Tag Archive for: GrandCare Systems

CEPro Highlights GrandCare’s Return to Home Tech

GrandCare Returns to Home Tech Channel, Teams with CEDIA on Aging-in-Place

Julie Jacobson · February 19, 2016
Read in full at www.cepro.com

GrandCare is coming back to the home technology channel, hoping integrators are ready to sell and install solutions for seniors, handicapped individuals and others aspiring to live independently.
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For its first years in business, the company used the custom installation channel to deploy its products. It’s fair to say GrandCare was the leading force in educating integrators on the home-health market and encouraging other aging-in-place vendors to participate in the effort.

While home-health technology enjoyed a high profile for many years in the channel — from about 2009 to 2012 — few integrators were able to make a significant dent in the market. In 2013, GrandCare left the channel to focus on institutional sales to healthcare and affiliated organizations.
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“GrandCare is re-launching a dealer program because the timing is right,” Laura Mitchell says. “Everyone is aging. That’s a demographic we have on our side.”

CEDIA [www.cedia.net], the trade association for home technology professionals, is getting in on the action too.

More information on the new GrandCare Dealer Opportunities is coming soon, with significant discounts for previously authorized GrandCare Dealers!

 

 

GrandCare Showcased at Innovative LeadingAge MN Conference

GrandCare, the industry leader in comprehensive eldercare technology, will be featured at the LeadingAge Minnesota conference in St. Paul tomorrow, February 10. The mission of LeadingAge Minnesota is an important one: ensuring that “older adults in every community live with dignity, meaning, and purpose.” GrandCare will be at the conference in booth 257 to help deliver on that mission.

How? By introducing new and innovative functionality like the Emergency Broadcast Alert System and enhanced community features like event calendars, meal schedule and digital signage. GrandCare founder and CEO Charlie Hillman commented, “GrandCare is delighted to reinforce our partnership with LeadingAge of MN and be on display at this innovative event. Together we are reinventing the care delivery model to be more proactive, predictive and cost-effective.”

To find out more about what GrandCare is up to, visit us on the web at grandcare.com. Ask us about our discounted pricing for senior care providers at sales@grandcare.com today!

GrandCare Targeted as Must Have Comprehensive Tool According to Writer, Christine Halaba

Through the years, different generations found ways to help their elders cope with aging and its effects. The efforts of recent generations led to fruitful solutions such as the birth of home health care in Chicago and other parts of America. This allowed seniors to receive the health care services that they need in the comfort of their own homes. Aside from this, today’s generation has another weapon in its arsenal – technology.

We are living in a digital world, so it’s no surprise that several outstanding individuals found ways to create devices that are meant to aid the older portion of the population with their needs. These genius innovations are meant to assist aging adults – with the help of their caregivers – as they face the challenges of aging. If you are looking to equip your loved ones with necessary items to help ease the obstacles of growing old, check the gadgets below:

Medical Alert System

Several difficulties arise as people grow older and one of these is problems with mobility or balance. Older people are likely to fall down and injure themselves. In case this happens to your loved one, how will she be able to ask for help? Medical alert system, or Personal Emergency Response System (PERS), allows your loved one to contact you or her caregiver in case of an emergency.

Thanks to constant innovations, the PERS gadgets available in the market today are wireless and more mobile. You won’t have to worry anymore whenever your aging parents are out of your sight because they now have a means to contact you. At the same time, your parents will be at ease about moving around freely because they know that you are only a click away.

Automatic Pill Dispensers

Sometimes, people decide to hire home care because their loved one is becoming forgetful. This is especially problematic when your loved one has to take different medications for their ailments every day. With all those medicines, it might be difficult for her to remember which one to take at what time.

Good thing electronic pill dispensers are now available in the market. Electronic pill dispensers doesn’t only dispense pills, you can also set them to remind your loved one what medicine to take at what time. Not only that – this gadget can also alert you when your stock is running low! An automatic pill dispenser will allow your loved one to easily get her medicine and reduce the risk of forgetting when to drink them.

Pre-Programmed Phones

Most people rely on smartphones to stay connected with their friends and families anywhere. Despite this, older adults tend to shy away from phones. It can be difficult to convince your elders to use mobile phones because they sometimes find it too complex. That’s why the arrival of senior-friendly phones in the market is such good news.

Mobile phones are a good way to be in contact with your loved one especially if they are out visiting their friends or just strolling around the mall. Plus, it has other applications that can entertain your loved one like music and games. Just make sure that before you give the phone, your number, any of your immediate family member, and your caregiver’s are already pre-programmed in the phone directory.

