Fast forward to 2010 and Jeff Noce, president and CEO of the Glen Allen, Virginia company, is showcasing “proactive passive monitoring before a catastrophic event.” He defines a proactive passive monitoring system as one that deploys unobtrusive “person sensitive” sensors, strategically placed in the living space, that monitor motion, impact, bed, door and threshold, motion/temperature and motion/humidity, depending on each person’s needs and circumstances.
The wireless sensors communicate information to a database – The Data Manager – for alerting caregivers by e-mail, page, or SMS text. More than an emergent event alerts, the system’s main value derives from its ability to track and assess activities of daily living.
“The current home health and remote monitoring community is more than ready,” Noce believes. “Our first commitment is to those living in their homes and our next is to using technology to facilitate and direct care and services and contribute to healthcare cost savings and outcomes.”
“Seniors living alone contribute to the burgeoning number of preventable hospitalizations,” Noce continued, “for a host of reasons. Not the least of whic is that symptoms of natural aging and disease progression often go undetected or poorly managed. Multiple medications are a contributing culprit.
And that scenario affects their daily lives, big time.”
He explained that a hospital admission, as costly as it is in its own right, often leads to even higher levels of costly care, such as post-discharge rehabilitation in a skilled facility or, more costly yet, permanent transfer to long term skilled care.
“Long before The Event, however, subtle changes in daily activities and routines offer telltale signs, if one is watching,” Noce said. “Imagine what can happen when those changes are detected and managed appropriately, when key wellness and behavioral indicators, such as eating, food preparation, sleeping, bathing, activity and toilet use are monitored?”
“Take note,” he emphasized, “medication side effects are just as suspect as throw rugs for causing falls (2 million American seniors are involved in falls each year.) Sensors that monitor motion and impact, door and threshold could provide vital clues to the bigger picture.”
“Consider ‘Sundowner’s Syndrome.’ Some people with Dementia or Alzheimer’s exhibit symptoms of confusion all day which grow worse in the late afternoon and evening, while others may exhibit no symptoms at all until the sun goes down. Their activities, day and night, and sleep patterns provide valuable information for making realistic decisions.”
Volunteers of America (VOA) and The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society (GSS), two of the country’s largest not-for-profit providers of senior care, have already seen benefits to their patients and residents in various care settings through the use of proactive passive monitoring, including home health, independent living, assisted living and memory care. VOA recently expanded to include monitoring of PACE program participants.
As exciting as this technology may be, “It is not just tech for tech sake,” says gerontologist Andrea Swayne, Director of Partner Services. She works with organizations using the technology in various settings. Conversations with visitors to the company’s ATA exhibit and WellAWARE™ customers alike made it clear that proactive passive monitors could benefit those residing in other settings beside senior care and senior living centers.
WellAWARE™ wants to see the technology used by anyone, anywhere, when disease or disability affects quality of life, including persons with AIDS, MS, Parkinsons, developmental disabilities, stroke, Huntington’s and end-stage pulmonary disease.
