Tag Archive for: telehealth technology

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.

Going above and beyond the traditional PERS

If you were around during the 80’s and 90’s, I’m sure you remember that clever catchphrase, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”, and the television commercials from a certain maker of a medical emergency response systems. Fast forward to 2015, and a lot has changed in the way of digital health technology. The advent of smartphones, tablets, watches, fitness wristbands, and other devices are changing our world and just how mobile we can be without losing our connection to everything digital.

Let’s face it, we live in a fast paced world and people crave their technology gadgets, addicted sometimes, and when said gadget goes down for any reason, say, your kid drops it in the toilet, or you leave it in the bathroom at the airport in your rush to make your connecting flight…your digital life is temporarily ‘over’.

But, if you are someone over the age of 65, life tends to slow down a bit. Trading in chasing around kids to soccer practice, and making the early morning client meeting for a more relaxed lifestyle tending to a flower garden at home, enjoying time volunteering for local community causes, or even just unwinding in a favorite recliner while reading a good book. However, this newfound freedom and independence often comes with its own share of dangers of the unknown.

today's caregiver

According to a recent article by Today’s Caregiver:

Studies report that 30% of people who are over the age of 65 (about 35 million Americans) fall every year, and that these incidences increase to 50% for those over the age of 80.

It’s been estimated that at least 60% of all falls occur in the home… people with neuromuscular or cognitive diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, ALS and even diabetes fall even more frequently.

Whatever the reasoning, the danger still exists for someone who has taken a fall, especially if they are elderly and alone. For those who are unable to get up from a fall, the amount of time they spend immobile will greatly affect the outcome of their health and rehabilitation. In other words, a fall that results in a serious injury may signify the beginning of declining health that may become an irreversible, downward spiral.

So, how can you ensure your loved one won’t become a tragic victim of this downward spiral from a fall that goes undected? You could opt for a personal emergency response system (PERS), such as the one from the tv advertisements, but those require your loved one to actually push a button. What if your loved one suffers a medical episode which hinders their ability to push this button? This is a gap of the traditional PERS solution, a gap that our technology can help fill.

Introducing the grandCARE system solution which incorporates a series of passive activity and motion sensing devices to better monitor patterns of behavior instead of requiring the user to push a button. If there is no motion, excessive motion, or activity patterns that do not fit the norm, an alert will go out regardless of the individual person’s ability to engage the push button. Download: Gaps of PERS System Flyer

Learn more about how passive activity and motion sensing devices can provide you added peace of mind by visiting our website www.grandCARE.com.

Better Care Logo - Square - Standard - TMSystem Comp HR

About grandCARE:

GrandCare Systems LLC, founded in 2005, offers the most comprehensive and holistic professional care giving and health coordination tool on the market.  grandCARE is a large touch platform which provides health instructions, secure video chat, wireless vital recordings and analytics, medication compliance, activity sensing, and family communications into one intuitive and expandable platform.  grandCARE focuses on true individual centered care, enabling better experience, better engagement, and better outcomes. For more information, visit: www.grandcare.com or call 262-338-6147.

 Media Contact:

Amy Schwengels       262.338.6147   media@grandCARE.com

Note: “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” is a registered trademark of LifeAlert.

GrandCare Systems Announces Significant Investment in Professional Caregiving Sales Program

GrandCare Systems, a leader in the digital caregiving technology industry, is delighted to announce an increased emphasis and investment on a sales program directed towards professional in-home caregivers, long term care, and healthcare providers.  In order to build and maintain a strong and dynamic sales team, the organization has organized a robust outside sales program including territory directors and an inside sales team.

esther GCSAlthough GrandCare remains available direct to consumer through the GrandCare online store or on Amazon, the company’s focus is on professional caregiving organizations including non-medical homecare providers, home health providers, long-term care organizations, and newly formed accountable care organizations (ACOs).

“Moving away from our previous direct-to-consumer model, the mentality of this new configuration and strategy is to better align our inside and outside sales team to drive strategic growth and, in the end, better serve and support our aging population by arming caregiving experts with the best in innovative technology,” said GrandCare CEO, Daniel Maynard.  “The technology is affordable and has proven revenue success with professional caregivers, enabling them to offer extended caregiving services beyond the traditional hands-on care hours.”

GrandCare is designed to increase profit margins for non-medical and home health providers by allowing for new service models and helping to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions.

“Our home care agency has seen significant results using GrandCare technology, including patient and caregiver satisfaction, reduction of emergent care utilization as well as enhanced care coordination and education for the patient” comments Anne Major, Knute Nelson’s Vice President of Home Care and Hospice. “Our services span 26 counties in West Central Minnesota and GrandCare has allowed us to better connect individuals living in rural areas with health care tools that help to manage their care in their own homes.”