GrandCare Systems

The three devices stated above are just some of the gadgets that your loved ones should possess at all to help them cope with the effects of aging. Although if you want, there is one tool that can deliver all the benefits of the said three gadgets and more! The GrandCare Systems is an advantageous device that allows your parents to contact their family and friends, view medication reminders, and access information. Basically, it combines the advantages of many separate devices into one tool!

Despite its many uses, your parents don’t have to be tech savvy in order to use GrandCare. In addition, you can access the care portal using any device and leave notes and reminders or just check on your parents. GrandCare is your parents’ all in one tool for communication and information.

Today’s generation is using technology wisely to create devices that will aid the older population as they deal with the effects of aging. Just remember that these tools are not meant to fully replace caregivers, rather, to help them assist an aging person. Before you buy any of the gadgets listed above, remember to discuss it with your loved ones first. Including them in the decision-making process – especially one that involves them – is a must.

Author Bio

Christine Halaba is a Communications degree holder and a freelance writer from the Philippines. Her contributions as a writer can be seen in different blogs for home care, advertising, and health and wellness. Her hobbies include leisure and traveling.  

Preventing Senior Isolation

Green Bank, West Virginia, is arguably the most isolated place in the nation. A large telescope designed to monitor for signals from the universe requires a 13,000 square mile “quiet zone”, encompassing much of West Virginia and even stretching as far north as the Maryland border. In this “quiet zone”, residents live with no cellular telephone service, no Internet, no radio, and until recently, no microwaves. For the most part, the residents of this community are completely isolated. They have very limited means of communicating with the outside world. Today, seniors living outside of Green Bank, West Virginia are also feeling cut off and lonely. But why?

One could argue that our current population is the most connected it has ever been. People walking around with cell phones, tablets, connected wearables, bluetooth head pieces, and smartwatches are more connected than ever.  The difficulty is that technologies that support better communication are often complicated, daunting and rarely designed for the 65+ population in mind.

It could be a difficult leap for someone who has witnessed the rise and fall of the typewriter, for example, to be expected to set up and operate a laptop computer or figure out how to place a video call. “Technophobia” may be running rampant in senior housing, leaving loved ones with limited means for contact. It does not seem right that in this “connected world” we live in that one whole gaping generation is left in the cold, alone and lonely.  

Enter GrandCare Systems, a company created in 2005 to combat senior isolation and help keep families connected and provide “peace of mind”.  The GrandCare System was designed to be self maintaining and require ZERO technical know-how from the loved one. It simply works and seamlessly connects them to one touch video chat with family, friends and even healthcare providers. Pictures automatically populate the large GrandCare touchscreen from various family facebook photo albums. Family can login to the care portal from any mobile device or computer and send messages, reminders, schedule appointments, add to dos and check in to see if mom needs anything.  

Is your loved one lonely or isolated?  That’s not right. Let GrandCare help. Contact us.

Developing a New Model of Care

 

By: Laura Mitchell

The digital health technology industry is ramping up quickly, and everyone understands the critical and immediate need for enabling technologies to turn our man-on-man caregivers into zone caregivers. The technology works. Study after study proves that telemedicine does benefit patients, medication adherence technologies do help mitigate hospital readmissions, and that loneliness and isolation do decrease. The implementation difficulties lie not in the technologies themselves, but instead in the delivery of the model of care, utilizing these new omniscient technologies. So, how do we do it? That’s a whole different question.

The most difficult thing in this “new” aging in place technology industry is determining who uses the technology, who pays for it, and how to encourage resident and caregiver compliance with technology.

At GrandCare, we utilize digital health, activity remote monitoring, touchscreen-based socialization, media sharing, and video chat as a platform to connect caregivers to aging loved ones or clients, while providing the caregivers with proactive, preventative information to enable the safety and independence of the care recipient.

Sounds like a good idea, right?

We thought so…in 2005. That’s when we started this amazing and fantastically frightening journey of trying to convince the industry that there actually was a need. The trick at the time was to persuade the world that technology could actually play a role in helping to care for a loved one. The technology would NOT be a cyborg that dismissed the need for a personal caregiver, but instead could enhance hands-on caregiving. The notion would be that the centerpiece socialization piece would engage the care recipient by providing games, entertainment and information (weather, news, etc.), while connecting them to family through picture/video sharing, letter exchanges, scheduling, and one-touch video chatting.

