Tag Archive for: Sherri Snelling

GrandCare Systems in the WB Daily News

GrandCare Receives AARP Sterling Award

West Bend Daily News;Date: Feb 3, 2012;Section: Front Page;Page: A2


GrandCare Systems founder Charlie Hillman, left, recieves the Sterling Award from Jody Holtzman of AARP.

West Bend-based GrandCare Systems won the first Sterling Awards competition in the health and wellness category during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Sponsored by AARP, the Sterling Awards identify the best in technology innovation and product excellence for Americans age 50 and older. “We are honored to accept this prestigious award,” said Charlie Hillman, GrandCare founder. “We share the passion of AARP to forge a better future for our aging population and we are encouraged to continue developing innovation technologies that make aging and ‘healing in place’ safer, happier, healthier and more cost-effective.”

Founded in 2005, GrandCare is a pioneer in the digital home health care industry. The company currently has 12 employees, but Hillman said he expects that to grow as new subscribers sign up.

GrandCare offers a senior-friendly, Internet-enabled, touch-based system aimed at maintaining independence at home, instead of in an assisted living facility. The system, which costs approximately $99 a month, helps control chronic conditions, increases

compliance, strengthens family connections and reduces hospital readmissions, said Laura Mitchell, GrandCare vice president of marketing. It combines technologies to provide activity monitoring, medication management, wellness monitoring, video chatting and social connectivity into an interactive product that can be learned by any senior citizen, she said.

Laura Mitchell, GrandCare Systems vice president of marketing, addresses the crowd during the Silvers Summit awards ceremony.

The unit, which is essentially a touch-screen computer monitor on steroids, can monitor seemingly simple tasks – like lighting, temperature and appliance shut off – to complex ones, like wireless pulse readings, glucose levels and interaction with hand-held electrocardiographs. It also provides social interaction tools, like video chats with family and care professionals, as well as games, music, calendars and trivia.

The purpose of the inaugural Sterling Awards is to identify products that enhance, empower and exemplify the lifestyles of those 50 and older.

Award winners were chosen by a panel of judges from Aging in Place Technology Watch, AARP, Carnegie Mellon University, Care2, Compelling Telling, Continua Health Alliance, Mary Furlong and Associates, National Alliance for Caregiving, NPR Labs, PBS Kids Interaction, SmartSilvers Alliance and Vibrant Nation.

GrandCare among “The Top CE Products for Americans Age 50+ Honored at First Annual Sterling Award Ceremony at Silvers Summit During CES”

Award Winners Represent the Best In Class When It Comes to Technology and the Lifestyles of Boomers and Beyond

PR Newswire

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 10, 2012  /PRNewswire/ — In its first annual Sterling Award competition, sponsored by AARP, Silvers Summit organizers today unveiled the five category winners, Silvers Choice winner and Innovator Award recipient during its 4th annual Silvers Summit conference held here at Consumer Electronics Show.

Award winners were chosen by the expert panel of judges in the following five categories:

  • Health & Wellness – Company: GrandCare Systems, Product: GC HomeBase
  • Education/Continued Learning – Company: LiveMocha, Product: LiveMocha
  • Entertainment – Company: My Gait LLC, Product: My Gait Senior Computer
  • Relationships/Family Caregiving – Company: No Tie LLC, Product: AutoVerbal
  • Cause-Worthy Product/Service – Company: Great Grabz, Product: Unique Touch Grab Bars

The top five winning entries were posted to the Silvers Summit website and Facebook page. The competition relied on social media to invite the public to choose their favorite among the five to select the “Silvers Choice” award.  The people’s choice vote winner was GC Homebase by GrandCare Systems.

In addition, Silvers Summit producers chose Martin Cooper, chairman of Dyna, LLC as the first Innovator Award recipient. Known as the “father of the portable cellular phone” which he created in the 1970s while at Motorola, Cooper is a renowned innovator in spectrum management.  He is widely regarded as one of the leading visionaries and inventors of our time and has spent most of the past five decades creating some of the world’s most important business and technological concepts and offerings. He is also an activist who seeks to shape public policy in the U.S. and globally having testified before various committees and serves on the U.S. Department of Commerce Spectrum Advisory Committee that advises the President of the United States on spectrum policy.

“We were thrilled with the response to our first annual Sterling Awards call for entries and we thank the participation of our expert panel of judges,” said Sherri Snelling, executive producer, Silvers Summit. “All of our Sterling Award winners – the companies and our Innovator Award recipient Martin Cooper – offer unique ways to enrich the lives of the 100 million boomers and silvers in our society today.”

“These award winners, and all of our excellent award entrants, understand the importance of a market that has huge growth potential over the next 20+ years,” continued Snelling.  “We hope these annual Sterling Awards become a showcase for ways that technology can help us stay healthy, happy, and connected to family and friends, living in our homes longer, and making a difference in the world as we age.”

“By sponsoring the Sterling Awards, AARP recognizes and encourages the important role that innovation and technology play in the lives of people 50 and older,” said Jody Holtzman, senior vice president of Thought Leadership at AARP.  “We applaud the winners, the judges, Silvers Summit organizers and especially the people who chose their favorite among the top winners.  Innovation around technology is empowering, and it allows the 50+ population to live life ‘re-imagined,’ which is what we at AARP work toward every day.”

For more information about the Sterling Award individual winners, click here.

Click here for more information about the Sterling Awards judges.

The 4th Annual Silvers Summit at the 2012 International CES is where the thought leaders on aging and technology come together.  The one-day conference addresses trends, innovations and strategies in the areas of social media, gaming, driving safety, mobile technology, universal design, smart homes and communities, and customer service addressing the largest and most influential demographic in our society today – Americans age 50+.

Follow Silvers Summit on Twitter for news and updates: twitter.com/silverssummit.

About Silvers Summit:

The Silvers Summit at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is where the thought leaders on an aging society and technology come together.  The conference and exhibit assembles companies, distributors, journalists, research firms, and think tanks, to demonstrate the products and services that will help consumers age 50+ stay engaged, empowered and help enhance their lives. The Silvers Summit and Exhibition is presented by Living in Digital Times, producer of the following summits and exhibitions at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show: Digital Health, Fitness Tech Summit, HigherEd Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, MommyTech Summit, Mobile Apps Showdown, and Last Gadget Standing.  For more information about The Silvers Summit, visit: http://silverssummit.com/.

DISCLAIMER:

AARP does not endorse or promote any of the Sterling Award winners.

The Sterling Award is produced by Silvers Summit, a property of Living in Digital Times, Inc. Silvers Summit and Living in Digital Times do not endorse or promote any of the Sterling Award winners.

Silvers Summit and Sterling Award are service marks of Living In Digital Times, Inc.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/544470#ixzz1jACLTMWe