System Comp HR NEWOrganizations like Knute-Nelson also use it as a competitive advantage and a socialization connection resource for families.

“It’s a great way to feel like I’m in touch even though I am across the country from mom,” said a Knute-Nelson customer. Another chimed in “[GrandCare has] the ability to continuously receive current pictures from family and friends, from any computer to my mother’s. The GrandCare system has greatly contributed to my mother’s overall mental health. “

GrandCare Systems starts at just $699 and $49 per month for retail consumers and offers volume discount packages for professional caregiving, long term care, and healthcare organizations.

 

About GrandCare Systems:

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

It’s time for your organization to GO DIGITAL

Join GrandCare Systems® for a 45 minute webinar

Thursday, August 14th, 2014  ¤  1:30 pm CT (2:30 pm ET)

CC Esther taking BPIf you are providing in-home care services, you cannot afford to miss this opportunity to learn how caregiving technology can improve your top and bottom lines, make your team more effective, more efficient and enable a larger geographic reach.

Using real case studies & examples, GrandCare will be hosting a webinar that will prove that you can save money, reduce staff burdens and stress, while securing new revenue streams.

Agenda:

  • The HUGE opportunity
  • What is GrandCare? 1 Stop Caregiver technology
  • Your New and IMPROVED marketplace
  • The truth about PERS and why it isn’t enough
  • Team-based approach
  • The GrandCare HomeCare Advantage
  • Office Staff advantage
  • In-home caregiver advantage
  • Client/Family advantage
  • Competitive Differentiation
  • GrandCare Implementation Story
  • Sally Roger’s story
  • Assured HomeCare’s GrandCare implementation
  • Cost vs. Profit: Return on Investment

Register Now

Featured Presenter:

Laura Mitchell, VP Business Development, GrandCare Systems

Laura Mitchell, Chief Marketing Officer, GrandCare Systems

Laura is a founding member of GrandCare Systems and was responsible for bringing GrandCares’s product to market in 2006, while aiding in the creation of the “Digital Health” and Aging & Technology industry. She specializes in channel partnerships, growth hacking, and non-traditional marketing and social media. She was featured in Forbes for her social media strategies and has been recognized by several industry media outlets, including Connected World Magazine’s 2014 Top Women of M2M, a nomination for the 2012 WEGO Health “Trailblazer”, 2012 Dealerscope’s 40 Under 40, 2012 “Young Turk of CE” by Custom Retailer Magazine, and the 2011 Mary Furlong Flame Award.

Laura speaks throughout the country at industry events and radio shows on Digital Health, Mitigating Hospital Readmissions Using Technology, Social Media, and Go-to-market Strategies in the Aging Industry. Venues include CES, Digital Health Summit, Mhealth Summit, M-enabling Summit, LeadingAge, AgeTech West, AARP, Connected Health Symposium, and others. She has authored several publications and whitepapers for industry magazines, internet publications, blogs, and books. Laura has consulted for major cable, aging service, and in-home care providers, and has mentored fellow start-up innovators. She was a key organizer in the early days of the EHX and CEDIA Future Home Pavilions, and created the first industry-wide Aging and Technology webinar series in 2008, which flourished for years. Laura was co-founder of the Aging Technology Alliance, an organization encouraging co-ompetition amongst the Aging in Place Technology industry.

 

What is GrandCare?

System Comp HR NEWGrandCare 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.

Technology helps seniors stay independent longer

We all want to remain independent as we age. But living alone can be difficult, if not dangerous, for seniors with declining cognitive abilities, including the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Even common tasks, such as preparing a sandwich, can be a challenge.

kare11There’s good news, however. New technology can help many people with mild cognitive impairments, such as persistent memory loss, stay in their homes a bit longer. Jewish World Review goes into great depth talking about the latest technologies that are helping seniors stay happier and healthier longer.

“There’s a tremendous demand for technological tools to help caregiving, particularly as baby boomers deal with elderly parents who may be living across the country,” says Tracy Zitzelberger, administrative director of the Oregon Center for Aging and Technology. The Portland-based Oregon Health and Science University studies aging and other health issues.

Here is a new technology to help keep a loved one independent and safe:

If Mom lives alone, you want to know whether she’s waking up and going to sleep on time, eating properly, showering and taking medicine. New systems allow adult children to monitor the everyday habits of their ailing parents.

