Tag Archive for: Jitterbug

GrandCare Systems to Offer GreatCall’s 5Star Urgent Response to its Clients

WEST BEND, WIS. AND SAN DIEGO (July 16, 2013) Care in WI

GrandCare Systems LLC and GreatCall, Inc., announced today that GrandCare will be adding 5Star Urgent Response®, the leading mobile personal emergency response solution (mPERS), to its comprehensive caregiving technology platform.

GrandCare’s simple, touch platform enables an at-home senior to view pictures, receive incoming messages, watch videos, video chat with family, listen to music and play fun games. Using a series of wireless activity and telehealth devices, GrandCare can alert designated caregivers by phone, email or text if anything unusual occurs. GrandCare’s technology is used today domestically and internationally by residents of senior living communities and assisted living facilities, seniors living independently, and by recipients of in-home senior care.

5Star extends the GrandCare platform by enabling seniors with immediate access to help in an urgent situation, while they are in their home or away.  Seniors carry or wear the compact 5Star device and press the button to connect to a 24/7 professional emergency response agent when they feel vulnerable or uncertain, or are experiencing a health or safety issue. The highly trained, NAED-certified 5Star agents have immediate access to the senior’s personal profile and location, evaluate the situation, determine the right course of action and coordinate the help needed, remaining on the line until the situation is resolved.  5Star also includes access to a URAC Accredited Health Call Center, registered nurses, and physicians when appropriate.

Designated caregivers can log into the GrandCare website to send communications to the loved one, view activity & digital health sensor information, and customize the automatic caregiver alerts. A caregiver may choose to receive a call, email or text message if specified conditions occur. With the addition of 5Star, caregivers can use an on-line locator service to find a loved one who is missing or hasn’t responded to a call, and can be designated as a contact in the case of an urgent incident.

“We have always known GreatCall as a capable and visionary leader in the mPERS industry,” said GrandCare Systems founder and CEO Charlie Hillman. “Adding their mPERS solution to our existing caregiving technology platform is a natural fit”.

“5Star Urgent Response offers a crucial safety net for senior care recipients and peace of mind for their caregivers.  GrandCare serves a market segment that is important to us, and we are pleased to add them as a distribution partner.”  said GreatCall CEO David Inns.

About GrandCare Systems LLC

GrandCare Systems, on the market since 2006, uses a series of wireless activity & telehealth sensors in a loved one’s home to alert family members if anything seems amiss. Family members can Skype and send pictures, messages, videos, etc., to their loved one using a simple touchscreen interface. GrandCare combines a 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 caregiving technology in the private home market.  GrandCare has received  world-wide attention from the BBC World News, Italian and French news networks, and U.S. media platforms such as:  The Today Show, the Discovery Channel, CNN, CBS News, etc. To learn more about GrandCare Systems, please visit:  www.grandcare.com.

About GreatCall, Inc.

GreatCall provides easy-to-use wireless health and safety products for aging consumers and their families, allowing them to enjoy a worry-free independent lifestyle. The company stands apart from other wireless services providers through its simplified, personalized and humanized approach, as well as its commitment to providing a high quality customer service experience. The company has been widely praised for its ability to deliver the benefits of innovation and technology in a meaningful and easy-to-use format. GreatCall has received prominent national media accolades from the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Washington Post and major TV broadcast networks.

GreatCall’s products and services, including The 5Star™ and the Jitterbug® are sold nationwide at leading retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Sears, Radio Shack Dealer Franchise, Fry’s Electronics and ShopKo, as well as direct to consumers at 1-800-918-8543 and online at GreatCall.com. Service coverage includes the U.S. and Canada. GreatCall is located in San Diego, CA.

To learn more about all available GreatCall products and services, please visit: http://www.greatcall.com. This GreatCall news release and other announcements are available at http://www.greatcall.com/buzz. Or follow our news on Twitter @GreatCallInc and on Facebook facebook.com/greatcall. For access to company logos and high-resolution images and screen shots, please visit: www.greatcall.com/assets

Gen X-ers Show the Way in Aging/Technology Services? Perhaps we are looking to the wrong generation to lead the way…

Just some thoughts I had the other day when I was reading Steve Gurney’s (from Retirement Living) “Swimming in a Sea of Gadgets” post on his impressions of the Silvers Summit at CES. One of the points he makes is that if we create easier computers for seniors to use (think GrandCare, MyGait, Telikin, etc), wouldn’t everyone want to use them?

This really struck a chord with me. Not only do I absolutely agree that this is key, but it also made me start to think that maybe we are, indeed, marketing to the wrong people. Arlene Harris from Jitterbug once spoke on our GrandCare weekly Aging & Technology Webinar and she made the point that nobody wants to feel “old”. When they designed the Jitterbug, they designed it for everybody – and it was, of course, a fantastic new tool for senior clients…but it didn’t make them feel old. When marketing, they targeted 20 years younger than the “Client”, because everybody sort of identifies with their “perception” of who they want to be and not necessarily who they are.