Meanwhile, a series of optional wireless devices (bluetooth blood pressure devices, glucometers, motion detectors, indoor temperature readers, etc.) would sit passively around the home and report on potential red flags. For example, if a person did not get out of bed in the morning, didn’t access a fridge at mealtime or if the indoor temperature was out of range, someone could be notified.

To those nay-sayers of technologies to promote independence at home, I honestly don’t get it. Perhaps these are the same folks that were completely appalled at the idea of telephones. Would anyone personally visit anyone anymore? Or remember when answering machines came out and it was appalling to think about talking to a machine? I was involved in the very early days of an Internet Service Provider (the first in our county in Wisconsin) and I recall teaching classes called Internet fundamentals where I explained the “Internet” using library analogies, taught the finer arts of how to install Netscape Navigator on a CD. I taught HTML fundamental classes and advised a number of local businesses on how the Internet was going to better their businesses and why they needed websites. I recall many saying the idea was interesting, but their customers would NEVER be directed to a computer and instead would always demand to talk to a live person. Some of these same companies provide today the finest web experience, online stores and help centers with live chat features (yes, this does go to a real person).

The amount of horrified comments about how folks would rather die than have any piece of assistive technology was, well, insane. Forget about the irony in which people posted how much they hate technology on an Internet chat forum, but why the fear? Why the anger?

#grandCAREworks #ItActuallyWorks

Laura is a founding member of GrandCare Systems and remains a strategic growth advisor for the pioneer digital health organization.

LB Homes Achieves Four Star Medicare Rating, Attributes Success to Technology

 

Minnesota-Based Home Care Agency Uses grandCARE Technology to Improve Patient Care and Outcomes

 

Over100YearslogoFergus Falls, MN – Lakeland Home Care, an LB Homes agency, announced today that they have received a four star quality of patient care rating by Medicare. The average quality rating is 3 stars. LB Homes attributes their high rating to a number of factors including GrandCare’s remote monitoring, telehealth and socialization platform. LB Homes uses this technology in a service called “LB Homes Connect” to provide top-notch care to remote clients.

Medicare ratings, which are determined through an analysis of nine separate quality measures, include flu vaccination rates, drug education, increases in mobility, and fewer hospitalizations. Telehealth, telemedicine, and medication adherence technology from the GrandCare platform can assist in mitigating readmissions and proactively alerting LB Homes nurses should something go wrong.

LB Homes monitors patient vitals using GrandCare telehealth devices like blood pressure cuffs, weight scales and glucometers. The LB Connect system reminds LB clients when and how to take their readings, instructions for medications and can alert trained caregivers of potential problematic situations.

“We have seen healthier and happier clients and we know that [LB Homes Connect] has prevented emergency room visits.” said Carrie Miller, Telehealth Program Coordinator at LB Homes. “Our nurses are more efficient and effective knowing that…we can intervene long before things get critical.”

GrandCare CEO Charlie Hillman understands the importance of in-home technology for the health and well-being of our aging population:

We’ve built a robust and comprehensive caregiving platform, but we have learned that better outcomes are delivered through the people using these tools. LB Homes is proving that remote technologies can empower the best caregivers to provide even better care. That’s how it’s supposed to work. Congratulations to LB Homes on this prestigious recognition.

About LB Homes: LB Homes began helping seniors find quality housing and healthcare services nearly a century ago. Founded in 1915 in the town of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Lutheran Brethren Homes began its ministry in senior services and eventually expanded to Arizona and Texas. In 1959 they opened the Broen (Memorial) Home in Fergus Falls, MN.

Over the years LB Homes expanded to now include long term care, home care services, end of life care, short stay care, assisted living, and enhanced assisted living.

For more information, please visit www.LBHomes.org
805 E. Channing Ave, Fergus Falls, MN 56537

About GrandCare: GrandCare Systems, founded in 2005, combines digital health assessment, biometric readings, activity of daily living sensing, medication management, smart home automation, video chat and virtual touch-based communications into the most comprehensive and fully-featured technology in the private home market. GrandCare is designed for individuals seeking a caregiving solution for an aging loved one or for professional in-home, long term care or clinical caregiving providers.

For more information, visit: www.grandcare.com or call 262-338-6147

PR Contact:
Laura Mitchell Consulting
Digital Health Marketing
media@lmcllc.us
262-707-6726
@laurahmitchell

Southgate at Shrewsbury Names grandCARE as One of The Best Gadgets for Independent Living

The Best Gadgets for Independent Living

http://southgateatshrewsbury.com/the-best-gadgets-for-independent-living

“If you constantly worry about your mom or dad who lives alone, it’s normal. Many senior caregivers and adult children have concerns about their parents living on their own after a certain age. Whether your live locally or far away, these thoughts can be stressful. Luckily, there are a lot of high-tech gadgets that can do the job for you.