Monitoring services will install wireless sensors in areas of the home that a senior uses most often, including the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. The sensors will track certain kinds of movement, such as when a refrigerator, medicine cabinet or front door opens. During setup, the service will study the senior’s normal pattern of daily activities.

System Comp 2Sensors installed by West Bend, Wis.-based GrandCare Systems (www.grandcare.com) issue a minute-by-minute report to a designated caregiver, who can view the information on a Web page. The sensors will note any changes in normal patterns. For instance, if there’s an unusual amount of movement in the middle of the night, or if the medicine cabinet doesn’t open at the regular times, GrandCare will send an automated message via phone, e-mail or text message to the caregiver.

The cost for a system is about $500 for installation and $100 in monthly fees for a one-bedroom apartment, says Laura Mitchell, vice-president of marketing. GrandCare doesn’t use cameras.

The service’s social component may be just as important to seniors who live alone. A touch-screen computer provides the senior easy access to popular online tools, such as Skype for two-way video chats, family photos on Facebook and family videos on YouTube. If the touch-screen user is a grandfather, for example, “he presses a button that says ‘Suzy’s dance recital’ and watches the video,” Mitchell says.

Michelle Spettel has been using GrandCare to monitor her mother, Esther, who lives alone a half hour away.

“She’s getting older and doesn’t remember things as well,” says Spettel, who lives in West Bend. Spettel goes to a Web page to track her mom’s daily activities.

“I know when she comes home, but it’s not intrusive. I don’t have to call her and say, ‘Mom, did you make it home safe?'” she says.

 

Information from: jewishworldreview.com

To read the full article CLICK HERE

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

 

Digital health is growing rapidly

While there are a number of growing markets in digital health, there are two that seem to be picking up speed with consumers and care providers: aging and wearables. With this growth comes more investor dollars and more companies wanting in.

As one of the most valuable market segments, boomers account for nearly $230 billion in sales for consumer goods and will control 70% of the nation’s disposable income in the next twenty years.   And with the wearables market projected to cross $8 billion by 2018, companies are taking notice.

Gain invaluable insight into the digital health market when a silicon valley VC leads an enlightening discussion with the consumer electronics industry’s authority on market research and the chief marketing officer of the leading caregiving technology company.

Digital health

Moderator:

Anne DeGheest, Founder & Managing Director, Healthtech Capital

Speakers:

Laura Mitchell, Chief Marketing Officer, GrandCare Systems
Kevin Tillmann, Senior Research Analyst, CEA

Tune into this 25 minute segment

System Comp 2This panel took place at the 2014 Digital Health Summer Summit. The team from GrandCare was there, showcasing the latest and greatest GrandCare System, designed for patient socialization and engagement, enhancing the patient experience, while enabling professional caregivers to turn their “man on man” caregivers into “zone caregivers”, providing better, more efficient, more cost-effective care.  Watch GrandCare’s chief medical officer, Laura Mitchell as she describes the shift in market traction and why our solutions should focus on the outcomes and not on the process.

The system is a vehicle behind a successful care delivery model, while putting the patient firmly in the center and emphasizing continuity and seamless transition throughout the whole care network (family, professional caregivers, healthcare providers, patient) and encouraging patient self care (chronic disease management), socialization with family and friends and virtual professional caregiving through HIPAA compliant video chat, medication prompting and check-in video visits.

GrandCare can better care delivery outcomes for:

– Professional In-home Care providers

– CCRCs without walls (Long Term Care Providers)

– HealthCare Providers (Hospital to Home Transitions)

– Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)

– Hospice/End of Life Care

 

To learn more about GrandCare Systems please visit: www.grandcare.com

To watch a short testimonial video click here.

 


   

Grandcare to be showcased at Florida Homecare Conference

GrandCare Systems will be exhibiting at the biggest trade show in the Florida home health industry. The Home Care Association of Florida is celebrating its 25th anniversary and GrandCare will be there. Visit us to see how our industry-leading technology can rocket your business forward and blow away your competition.

HCAF Vector Logo

The HCAF Annual Conference & Trade Show will feature numerous for-credit continuing education sessions presented by leading experts in home health from across the nation. Home health care has changed a lot over the last 25 years, but that’s nothing compared to the changes that will be coming our way. Organizations and professionals will have to adapt during this period in order to thrive.

This year’s conference is about transforming the industry with the important steps home health must take as we move into a new phase of healthcare in America. Learn from industry experts what it takes to hit your own “silver anniversaries” and beyond as we continue providing the best care possible to patients in their preferred setting: their own home.