So, the idea with all of these new Non-Computer, but is a computer, solutions is that it is easier for anyone to have the complete computer experience (in a non traditional way). No mouse, no complicated URL bars, no garbled junk that you need to wade through…sounds familiar…oh yeah – sounds like my IPAD!! I think about how my iPhone and iPad have changed not only my life, but the lives of my 2 and 4 year old. It took them about 2 minutes to become absolutely fluent in the art of IPADDING 🙂

So let’s think about these products. They are not designed to be geriatric, but instead hip, cool and the “IT” thing to do. People are trying them out and saying, wow – my kids/parents could do this. Now, I am not sure that my 87 year old grandfather could navigate through my IPAD…probably not. But, I do know from first-hand experience that he has had ZERO trouble with the GrandCare Touch Interface…If we design it for anyone to use -it becomes less of a “this works well only if you’re old” mentality. Take my two kids…once again – I have a GrandCare TouchScreen mounted in our kitchen. It reminds us (loudly) to give the kids their Flinstone Gummy Vitamins at night. In fact, my husband grabbed the audio file from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and Nurse Ratched says “Medication Time” if the med cabinet has not been opened by 7pm. We enjoy little things like that and the boys think it’s hilarious. We also use it to put our schedules on there – so everyone is aware of the calendar events (replacing the big calendar we had on the wall when I was a kid where we had to (Gasp) WRITE on it). The GrandCare System updates us with the weather, shows pictures (the boys love the animal stock photos). I also add pictures from birthday parties (we don’t really have tangible photo albums around the house for the kids to look at) so the kids LOVE seeing their friends and cousins on the “TV” in our kitchen. We think of it as a huge digital photo frame (on steroids) when it’s not being actively used. It’s fun and a fantastic entertainment piece while the boys sit at the table waiting for dinner. Another thing I (as a parent) really enjoy is that I can remotely program which YouTube and Streaming Videos/Music can be accessible through the touchscreen for my kids to access. I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the stuff on YouTube, but even seemingly appropriate “I love Waffles” songs can quickly turn into dirty sexual waffle songs…hard to believe, I know…but I do try to be very careful with what the boys are watching. The remote control that I have is wonderful and I can constantly add new songs and videos for the kids to enjoy! I also put notes on there for our babysitters (where we are, directions for bedtime, directions for my 2 year old’s nebulizer, etc) and our contact information is always there (at all times), should someone need to contact us. Our GrandCare System also does some basic home automation stuff (turns on the hallway light if anyone gets out of bed during the night to use the bathroom, calls my cell phone if someone opened the front door during the night – I’m looking at my 2 year old on this one, turns off lights after periods of inactivity, etc.)

It’s so easy to see why all ages could benefit from a system like this. Perhaps WE GEN X-ers are the ones that need to be the early adopters and show the way!!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD0qdEZd1PM]
– Laura Mitchell
VP Marketing
GrandCare Systems

Home

“AGING TECHNOLOGY ALLIANCE” FORMED BY CONSORTIUM OF HOME HEALTH TECH COMPANIES

Group aims to become the world’s leading aging-focused technology consortium

CHICAGO, IL – March 15, 2008 – Today, the formation of a consortium named the Aging Technology Alliance was announced by a group of companies and organizations from the home health technology industry. The announcement was made at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit which is running alongside the Aging in America Conference sponsored by the National Council on Aging and American Society on Aging.

The Alliance was formalized at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show when leaders from companies participating in the CES Silvers Summit met and agreed to form the group. Subsequent meetings formed an ad hoc board of directors with representatives from ClearSounds Communications, Digital Health @ CES, firstSTREET, GrandCare Systems, Jitterbug, and Presto Services.

“The need for some sort of consortium became obvious when I originally proposed our companies somehow work together while on a webinar in November of 2009.” said Peter Radsliff, CEO of Presto Services and chairman of the Aging Technology Alliance’s ad hoc board of directors. “The reaction was strong and swift to create a group that focused on helping its members gain awareness and promote their products and services to our aging society. No other organization currently does this.”

“Other organizations focus their missions on acting as brokers between companies, organizations and academia to guide development of solutions to aid aging-in-place.” said
Jill Gilbert of Digital Health @ CES and Alliance board member & treasurer, “The Aging Technology Alliance mission is to promote the awareness, benefits and value of member products and services and assist in the advancement of member companies and individual members.”

The Aging Technology Alliance mission—which can be found at www.agetek.org—also states its intention to facilitate innovation through professional development, education and standardization of products and services, and by creating a vital and expanding aging technology community.

“We believe that the aging technology industry will advance as a whole if we encourage cooperation between members.” said Bud Myers, Sr. Director of Merchandising for firstSTREET and Alliance board member. “And that by developing ‘best practices’ our membership will be more successful.”

The Alliance is currently soliciting voting and non-voting members from across the market spectrum; manufacturers, developers, resellers, educators, organizations, et al. An open meeting will be held at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit, 4:30 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in the Hong Kong room. All potential members are welcome. Press and bloggers are invited as well, space permitting. People wishing to attend should R.S.V.P. by sending an email to agetek@me.com. Companies wishing to join the Aging Technology Alliance or to find out more information should visit http://www.agetek.org or email the address above.

