MPERS TECHNOLOGY:Facilitating an Independent Lifestyle for the Growing Senior Population

Today’s seniors still have the same basic care needs as generations before them: remain-ing safe and secure while maintaining their independence. However, this issue is becom-ing more complicated than ever due to our aging population: ten thousand people will reach age 65 every day in the United States from the beginning of 2011 until 2030. The lack of traditional senior care options combined with seniors’ desire to remain indepen-dent is precipitating dramatic change. Fortunately, mobile personal emergency response system (MPERS) technology offers a variety of features to accommodate an independent senior lifestyle while delivering peace of mind for caregivers. Automatic Fall Detection notifies emergency response specialists in the event of a fall, while location based services such as GPS can identify a senior’s current location. Reliable cellular communi-cation means that MPERS devices operate in and out of the home throughout the U.S. But MPERS technology is not just about providing crucial assistance in emergency situa-tions – it’s about a convenient, personalized solution that promotes a healthy, vibrant lifestyle.

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Anderson, Doug. "How Old is Old? The Global Impact of an Aging World."NielsenWire. blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/how-old-is-old-the-global-impact-of-an-aging-world/ (accessed June 3, 2011).

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Richard Lobovsky, MBAVice President of Business Development

Seniors may remain independent, staying in their own home or moving to one which is generally safer (e.g., one-story, smaller, etc.); Seniors may move into an assisted living facility; Seniors may move into a long-term care facility; or Seniors may move in with a family member or close acquaintance.

However, some of these options may not be desirable – or even feasible – based on a number of factors, including the personal or family financial situation, a desire to main-tain independence, general health condition, the ability of relatives to function as care-givers, and others.

From the perspective of caregivers, there is also a “burden of care” associated with assisting senior relatives. There’s obvious time commitment – taking seniors to appoint-ments, helping with chores, etc. There’s also an emotional investment, and caregivers who live some distance away from their relatives can often feel guilty for being unable to do more. As a result, they want to get as much information about their loved one as possible, but at the same time don’t want to be bothersome.

Falls Carry Serious Consequences for SeniorsSeniors’ understandable desire to maintain their independence often prevails, bringing with it additional concerns. For seniors who elect to remain in their own homes, the possibility of an accidental fall becomes significant. In the US, one-third of adults aged 65 and older fall each year. For this same group of adults, falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma. In 2009, 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults were treated in emergency facilities, and more than 581,000 of these patients were hospitalized. Unintentional fall injuries are also the leading cause of injury-related deaths for older adults – more than 18,000 in 2007. This problem is too common to ignore.

or many seniors, retirement is synonymous with freedom. They finally have the time to pursue diverse interests at their leisure and lead healthy, independent

lives. But as seniors continue to age and develop complications that coincide with aging, they and their loved ones encounter difficult decisions about their living situation and lifestyle. The common perception is that seniors have essentially four options for living accommodations:

Hausdorff, Jeffrey, Dean Rios, and Helen Edelberg. "Gait variability and fall risk in community–living older adults: a 1–year prospective study." Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 82, no. 8 (2001): 1050-1056. http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993%2801%2963215-5/fulltext (accessed June 3, 2011). "CDC - Falls Among Older Adults: An Overview." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html (accessed June 3, 2011).

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HEALTH RISKS FROM FALLS

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The fact is: people fall all the time, both at and away from their homes. This is just as true for younger and middle-aged Americans as it is for senior-aged Americans. How-ever, falls are simply a bigger concern for seniors because there are generally more factors that can cause seniors to fall, and because seniors are predisposed to certain types of injuries that can lead to more serious consequences.

Normal changes associated with aging, such as diminished eyesight, muscular weakening and arthritic joints can make it more difficult for seniors to stay active and safe in their homes. Some medications used to treat illnesses can cause additional problems. For instance, prescriptions used to regulate blood pressure can cause dizziness. Seniors of all ages and activity levels are susceptible to falls. An active senior who enjoys hiking in local parks can easily turn an ankle on an exposed root or loose stone. A senior whose spouse is away for a daytrip could become overheated and dizzy while gardening and collapse. A senior who lives alone can easily lose her balance climbing out of her favor-ite chair.

