, a digital picture frame, access to services, games and videos. It is intuitive and easy to use with large, simple touch-screen buttons.  The GrandCare system can also use switche method of operation.  GrandCare is a helpful, resourceful, social connection and pure enjoyment!

All of these features and more are available for less cost than one month in assisted living – certainly a relevant consideration in today’s economic times.  Quantitative benefits of this magnitude are certainly going to catch the eye of any party facing the extraordinary costs associated with caring for the elderly.

However, it’s Cybermation’s sincere belief that these quantitative benefits are trumped by the wealth of qualitative benefits.  Indeed, social workers and clinical workers alike have a common belief that the simple devices that deliver either a clinical, social, or environmental benefit deliver net-positive value both quantitatively and qualitatively. GrandCare by Cybermation, however, provides a far more holistic, encompassing approach that successfully creates a relationship by a tailored blend of services to both the individual as well as the caregivers.

Caregiving in this day and age is both a big business as well as a very demanding responsibility in the diverse, dynamic, fast-paced environment where the family unit can be widely dispersed.  History shows that technology has been the predominant catalyst for change and benefit, and considering  the plethora of advanced technologies available to be developed and applied, there’s little wonder that GrandCare is at the forefront.

The final link in the process is to bring the proven product to the individual and their loved one.  GrandCare made a deliberate decision years ago that in order to effectively determine the individual needs, install the system properly, and to provide adequate support on an on-going basis, required a committed, consistent relationship with the entire family.  Hence, a decentralized sales and distribution process was implemented with a high degree of success.  Selected system integrators throughout the country have a very active relationship with GrandCare’s West Bend, WI office.  GrandCare also developed a remote support system for their dealers that allows easy hardware and software support.  The net result is an informed, active sales and support channel that provides the GrandCare user and caregivers with the personalized experience a system of this nature requires.

For more information on Cybermation and the GrandCare system, visit their website at www.cybermationinc.com or call (320) 255.7027, email  sales@cybermationinc.com

EquipAlife has installed demonstration units of GrandCare in each of their seven offices located through the state.  These devices can be either be used at the office or can be taken home for a 30-day “test drive” to experience how GrandCare can be  a tremendous asset in the health and wellness of the individual as well as assist people in the caregiver process.
Contact EquipALife at 763.479.8239, toll free at 1.866.535.8239 or email info@atmn.org and set up a time to have a “GrandCare Experience”.

Join us for tomorrow for “Digital Home Health in 60 Minutes or Less”

Tomorrow, November 3rd, 2011 

2pm EDT – 1pm CDT – 12pm MDT – 11am PDT

http://grandcaresystems.webex.com

Digital Home Health in 60 Minutes or Less

Explore the aging in place solutions available and how to successfully promote and install them. Featuring Laura Mitchell, VP of Marketing for GrandCare Systems

This webinar will focus on:

  • Overview of Digital Home Health Solutions
  • Marketing Tips & Tricks
  • How to avoid common sales faux pas

Join us at: http://grandcaresystems.webex.com  Dial-in:  1-408-600-3600   Pin: * 669 477 157#

Sponsored By GrandCare Systems

The Digital Home Health Boom – Custom Retailer Magazine

Wanted to throw this article out there for you. Written by one of our distributors, Home Controls, this article emphasizes why Digital Home Health is the market place to be in!  GrandCare’s VP of Marketing took some time with Jonathan (the author and Marketing for Home Controls) to speak about this industry and what it means to the dealers.  GrandCare is quoted in this article as one of the aging in place technologies.

Are you ready to expand into the aging in place market. Read this article to learn more….

http://digitaleditions.napco.com/publication/?i=86888

Laura Mitchell interviewed by Senior Care Corner

Technology To Help Seniors Stay Safe & Healthy at Home

Click here to listen to the Podcast

We stay on the lookout for technology that improves the lives of both seniors and their families as a key part of our mission at Senior Care Corner.  When we encountered GrandCare Systems at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, we knew this was a solution about which we wanted to learn more.  In this episode of our podcast we learn together.

