Leveraging technology to increase safety and peace of mind...
With a growing feeling of fear, certainly for elderly people whom are protected through existing home care systems, have grown the need for solutions that increase mobility. Knowing one can get the same support used to at home when leaving this “safe zone” creates a peace of mind for private care givers and potentially decreases the cost, related to incidents, for care providers dramatically. Wandering is one of the most frightening symptoms of advancing dementia for both the patient as well as their relatives and professional health providers. Preventive measures to reduce the negative effects of dementia to avoid getting lost, until recently, were limited and mainly came down to a constant supervision or restriction of (movement) freedom, complicated personal tracking devices or systems that operate only in a limited environment.
As anyone with a family member that’s lived with a family member with dementia can tell you, watching a loved one slip away is heartbreaking. But what can be of an even greater concern for individuals is their tendency to easily wander off and become lost. Countless findings which report that over 60-70% of all patients with the disease will become lost at least once. Even more shocking is that nearly 50% of them can die if they aren’t found within 24 hours. And while countless research groups report future therapies, drugs, and even cures are down the road, these rosy findings don’t help deal with the problems now.
Seventy percent of people suffering from dementia living at home and be cared for by relatives. Often a family member represents a person's primary caregiver, who will be placed under great pressure. A nationwide survey shows that 17% of caregiver seriously encumbered by the fulltime care of their family member with dementia. Caregivers experienced the care as continuous and indicate that their physical and mental health is severely affected. The most common complaints associated with caring for people with dementia are depression, physical ailments, lack of time, loneliness, decreased quality of life and overload.
iFind Mobile technology is used to support people with dementia and their caregivers to prevent wandering. Using a standard mobile phone also is experienced less intrusive and make it possible to locate a person with dementia when needed. This gives the patient the opportunity to just go out, despite the risk of getting lost. Perhaps even more important it increases the autonomy and freedom of the caregiver, since direct supervision needs decrease, and caregivers are less worried making it also possible to continue living with the person with dementia in their own environment.
FindWhere’s SaaS platform offers instant, accurate, and secure data gathering so that healthcare providers know where their patients are at all times. Integration into a 24/7 monitoring center, already in use for personal alarm devices, enables unique and accurate tracking with ease. iFind Mobile ensures that healthcare professionals are automatically notified with location information when needed and on the spot. And as mobile phones also support voice communications, for example during an emergency, contact can be made without needing an additional device.
Patients can alert staff, using a dedicated panic button on each phone, in case of an emergency. In addition, caregivers are notified when at-risk patients wander into restricted areas or exit a building in an unauthorized manner. Staff may also need to trigger an alert should there be a patient problem or if patients are posing a risk to them. The FindWhere solution enables pervasive monitoring throughout the world and automatic alerting on safety events in real-time as well as enabling constant tracking of patients and staff for improved overall safety and thus:
- Reduce the amount of safety incidents;
- Improve safety and peace of mind for clinical staff and private caregivers;
- Enhance the overall quality of care and patient satisfaction.
Since the solution leverages the existing GSM phones with unique hybrid GPS and GSM location technology, patients can be tracked throughout the world, even in indoor areas.
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