See the photo above? That's where we were yesterday, the Dirksen Building which houses the nation's 100 senators in Washington, D.C. We talked to the folks at the United States Special Committee on Aging, and made three key points about Assistive Technology (AT) such as SimplyHome, which can help the elderly and disabled stay in their homes, supported by friends and family in a highly connected way:
- While about 50% of Americans have broadband in their home...another 50% do not. Any solution that requires a broadband connection only serves half the nation. Systems like ours use a nationwide two-way radio network to send data-- we cover virtually everyone.
- It's often the case that caregivers (friends, family) may not live right nearby the disabled or elderly person they seek to help. Even if they do, they may be working, traveling, etc. How to tether the resident needing help to caregivers? Email and cell phone text messaging, based on exception data. EXAMPLE: If Mom is not "Up and About" in the morning based on the motion detector seeing an absence of activity, her son and neighbor can get a message wherever they are, near or far.
- Systems that make use of expensive or hard-to-install hardware also help only a few. Systems like ours leverage low-cost, wireless sensors, and the base unit is easy to set up and sits on a tabletop or can be wall-mounted, in 20 minutes. The sensors themselves have batteries that last five years, and when the batteries start to go low, the system alerts you via email/cell phone text messaging.
SimplyHome website