We are pleased to welcome Laura Mitchell, GrandCare’s Vice President of Marketing, to join us for a chat at Senior Care Corner.  Laura told us about the personal story behind the founding of the company and GrandCare Systems’ technology and how it helps seniors to stay safe and healthy at home while bringing them closer to their families.

We found it particularly interesting that some have used the GrandCare solution to increase the independence of senior loved ones by linking them via internet to distant family members and other caregivers, which allows at least some to transition from full time to part time in-home care.

In addition to our conversation with Laura, Kathy brings us several news items of interest to seniors and their families and Barry introduces us to the Senior Care Corner Bookstore.

Links Mentioned in this Senior Care Corner Episode

Take a look at Senior Care Corner on the web for additional information and Podcasts.

Long Distance Caregiving might be easier with a little bit of Technology

I read an article today from Health Day News via Caring.com called “For Many Americans, Caregiving a Long Distance Burden”  (see an excerpt below)

The article makes some really great points on the trials and tribulations of being a long distance caregiver and also gives some helpful resources and facts.  However, the article was missing the entire technology component that now enables long distance and virtual care.  Technology is a critical tool for caregivers to use, especially when not all of the caregivers can physically be there.   Technology can help to ease the burden of local caregivers, allowing them to “share the care” with long distance caregivers and family members. Long Distance caregivers can now be involved and have equal access to the information, virtually. For example, the GrandCare System allows family members (near and far) to log into the GrandCare dashboard and check on how that person is doing, make sure the living environment is ok, make sure the loved one is performing the correct activities of daily living, taking meds at correct times, eating, etc.

Systems like GrandCare also enables a new world of communication between all of the caregivers and the loved one. A built in web cam on the resident’s GrandCare System allows the loved one and family to participate in video chat sessions and also enables family to send pictures, messages, emails, reminders, calendar appointments and more to an interactive, simple touch interface. Family can also send fun videos and music. The resident doesn’t need to know anything about technology to enjoy this.

Technology is playing a vital role in caring for a loved one (near or far) and coordinating care between multiple siblings. We have come into an age where you don’t have to physically always be there to participate in care and as a long distance caregiver, using the GrandCare sensors, you can make an educated decision on a loved one’s needs.

 

For Many Americans, Caregiving a Long-Distance Burden

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) — Caring for a parent or relative in the same zip code can be hard enough, but long-distance caregiving, which is becoming more common in an increasingly mobile society, brings with it added burdens.

By 2012, an estimated 14 million Americans will be long-distance caregivers, so many that some even have new names: “seagulls” and “pigeons.”

These terms refer to family members who alight for short periods of time, make a mess for local caregivers and fly out. What they don’t take into account are the pain, isolation and hassles that long-distance caregivers are dealing with on their own.

“They have unique issues,” said Polly Mazanec, lead author of a paper appearing in a recent issue of Oncology Nursing Forum.

Those include financial concerns, since many people are borrowing from savings to travel at a moment’s notice or to arrange child care or pet sitting during their absence, as well as emotional issues such as guilt, worry and anxiety.

“We found that long-distance caregivers were much more anxious than local caregivers, who could see what was happening [on a more frequent basis],” said Mazanec, an assistant professor of nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

“Long-distance caregivers end up feeling guilty. I deal with it on a daily basis,” added Dr. Nasiya Ahmed, an assistant professor of geriatric and palliative medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Family caregiving has received a lot of attention recently, but not so much for those who have to do it at a distance.

“Here’s this whole group of people out there that no one is helping and they’re typically part of the sandwich generation, juggling their own families and careers,” said Mazanec, who is also an advance practice oncology nurse at University Hospital’s Case Medical Centers Seidman Cancer Center. “It’s just a real challenge.”

… to read the entire article, click here

Moving an aging parent can lead to negative outcomes…?

