Portable Device for Telecare Monitoring of Elderly People

ABSTRACT One in three adults overfall each yearMedical alert devicescommonly worn as a pendantcan be used to signal for help in the event of a fallUnfortunatelyuptake and adherence of these devices has been limitedBioSensics has recently developed a novel medical alert solution called ActivePERS that is based on a wearable sensor and companion smartphone appActivePERS uses the customerandapos s smartphone to make emergency callsdistinguishing it from other products that are tethered to a land line or require a dedicated cellular connection with associated feesIn additionwith ActivePERS the consumer can decide if they want to pay for a professional monitoring service to respond to emergencies or save money by routing emergency calls to an assigned set of caregivers who could then contact emergency services as neededThere are four additional features of ActivePERS that address the limitations and common barriers to usage of traditional medical alert devicesFall detection algorithms enable the device to signal for help if the wearer forgets toor is incapable ofpressing the alert buttonFall risk assessment can help older adults and their caregivers decide when to initiate a conversation with a physician about fall prevention strategies and or changes in level of careNon usage alerts help establish a habit of wearing the pendantActivity tracking motivates users to stay active and makes the device more engagingwhich further increases complianceThe objective of this Commercialization Readiness Proposal is to address several critical factors that are limiting the widespread adoption of ActivePERSFirstwe will shrink the overall size of the wearable devicemodify the industrial design so that it can be worn on the wrist or as a pendantand improve manufacturing processes to support scale upThe current ActivePERS solution must be worn as a pendanthoweverwith the advent of smartwatches older adults are increasingly opting for medical alert devices with a wrist worn form factorSecondwe will replicate key clinical trials to test and validate fall detection and fall risk assessment algorithms for the wrist worn form factorThirdwe will develop a novel hybrid medical alert solution by modifying ActivePERS hardware to support Bluetooth and sub GHz radio protocolsand developing a compatible in home base station to receive sub GHz fall alerts and place outgoing emergency calls via landline or voice over IPVoIPSub GHz radio has much greater range than BluetoothWith this base stationusers will be able to move around their homes without worrying about being in range of their smartphoneor even whether their smartphone is turned onThis will give our customers the best of both worldsa long range inhome solution and a portable app based solutionThis will be the only medical alert device on the market that gives customers the option to avoid monthly fees or to add very cost efficient professional monitoring to their servicewhich could have a significant impact on public health because in the US older adults typically do not have medical insurance coverage for a medical alert device and have to pay out of pocket NARRATIVE Medical alert devices can save lives and prevent complications associated with long periods of time spent on the floor after a fallBioSensics has developed a novel solution that addresses many of the limitations and common barriers to usage of traditional medical alert devicesThe objective of this Commercialization Readiness Proposal is to address several critical factors related to human factors and industrial designmanufacturing scale upand robustness that couldif not addressedlimit the widespread adoption of the developed medical alert technology