FallCall Solutions LLC has provided a sense of security and confidence for a 98-year-old and her family as she traveled around Europe. The company’s app, ElderCheck Now, accompanied the woman and provided her with the chance to share her health information with her family using an Apple Watch or iPhone. With ElderCheck Now, caregivers can receive information on heart rate, GPS location and simple communications from an elder they care for.
“Most families would be more than a little concerned about a 98-year-old grandmother departing for month long European tour, ” stated Kristin Gregg M.D., Connecticut Physician and Co-Founder of FallCall Solutions LLC, developer of ElderCheck Now, in the October 5, 2016 news release. “My grandmother, nicknamed ‘Noodle, ‘ and I wanted to demonstrate how elders can be active and explore their world, while still feeling the safety of being connected to the ones that care for them.”
ElderCheck Now contains a simple, two-button interface, allowing users to press on either “I’m OK” or “Call Me.” As indicated in the news release, “these advances are helping to pave the way to a new classification of smart-care referred to as ‘Telemonitoring, ’ an electronic method of providing health supervision to seniors who wish to live and remain independent, but still require some care or assistance. Telemonitoring apps can also detect and report problems faster, as other wireless devices throughout the home can trigger digital fail-safes that can prompt a health response.”
Co-Founder of FallCall Solutions Shea Gregg, M.D. told OTW, “The beauty of ElderCheck Now is its absolute simplicity. After pairing Noodle’s phone with her caregiver, it took a five-minute educational session on what to do when a caregiver check-in is received. On Apple Watch, she simply had to tap the screen twice to respond: once on the notification to open the app, and once on the status button ‘I’m OK’ or ‘Call Me.’ After a couple trial runs, she was comfortable responding to check-ins and transmitting wellbeing, heart rate, and location data throughout Europe. In fact, her check-ins were the basis of a contest on social media where people submitted guesses as to her whereabouts. She developed quite a following through this ‘Where’s Noodle?’ sweepstakes.
“ElderCheck Now is one of the first consumer to consumer telemonitoring applications available on the Apple platform designed specifically for seniors. It is the basis for a future platform that our company is moving towards that will allow care providers to keep track of whole communities of patients. We look forward to developing this technology for our colleagues in the future.”