I read an article today about why the transitions in healthcare (moving from one place to another) alone are causing a large number of avoidable issues.  The author focuses on the notion of going from assisted living to skilled nursing or even skilled nursing to a hospital and while I absolutely agree with this, I think we can take it one step further and say it starts really when we move them out of their homes.  An ounce of prevention will most certainly lead to more than a pound of cure. The initiatives in place to help individuals manage their own chronic conditions and proactively have a say in their own care will really help to keep individuals safer and healthier at home. Our goals at GrandCare are simple: to enable a loved one to stay “in place” for longer – wherever that may be. Some use a technology to stay independent at home, others (professional caregivers) use it take care of multiple residents and enable more independence, less personal intervention, more space & privacy and more enhanced safety.  This can help a wing to transition to higher levels of care without moving residences.  NORCs (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities) are exactly where this country is headed and it has to be that way. We simply don’t have the brick and mortar available nor the personal caregivers available for the aging population! So, we use technology assists to enable our caregivers to extend their reach and continue to provide care, we use technology to help individuals remain at home….

GrandCare is just one piece of the puzzle (we can connect individuals, remind them to do things, encourage doctor/patient collaboration, guide in total wellness & chronic disease mgmt…now we just need some reimbursement policies in place to help cover this obvious solution…

Why ‘Transitions’ In Health Care Are Dangerous And How To Avoid Them

By Fran Cronin
Guest Blogger

With more than 1.6 million Americans now living in nursing homes, many of us are all too familiar with the debilitating cycle of a nursing home admission followed by repeated hospitalizations, a spiraling into decline, and ultimately death.

I know for my 87-year old father, now living in an assisted living facility, the prospect of a nursing home leaves him hoping he will just drift off one night in his sleep.

A new study released this week by Brown University and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms what many of us have observed: health care transitions, such as moves in and out of the hospital from a nursing home, do not lead to positive outcomes. More common are frequent medical errors; poor care coordination, infections and additional medications. For patients with acute dementia, these transitions can exacerbate already present symptoms such as agitation, confusion and emotional distress.

The scope of this syndrome — in which health care transitions often turn into emergencies — is expressed in a key Brown finding: almost one in five nursing home residents with advanced dementia experienced repeated hospitalizations in the last 90 days of life. Some were even moved as late as the last three days of their life. Burdensome transitions were also found to correlate with other indicators of poor end-of-life care.

I know for my 87-year old father, the prospect of a nursing home leaves him hoping he will just drift off one night in his sleep.

This is a far cry from the overt wishes of most families, says Dr. Joan Teno, one of the study’s lead authors and Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University….

To read the entire article click here

GrandCare Systems: Product Spotlight on ageinplace.com

GrandCare All in One Monitoring and Communication System

Age in Place, Product Spotlight

A virtual experience for seniors, family and caregivers that combines monitoring and communication in one system, the GrandCare System helps aging in place seniors remain independent and safe at home. Whether monitoring blood pressure, maintaining room temperatures or calling for help, seniors and their caregivers have easy access to one system for senior health and safety controls, socialization and communication.

The GrandCare system was the first system to combine socialization, activities of daily living (ADLs) and telehealth monitoring, which together provide peace of mind for family members living close by or long distance. With “wireless” Bluetooth, X10 and ZWave sensors throughout the home, family and caregivers can monitor the senior’s health and home. No computer skills are needed to operate the easy to use senior home care solution that features an interactive touch screen. Designated caregivers and family can log into the GrandCare website and access sensor graphs, vitals and set up parameters/rules to receive alerts if specific events occur such as medications are not taken, a door is opened at odd times, a refrigerator is not accessed at meal time or an individual did not get out of bed.

As needs continually change, the system monitors the activities of daily living such as waking up, entry and exit from home, eating, sleeping and general movement around the residence. It also uses reminders and cognitive assists when needed to help seniors with medication management. The telehealth feature remotely manages chronic health conditions by tracking blood pressure, weight, pulse and glucose.

For further safety, the Smart Home Automation helps control aspects of the home that promote senior safety. The system controls the home’s temperature, automates lighting and monitors appliances such as the stove being left on.