###

About the Aging Technology Alliance
The Aging Technology Alliance (AgeTek.org) was established in 2010 to promote the awareness, benefits and value of products and services for an aging society while directly benefiting its members by evolving into the world’s leading aging-focused technology consortium. For more information, visit: http://www.agetek.org

Contact:
Peter Radsliff, chairman ad hoc board of directors, Aging Technology Alliance
email: agetek@me.com phone: 415.850.1971

© 2010 Alliance Technology Alliance. “Aging Technology Alliance” and “AgeTek” are unregistered trademarks of the Aging Technology Alliance.
No endorsement or affiliation is implied between the Aging Technology Alliance and the National Council on Aging or American Society on Aging.

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF (AgeTek) Aging & Technology Industry Alliance

If you’ve been on our weekly calls, you’ve heard all about the long awaited launch of Agetek!

Next Thursday, we launch the Aging Technology Alliance (aka AgeTek.org) and we want you to join us!

The purpose in building this important and necessary group is to promote awareness, benefits and value of products and services for our aging society while directly benefiting our members by evolving into the world’s leading aging-focused technology consortium.

An Ad Hoc Board of Directors has been hard at work and are anxious to build a strong membership to really shape our future and most importantly shape the future channels for aging technology products and services.

We will share our mission and vision statement at the meeting, but if you are just a little bit curious, an interim website has been created. We obviously aren’t in a place to take memberships yet via the site, but you can see where the idea of the consortium came from and the team that has been working on it along with the mission: http://www.agetek.org

Meeting details
Date: Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Time: 4:30-6:00pm CST
Location: Hong Kong Room, Hyatt Regency Chicago (ASA/NCOA/What’s Next Conferences are there)
151 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois

Please RSVP: agetek@me.com if you will be attending. We need to know if a larger room is needed.

If you can’t attend – That’s ok! You can still be a part of the Aging Technology Alliance! Please visit www.agetek.org or email: agetek@me.com to join! We will be giving updates!!!!
Follow us on Twitter @AgeTek
Connect with us on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2848603&trk=anet_ug_hm

INTRODUCING NEW AGETEK ALLIANCE!!

Introduction
The following page outlines the vision, mission and name
that was developed by the Ad Hoc Board of Directors for
the special industry group that formed at CES 2010.
Although this vision, mission and name have been voted into
place by the board, we wanted to publish this to the broader
group of companies that would ostensibly fall into the category
of voting members for a comment period.
The ad hoc board will take any comments under advisement
and consider them for inclusion or revision. The board will
then vote again for final adoption.
The final vision, mission and name will be unveiled at a
group meeting in Chicago at the What’s Next Boomer
Summit on March 18.
So, without further ado, please turn the page…
— Peter Radsliff, ad hoc board chairman
March 3, 2010
A note about the ad hoc board of directors:
The ad hoc board of directors were nominated and elected by 13 participants
representing 10 companies on a conference call 1/27/10 (meeting minutes
available at http://bit.ly/dmNctq). The elected ad hoc board of directors are:
Peter Radsliff, ad hoc board chairman (Presto Services) peter.radsliff@presto.com
Jill Gilbert, treasurer
Michele Ahlman, secretary (ClearSounds)
Bud Myers, director (firstSTREET)
Madeline Pantalone, director (Jitterbug)
Laura Mitchell, director (GrandCare Systems)

Page2
Our Vision:
We promote the awareness, benefits and value of products and services for our
aging society while directly benefiting our members by evolving into the
world’s leading aging-focused technology consortium.
Our Mission:
Purpose:
1. To promote the awareness, benefits and value of member products and services
2. To assist in the advancement of member companies and individual members
Methods:
3. By facilitating innovation through professional development, education and standardization
of products and services
4. By creating a vital and expanding aging technology community
Beliefs:
5. That by encouraging cooperation between members the aging technology industry will
advance as a whole
6. That by pursuing development of “best practices” and a program of continual improvement,
members will be more successful
Our Name:
Aging Technology Alliance
www.agetek.org
Aging “Aging” because this term is unambiguous in its meaning and somewhat neutral in its
identification. “Silver” is somewhat ambiguous in its reference when used outside of our
industry. “Elder” is seen as a pejorative term and one that resists self-identification. Like it
or not, we are all aging, and this group believes that the aging experience can be improved
through the application of technology.
Technology “Technology” because the products and services we develop, sell, install and operate have
to do with different applications of technology.
Alliance “Alliance” because it means “a merging of efforts or interests by persons, families, states,
or organizations.” For our products and services to have a positive effect on society and
our businesses, many disparate groups need to be involved; such as developers, installers,
marketers, caregivers, family members and users. Without an alliance of these different
groups, the technology will not reach the user

For more information, please contact Peter Radsliffe from Presto: peter.radsliff@presto.com
AgeTek.org is not live yet, in the meantime, visit: http://smartsilvers.com/sig/

THANKS!

Laura Mitchell
ViceChair
AgeTek Alliance
www.agetek.org (live soon!!)

1st meeting: Thursday March 18th, 2010 430 – 6pm Hong Kong Room, Hyatt – Chicago. During ASA Conference