Tech plus service enables care at home.
Washington DC, August 21-25, 2024
After reading weekly about wandering individuals with dementia -- lost and then found, not necessarily alive, I think it's time for an update. Here is a bit more detail on a few of the new players engaged in technology that helps track people with Alzheimer's or other dementia. These products are device-plus- service offerings, may not yet be available in all geographies, and this information is from the vendors.
Emfinders - Cellular-based. The company is a Texas-based firm that arose out of the North Texas Center for Medical Technology (NTEC).This technology uses triangulation to determine the precise location of a mobile phone, or, as in this case, the location of a wearablr wearable device. This technology meets the Federal E-911 requirements, and now covers at least 90 percent of the USA. Although the technology was originally designed as a location technology for cell phones, EmFinders has adapted it for the purpose of locating people who wander and become lost. With EmFinders, an impaired person wears a small, lightweight device, which is passive until the wearer is reported missing -- tracking is both indoors and outside, directly notifying law enforcement (versus a service that contacts law enforcement). For pricing and further details, learn more at http://www.emfinders.com.
LoJack. LoJack, the Massachusetts company that helps find stolen cars, recently announced LoJack SafetyNet service delivered in conjunction with Project LifeSaver International. The program's process requires enrollment, assessment, and training of a caregiver, as well as outfitting a client with a wearable device. The program representative visits monthly to change the battery and strap. If a person is reported missing, law enforcement and designees access the database to retrieve the records, and the Search and Rescue Receivers are located via radio transmissions which use a frequency band that extends across the United States and Canada. here's a new article about its use in Florida. For pricing and further details, learn more at https://safetynettracking.com/.
And don't forget about Verizon Chaperone and Sprint -- vendors that don't think they're in this space, but in early stages can help with trackable cell phones for those who can be persuaded to carry them. Not to be left out, AT&T has just released FamilyMap.
Comments
Have you heard about a "water fence?"
Laurie,
"If residents remove their pendants and attempt to wander off, a sensor on the driveway sets off lawn sprinklers, which stops them most of the time, Ms. Lundberg said."
http://tinyurl.com/coo75d
The water fence eliminates the need for physical fencing, creates a more home like environment and facilitates interaction with nature.
More info here:
Outdoor Accessibility Preferences of Assisted Living Residents
http://tinyurl.com/create.php
Geo-Fence
The Geo-Fence is not a physical Fence. It is an imaginary fence you set on the internet via a web portal. Once this Fence or Perimeter is breached you get a Text message on your phone and an e-mail alert.
GPS Magazine
For those unfamiliar with it, here's a link to GPS Magazine, a product to track kids called Amber Alert, with some more discussion of geo-fencing.
Another device -- CareTracker 100
From vendor: "CareTracker 100 is MainStreet MD’s basic personal location device, no larger than a Tic Tac® dispenser. The CareTracker 100 offers pre-set safety zones, personal location monitoring, email and text alert notifications, and SOS features. Family members can access the CareTracker system map online from a computer, iPhone®, or smartphone. Each time the child wearing the device passes outside a defined safety zone, the family caregiver and up to four other “buddies” are notified by email and text message that a safety zone has been breached. These pre-determined safety zones could be the child’s home, school, neighborhood, friends’ homes, or generally any geographic area family members or professional caregivers deem permissible. A safety zone breach may be an early indication that a child has wandered off, or become lost."