Tag Archive for: HealthSense

GrandCare showcased on Lakes Area News

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9hhQPs8X9M?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

GrandCare Systems and Knute-Nelson were recently featured on Lakes Area News. Anchor Chelsea Nelson explored how technology is changing the way we take care of our seniors, often in the comfort of their own homes.

Knute-Nelson Home Care provides personalized health care to individuals in their own home. Services are tailored to meet the needs of each individual and are provided on a one-to-one basis. They use GrandCare in both home care and hospice.

GrandCare starts with a central touchscreen hub that acts as a source of information, communication, video chat and medication reminders. A series of telehealth and activity of daily living monitoring devices report wirelessly to designated care partners. GrandCare can be an opportunity for new revenues, a way to extend staff through virtual care services, and a method to reach more clients at once (a dashboard view allows an omniscient view of several clients at once). GrandCare can also be a bridge/opener to new clients that may not be ready for hands-on care yet. Rather than replace on-site caregivers, GrandCare enhances caregiving and offers a new model of delivery.

 

For more information on GrandCare visit: www.grandcare.com

 

GrandCare featured in The Guardian UK as a leading technology for aging

Ask Jack

What tech can I use to keep an eye on an ageing parent?

Stephen’s mother lives alone, and he would like some way of knowing that she’s OK, without her losing any of her freedom or independence

 

My mum is in her mid-sixties, and lives alone. She’s very active, but naturally we worry about things like: what if she falls or is otherwise incapacitated and can’t get to a phone? She has a Moto G (Android), so I’ve been looking for an app that can run in the background and notify me if certain conditions are met. Say, for example, she doesn’t use her phone for 24 hours. I’ve found one called Man Down, which I thought might do the job, but it would require her to log into the app regularly and set it up. I was looking for a “set it and forget it” solution. I’ve also searched for an IFTTT script – say, alert me if she doesn’t log into Facebook for a day – but with no success.

I’m looking for a light-touch solution. She’s not elderly, and I don’t want her to feel like she’s losing any freedom or independence. Do you have any suggestions? Stephen

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Countries in the developed world, particularly Japan, have aging populations, and monitoring the safety of older people is becoming a big business. It’s a market that American companies such as GrandCare Systems...are already addressing. The New York Times ran an interesting story about the subject: Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents. However, most require monthly payments, and I haven’t seen any similar services in the UK.

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Your mother will probably have heard of Age UK’s service, it retains her independence, isn’t intrusive, and would be entirely under her control. However, it’s relatively expensive, and it doesn’t do very much in comparison with American systems like GrandCare. That would allow you to monitor your mother’s weight and blood pressure, track her movements around the house, and know when she opened the fridge door, for example…

The cost depends on the features, and most are simpler and cheaper. However, a comprehensive system may well be worth the money if it enables an older person to continue living independently at home (in the US jargon, “aging in place“) rather than being moved to a care home

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Read the entire article here

 

GrandCare Systems starts at just $699 to install with a low recurring subscription charge.

Buy NOW

The New Wave of Home Healthcare


Electronic House Reports:

Electronic systems allow seniors to age comfortably and safely in their own homes.

Jul. 30, 2010 — by Lisa Montgomery

Talk to just about anybody, and they’ll have a story to share about an aging loved one. Often, those stories are punctuated with feelings of worry, guilt and uncertainty over how to best care for their elderly parent or friend.

Recently, a number of up-and-coming electronics manufacturers have developed a variety of technologies aimed squarely at this growing market of concerned caregivers. The solutions, they hope, will afford seniors the means to lead an independent life at home while giving their family members the assurance that all is well.

According to healthcare statistics, the timing couldn’t be better. In a June 2009 report from the AARP Policy Institute, the population of people 65 or older is projected to grow by 89 percent between 2007 and 2030, more than four times faster than the population overall. The aging population will skyrocket by another 118 percent between the years 2030 and 2050.

“The silver tsunami is coming,” says Laura Mitchell, director of business relations at Grand Care Systems, a manufacturer of monitoring systems for seniors. “As the generation of baby boomers grows older, we simply won’t have the resources—facilities or manpower—to adequately take care of our aging population, unless we invest in the development of digital home healthcare technology.”

Factor in the astronomical costs of long-term care, and it’s easy to see why some healthcare analysts believe the digital home healthcare industry will grow from a $2 billion business to a $20 billion industry by 2020. (Click here to view a slideshow of digital home healthcare products.)

Innovative Start-ups
Like any emerging industry, the digital home healthcare market today consists mainly of small start-up companies, although big names like GE, Intel and Philips are major players as well (see sidebar). Little synergy exists between the manufacturers, resulting in an industry that’s “somewhat chaotic right now,” says Laurie Orlov of market research firm Aging in Place Technology Watch.

“Products that should probably be sold together as a package are being sold separately, and pricing is all over the board.” Still, the technologies available are innovative, affordable and—most importantly—cater to the needs of both stay-at-home seniors and the people who care for them.

To gain a clearer sense of some of the solutions gaining steam, Orlov divides digital home healthcare products and systems into four main categories: safety and security, communication and engagement, health and wellness, and learning and contribution. Although technologies that help seniors stay mentally sharp are important, the systems and products that fall under the first three categories are expected to have the biggest impact on the aging-at-home lifestyle.

Safety and Security
The home safety and security market is driven largely by companies with systems designed to monitor the activities of an individual and report those findings to a preselected group of people. Personal emergency response system (PERS) devices, which typically alert caregivers of a critical situation after it has occurred, are one example of this type of product. However, today’s breed of alert systems focus on more on preventing and mitigating problems than sending out an S.O.S. Referred to as ADL (activities of daily living) monitoring systems, they employ a combination of small, unobtrusive wireless environmental sensors, a networking base unit, specially configured software, and the Internet to communicate to caregivers the daily routines of their elderly stay-at-home parents. The sensors and networking unit capture information about the person’s movement throughout the day and distribute it to a secure web server, where the software analyzes and organizes the data. Invited caregivers can then log on to review the recorded information. They can also receive instant alerts via email or text when specified sensors are tripped or if no activity has been recorded within a certain period of time…

Read more: http://www.electronichouse.com/article/the_new_wave_of_home_healthcare/C155