BOCA RATON, FL - Over the past thirty years, traditional medical alert systems have enabled seniors and other individuals to live independently, with the ability to notify emergency personnel of problems with a pendant, watch or other electronic device. The limiting factor to this technology, however, has been the requirement of users to remain within close proximity to a receiver or base unit, inhibiting the ability to travel outside of a few hundred feet from their home.
As we celebrate our holidays (or don't) -- maybe surrounded by our aging parents (or maybe not) -- let's give some thought to how older people connect with others, stay safe and well, and keep on contributing to the world around them. Here are five reminders about care about our older relatives, things we can all initiate, that have some technology elements. This advice is, of course, easier to give than it is to follow.
This has been going on for some time -- the slow or no growth in the home security industry -- and the potential for expanding into a new line of business offering Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS), aka 'medical alarms'. This security industry article outlines the great opportunity for home security providers and their 'rapid response' (RMR) call center vendors.
CEO Gerard Kleisterlee: "where we have our place and where we are investing and focusing: things like remote monitoring and technologies that help to cure or to monitor and manage these diseases."
Following the post I did on the Philips call center, one anonymous comment was quite critical of the service, particularly in terms of response time. I assume this was written by a departed Lifeline employee who has joined another company, which is the reason for it being anonymous. Okay, fine.
I want to pose the question -- again. Just because we can set up all kinds of security in our elderly parent's home, is it right to put it there? Saw this from SmartHome's Web Camera section, a Web-Enabled Securelink Elderly Kit -- this turns out to be a PERS pendant -- the camera is extra.