Seniors will have the ability to socialize and keep in touch with their family using the two-way Web conferencing feature. The virtual visits also allow conferencing with the caregiver, family or doctor all on a monitor in the loved one’s home. Users also can view family videos and pictures, read emails, listen to voicemails and check a calendar for important dates and reminders.

In addition to the socialization, seniors can remain sharp with access to weather updates; news; videos; and entertainment such as games, trivia and spiritual offerings that encourage mental activity and brain fitness.

Grandcare Feature Highlights

  • Medication Compliance, Reminders & Cognitive Assists
  • Telehealth Tracking (BP, Weight, Pulse, Glucose & EKG (coming soon))
  • 2-Way Video Chat & Virtual Visits – Caregiver, Doctor, Family virtual visits on a MONITOR in the Loved One’s Home
  • Activity of Daily Living Monitoring (wake-up, entry/exit from home, eating, sleeping, general movement, med access, etc.)
  • Smart Home Automation (indoor temperature, automated lighting (safe path lighting), appliances (stove left on, etc))
  • Socialization – – Family videos, emails, pictures, voicemails, calendar
  • Brain Fitness – – Games, Trivia, Word of the Day, Spiritual Offerings, headline news, weather reports

Seniors will not need computer skills to benefit from these features.

Original article: http://ageinplace.com/aging-in-place-technology/grandcare-all-in-one-monitoring-and-communication-system/

How Sensors Trump Surveys When Researchers Monitor Elders: LeadingAge Article

I had to share this article from LeadingAge – – Thanks LeadingAge for your help and support to forward the notion of using Enabling Technologies to remain independent and at home.

Read the full Article from LeadingAge: http://www.leadingage.org/How_Sensors_Trump_Surveys_When_Researchers_Monitor_Elders.aspx

How Sensors Trump Surveys When Researchers Monitor Elders

by Geralyn MaganPublished On: Jul 25, 2011

Two recent studies suggest that using sensors to monitor the health of older people will yield more complete, unbiased and accurate information than using low-tech monitoring systems that rely on consumers to self-report their health status through verbal or written surveys.

Better Compliance

In one study, researchers at the UCLA Wireless Health Institute and the UCLA School of Nursing found that older people with congestive heart failure (CHF) who used a remote health monitoring system called WANDA experienced a 5.6% reduction in abnormal weight and blood pressure readings. WANDA, which stands for Weight and Activity with Blood Pressure Monitoring, tracks patient health, takes relevant measurements and transmits readings to health providers by phone lines, Wi-Fi, or 3G cellular networks.

3 features make WANDA an effective way to monitor health and prevent emergency situations, say researchers:

  • It features an automated system for checking vital signs.
  • It sends reminders to patients to reduce dataset gaps.
  • It delivers data to physicians in real time.

Researchers say these features make WANDA a better option for people with CHF than a low-tech system, tested in a 2010 Yale University study, which relied on patients to phone in their readings to health professionals. After 6 months, only 55% of patients in the study were still reporting their readings, according to Information Week.

Fewer Issues with Bias and Recall

In another study, researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice found that sensors were just as effective as traditional written questionnaires in collecting accurate data about sociability and activity among older people.

During the small study, researchers asked 8 residents of a continuing care retirement community to spend 10 days wearing waist-mounted, wireless devices that continuously measured the amount of time they spent walking, sitting and speaking with 1 or more other people.

Researchers concluded that the electronically collected data correlated strongly with the results of four written questionnaires completed by study participants. In addition, researchers suggested that having objective sensor-generated information could eliminate the bias and recall problems people can display when answering surveys or submitting self-reports about their activities. Study participants reported that the monitoring devices were easy to wear but said they found the surveys inconvenient and difficult to complete.

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  • About LeadingAge

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    LeadingAge is an association of 5,600 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to expanding the world of possibilities for aging. We advance policies, promote practices and conduct research that supports, enables and empowers people to live fully as they age.

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