Booth 417

Stop by our GrandCare booth and receive a free gift card from Starbucks. Even better, set up a short meeting with us to enter a drawing for a free Kindle. Contact info@grandcare.com to set up your meeting. Space is limited!

When: July 23-24, 2014

Where: Buena Vista Palace and Spa   Φ   Orlando, FL 

To reserve a room for the Home Care Association of Florida Conference click here.

 

What is GrandCare?

System Comp 2

Industry pioneer GrandCare Systems provides the most trusted and comprehensive caregiving technology on the market. Since 2005, GrandCare has enabled individuals to remain healthier, happier, and more independent.

GrandCare is a complete communication, cognition, and monitoring technology that is designed to keep individuals safe, healthy, happy, and independent at home. Using a series of wireless sensors that monitor activity (door, temperature, motion, bed, etc.) and telewellness (blood pressure, weight), a care partner can automatically be notified if anything is amiss. Family can connect via two way video chat AND send pictures, messages, emails, videos, and other communications to an easy-to-use touch monitor in the loved one’s home. Loved ones need ZERO technical experience.

 

To read more about GrandCare Systems and get access to the store CLICK HERE.

 

GrandCare Systems® to participate in Panasonic Innovation HealthJam 2014

Innovation Jam

Connect with us through the Innovation HealthJam 2014 to learn about technology innovation in the Healthcare industry. GrandCare Systems wants you to be a part of the excitement. Chief Marketing Officer, Laura Mitchell, is a VIP member and will be speaking each day of the event.

The Innovation HealthJam is a completely virtual event that brings together a diverse and knowledgeable group of people from the healthcare and technology fields to brainstorm ideas, improvements and innovation in healthcare. The event is co-hosted by a group of  industry leaders and led by the New Business Development and Innovation group at Panasonic Corporation of North America.

Registration is now open!

There will be 8 different discussion forums consisting of the following:

  • Patient Engagement and Healthcare Design for Consumers
  • Technology and Older Adults: The New Era of Connected Aging
  • A Mobile Health Agenda for Transforming Healthcare Delivery
  • Compute for Personalized Medicine: Finding the Cause and Cure through Genomics
  • Telehealth and Telemedicine: Emerging Opportunities in Addressing the Triple Aim (Linking Patients, Caregivers and Providers)
  • Your Physician of the Future
  • Health Innovation for Vulnerable Populations – Worldwide
  • Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
To get more details about this event CLICK HERE

Laura Mitchell, Chief Marketing Officer

Laura Mitchell, VP Business Development, GrandCare Systems

Laura is a founding member of GrandCare Systems, a comprehensive caregiving technology company that combines remote monitoring of activity and telehealth devices centered around a touch-based communication, socialization, and video chat appliance in the care recipient’s home.

Laura was responsible for bringing GrandCares’s product to market in 2006, while aiding in the creation of the “Digital Health” and Aging & Technology industry.  She specializes in channel partnerships, growth hacking, and non-traditional marketing and social media. She was featured in Forbes for her social media strategies and has been recognized by several industry media outlets, including Connected World Magazine’s 2014 Top Women of M2M, a nomination for the 2012 WEGO Health “Trailblazer”, 2012 Dealerscope’s 40 Under 40, 2012 “Young Turk of CE” by Custom Retailer Magazine, and the 2011 Mary Furlong Flame Award.

Laura speaks throughout the country at industry events and radio shows on Digital Health, Mitigating Hospital Readmissions Using Technology, Social Media, and Go-to-market Strategies in the Aging Industry. Venues include CES, Digital Health Summit, Mhealth Summit, M-enabling Summit, LeadingAge, AgeTech West, AARP, Connected Health Symposium, and others.  She has authored several publications and whitepapers for industry magazines, internet publications, blogs, and books. Laura has consulted for major cable, aging service, and in-home care providers, and has mentored fellow start-up innovators.  She was a key organizer in the early days of the EHX and CEDIA Future Home Pavilions, and created the first industry-wide Aging and Technology webinar series in 2008, which flourished for years. Laura was co-founder of the Aging Technology Alliance, an organization encouraging co-ompetition amongst the Aging in Place Technology industry.

Laura is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two sons, and two dogs.

She will be speaking on the following days:

June 17th  †  2:00-3:00 pm PT

Forum: Technology and Older Adults

Topic: Is it possible to utilize technology to provide a satisfying virtual caregiving experience?

June 18th  †  8:00-9:00 am PT

Forum: Technology and Older Adults

Topic: How can we effectively bring technology solutions for older adults to market?

June 19th  †  3:00-4:00 pm PT

Forum: Technology and Older Adults

Topic: How can we effectively bring technology solutions for older adults to market?