…

Try out grandCARE, a tool that lets parents video chat and message family on a big touch screen. They can also find out the weekly weather and news, play games with friends and check their calendar to see what independent living activities they have going on this week. It also investigates their health using telehealth technologies. Want to know if they’re taking medication? Check in to the caregiver portal.”

September 11, 2015

Southgate at Shrewsbury

Southgate at Shrewsbury is a premier destination for senior living. Located in historic Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, we offer independent living, assisted living and long term care. Southgate is a well planned community designed with an energetic, exciting, sophisticated lifestyle in mind. Situated on a 30 Acre campus, our beautifully maintained grounds and distinctive architecture flow graciously into Southgate Park, where lush flowers highlight our heirloom fountain and surround our footpaths and gazebo. Since 1989, Southgate has been unsurpassed in amenities, service and hospitality.

Learn more at http://southgateatshrewsbury.com.

Erick Eiting at the Louisville Innovation Summit

grandCARE’s Chief Medical Officer, Erick Eiting will be speaking as a panelist at the Louisville Innovation Summit

Creating the Future of Aging Care

Louisville Innovation Summit
Kentucky Center for the Arts
October 14–15, 2015 Louisville, KY

500 healthcare executives and technology entrepreneurs provide insight, share expertise and explore new avenues to create the future of aging care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWtzpKoT-6E

Dr. Eiting

Erick Eiting

Dr. Eiting serves as chief medical officer to digital health industry pioneer, grandCARE. He specializes in providing access to care to vulnerable patient populations using innovative technological solutions.

At grandCARE, he focuses on allowing seniors to continue to live independently at home.

Using remote sensors and smart data collection, he helps to provide patients and providers with the necessary solutions to keep them out of the hospital and prevent 30-day readmissions.

Dr. Eiting is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He serves as Associate Medical Director at LAC+USC Medical Center and Medical Director of USC Correctional Health where he oversees inpatient, emergency and sub-specialty clinic services for incarcerated patients and helps to facilitate access to care for patients released from custody.

grandCARE featured in CAST matrix

CAST expands latest telehealth matrix

McKnight’s Long Term Care News
Elizabeth Leis Newman, Senior Editor
http://www.mcknights.com/news
September 04, 2015

CAST’s white paper looks at patient education and self-management, pre- and post-acute management of chronic conditions, post-acute patient stabilization, long-distance routine check-ups and specific teleconsults. The tool and matrix compare 28 different products from 23 vendors, and users can select their “must-have” features.

Companies listed include Philips Healthcare, Panasonic, GrandCare Systems, Healthsense, Independa, LG CNS, Care at Hand, EarlySense, Family Health Network, Honeywell HomMed, WoundRounds and Ideal Life.

A full list can be seen at www.leadingage.org/telehealth_whitepaper.aspx

Sunrise Senior Living Highlights grandCARE technology for Independent Living

Sunrise Senior Living, a leader in long term care communities in the United States, has featured grandCARE as a technology solution for independent living, whether it be in the private home or community-based. Sunrise Senior Living operates 302 communities worldwide with 245 locations in the US, 15 in Canada and 42 in the UK. They offer a range of personalized senior services, including independent living, care for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of memory loss, as well as skilled nursing and short-term rehabilitative services.

The Best Gadgets For Independent Living by Tim Watt | AUG 31, 2015

“If you constantly worry about your mom or dad who lives alone, it’s normal. Many senior caregivers and adult children have concerns about their parents living on their own after a certain age. Whether your live locally or far away, these thoughts can be stressful. Luckily, there are a lot of high-tech gadgets that can do the job for you. Think about trying out one – or all – of these gadgets in your parent’s home…”

…

“If you can’t be there all the time… When parents live alone, you may want to be by their side always. While you may see them as often as you can, you can’t always be there every day. Not to worry – there’s a device that can alleviate your worries. Try out grandCARE, a tool that lets parents video chat and message family on a big touch screen. They can also find out the weekly weather and news, play games with friends and check their calendar to see what independent living activities they have going on this week. It also investigates their health using telehealth technologies. Want to know if they’re taking medication? Check in to the caregiver portal.”

For more information, visit: http://www.sunriseseniorliving.com.

Read the entire article The Best Gadgets For Independent Living