Lively Reimagines Personal Emergency Response with New Safety Watch

Lively today announced it is now shipping its new safety watch, an enhancement to its existing smart home product for independent older adults. The Lively safety watch brings modern design and features to a product category long overdue for a transformation, redefining what people should expect of a personal emergency response (PERS) wearable. Available for only $49.95 with pay-as-you-go plans starting at $27.95 a month for ongoing service, Lively’s product keeps older adults healthy and out of the hospital while simultaneously easing the worry and burden of family caregivers.

With today’s news, Lively’s smart home offering for older adults now combines discreet activity sensors that log certain activities of daily living with a stylish safety ‘smart’ watch equipped with intelligent medication reminders, a pedometer that counts daily steps and 24/7 personal emergency response at the push of a button. The Lively safety watch is available in 10 different color combinations with a modern, fashionable design in stark contrast to PERS devices that have traditionally been available on the market, therefore encouraging more consistent use. The resulting activity data is used to provide users with 24/7 help when it’s needed as well as reminders to stay mindful of healthy habits while providing family members insight about how an elder loved one is doing through the Lively mobile app, text messages or email.

“In designing Lively, we aimed to set a new standard in digital health technology for older adults by offering features that go well beyond a medical alert response device that only calls for help,” said David Glickman, Co-founder and COO of Lively. “We also recognized that delivering an attractive style that consumers would love to wear is just as imperative. So Lively’s friendly design and valuable benefits are represented throughout the entire product experience.”

Industry analysts estimate that the evolving PERS device market is expected to become the cornerstone of telehealth services and enable consumers to more effectively care for older relatives. Family members provide 83 percent of senior care in the U.S. at a cost to families of nearly $522 billion a year (1). Lively’s new product is aimed at the over 100 million people who are over the age of 50 in the U.S. with a strong desire to stay independent and live on their own as long as possible, as well as the more than 43 million family caregivers who want to help ensure they are supporting healthy habits. While initial consumer market interest focuses on our aging population, Lively encourages an active lifestyle for those of all ages while removing fear and vulnerability often associated with being alone. Additional uses of the Lively safety watch include increased confidence with personal security on college campuses and within neighborhoods.

Lively’s new safety watch also addresses a major expense to the healthcare system. One in three adults over the age of 65 fall every year with direct and indirect costs of fall injuries expected to reach $54.9 billion by 2020 (2). In the U.S. alone, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall every 14 seconds (3).

“The Personal Emergency Response market is set to become a $20 billion industry worldwide in the next couple of years,” says Iggy Fanlo, CEO of Lively. “But, despite the ‘battle for the wrist’ happening in the health wearable space, no one brings the safety aspect or is focusing on an aging population that’s the most vulnerable with the highest healthcare costs. And the reality is that safety and wellness are intimately intertwined. Traditional PERS pendants have offered limited value with poor design and generally spend more time on the nightstand than on people.”

“The next generation of personal emergency response products have the potential to function as the de facto consumer technology device for older adults who want to manage their health and wellness as well as feel safer,” said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research at Parks Associates. “Innovative solutions also will recruit support among caregivers as they improve the ways they’re able to monitor their family members and, more specifically ensure that they can get timely help when it’s needed. Companies such as Lively are truly fueling a revolution to give consumers a more appealing and potentially more effective choice.”

How Lively works
Lively enables older adults to remain independent, safe and connected to family and caregivers. In line with its original offering, Lively’s new safety watch is simple for anyone to use and does not require any computer skill or home internet connection, in deference to the nearly 65 percent of adults age 75 or older who lack internet access. It uses an in-home hub with built-in cellular network connectivity to offer emergency response coverage up to 1,500 feet around the home or yard. Later this year, Lively’s safety watch also can be paired with a smartphone for its help button to summon 24/7 help beyond the home as well.

Whenever the safety watch help button is pushed, Lively’s 24/7 Monitoring Center steps in to reach the user by phone before calling their emergency contacts and if needed, dispatches emergency services. Lively’s U.S. emergency monitoring services are provided by a USA-based, CSAA Five Diamond 100% Operator Certified Central Station.

Lively also includes passive activity sensors for use around the home that measure healthy living patterns and give family members insight when something may be amiss, like missed meals or decreased physical activity. When a daily routine pattern shifts, Lively notifies a designated circle of family members and caregivers via email, text message or its mobile app.

Lively’s friendly design philosophy is well represented by other key features, including:

    No computer skills are needed to use the safety watch, updates are automatic and loved ones can set it up remotely if they live far away;
    Crisp watch display with backlighting for easy viewing;
    Versatile choice of analog or digital time display, which never has to be set as time setting is automatic;
    Available in up to 10 color variations or can be switched out to wear with any favorite standard watch band (20mm), if desired;
    Waterproof for use in the shower or bath (not intended for swimming);
    Powered by a long-lasting, replaceable battery that holds a charge for several months;
    Watch displays alerts when medication is missed – and indicates daily steps taken;
    At-a-glance activity updates can be accessed via a private, secure online login on any computer, tablet or smartphone using the Lively mobile app (iOS and Android supported);
    Family notifications also can be delivered by text message, email and the Lively mobile app; and
    Includes LivelyGram, which compiles photos submitted by friends and family online to send a personal mailer by postal mail each month.

Lively’s new product is currently available in the U.S. and by the end of March 2015 it will ship in the U.K. Its release in other international markets is planned later this year. Current Lively customers also are eligible for a special offer to

About Lively

Lively was founded by Iggy Fanlo, David Glickman, and Keith Dutton in the summer of 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco. With collective backgrounds that include working at some of the world’s most innovative consumer product companies, they’ve formed a vibrant team of talented individuals who share a passion for changing the way older adults stay connected across generations.

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Sources:
1. RAND Corporation, The Opportunity Costs of Informal Elder-Care in the United States, 2014
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Falls Among Older Adults: An Overview, 2014
3. National Council on Aging, Falls Prevention: Fact Sheet, 2014