If you have an aging parent who lives alone, a new mobile app and paired monitor patch could provide invaluable peace of mind. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), SecuraTrac unveiled its SecuraFone Health app, which, when used with the company's SecuraPatch, can alert you and others when a loved one falls.
The new app was a finalist in the CES Mobile App Showdown, an event that draws crowds at the show year after year. Winners were determined by audience applause.
While MyScriptCalculator's handwriting-recognition genius took first prize in the app showdown, Securafone Health got plenty of applause. The demo drove home how critical real-time responses to emergencies can be. In fact, 35 percent of seniors will fall this year, according to SecuraTrac, a mobile health and safety company.
In the demonstration, a volunteer wearing a patch crashed to the floor. This immediately triggered a call from Rapid Response Monitoring, the 24-hour security company hired to respond to SecuraFone Health users. The fall also sent an alert to SecuraTrac's spokesman onstage.
In addition to detecting falls, SecuraPatch can monitor heart rate and respiration rate changes, as well as other key vitals. When the SecuraPatch detects an unexpected change, it sends a signal to the user's smartphone and activates the app. The app then sends a real-time alert, including information about the user’s location, with turn-by-turn directions, to designated caregivers, family, friends and the team of emergency responders.
Users can wear patches in the shower and keep them on for up to three days before they need to be replaced. The patch has a 50-foot communication radius for sending notifications to the user’s smartphone.
You can use the app for other protective purposes, too. For instance, users can activate a virtual fencing feature to send an alert if a person wanders outside a designated area. The same GPS features kick in so that the person can quickly be found. The app will soon be available for iPhone and Android users. Prices for monitoring have not yet been announced.