Faster Response Can Help Save LivesWhen a senior falls, time is of the essence. There is a concept in emergency medicine known as the “Golden Hour:” the faster the emergency response following a traumatic injury, the lower the victim’s likelihood of death, and the better the victim’s overall prognosis and recovery. Though not intended as a bright-line time limitation, the Golden Hour stresses the importance of a rapid medical response for senior falls. This is true whether the senior is facing a life-threatening situation, is in pain, or is unable to regain his or her footing.

National Institute on Aging. "NIHSeniorHealth: Balance Problems - Causes and Prevention." NIHSeniorHealth Home Page. http://nihseniorhealth.gov/balanceproblems/causesriskfactorsandprevention/01.html (accessed June 3, 2011). Gurley, R. Jan, Nancy Lum, Merle Sande, Bernard Lo, and Mitchell Katz. "Persons Found in Their Homes Helpless or Dead." The New England Journal of Medicine 334 (1996): 1710-1716. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199606273342606#figure=f1 (accessed June 21, 2011).

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RAPID MEDICAL RESPONSE IS CRITICAL

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Caregivers Need Help Providing CareFamily caregivers can sometimes find themselves in a difficult predicament when caring for a senior-aged family member. While they are concerned for their loved one’s well-being, they want to respect their independence and lifestyle. They may believe that assisted living and long-term care are undesirable or unattainable. Even when a senior moves in with a family caregiver, it may be impossible for that caregiver to look after the senior at all times – a situation which many seniors find unnecessary in the first place! These tough decisions can create tension between seniors and their loved ones. How-ever, there are new advances in technology to ease these tensions and lower the “burden of care” for a family caregiver.

PERS: The Next Best Thing to Being ThereThanks to a powerful and evolving technology, seniors have an alternate choice than just long-term care, assisted living, moving in with a relative, and remaining at home unas-sisted. Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) have existed for years, but have recently been improved to enable wider coverage and a larger number of available services. PERS devices are essentially portable or wearable intercom units for home use. Thus, if a senior falls and cannot regain footing, he or she can use the PERS to call for emergency assistance. Two-way voice communication enables seniors to speak directly to emergency response personnel in a more reliable and effective way.

MPERS Technology Builds on Strengths of its PERS Predecessor and Wire-less CommunicationsPERS technology hasn’t evolved significantly since its introduction nearly thirty years ago until recently. Most PERS devices use traditional telephone land lines to connect with emergency services and require seniors to be conscious enough to initiate the contact process. Technology has enabled traditional PERS to evolve into a Mobile Personal Emergency Response System (MPERS) which offers a more robust set of integrated services useful to a larger segment of active seniors. Like their PERS cousins, MPERS devices are carried or worn. Instead of using landlines, MPERS devices transmit both voice and data communications over cellular frequencies. This enables a much larger geographic region of coverage across the U.S. both in and out of the home. MPERS devices pair this cellular communication with GPS and other location based services, allowing emergency responders to locate the person wearing the device.

Automatic Fall Detection for Seniors and Concerned CaregiversSome MPERS devices squarely address one of the major concerns for seniors: the acci-dental fall. Such devices leverage existing force-measuring technology from other industries – most notably the automotive sector – to automatically record and report a fall. Automatic Fall Detection triggers an immediate warning to emergency services to contact the user, regardless of whether the individual is physically able to initiate a call. If the user requests assistance, or if he or she is unresponsive, emergency services can be promptly dispatched. For life-threatening conditions, a quick response time and skilled professionals can be absolutely critical.

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Location, Arrival and DepartureCaregivers are looking for tools to better serve the needs of their loved ones while helping to reduce their burden to provide care and support. An added benefit of GPS-enabled MPERS devices is that they can provide information of a senior’s entry to and exit from specific geographic locations; for instance, the senior’s home or doctor’s office. This capability can be particularly useful when providing care for seniors who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia, or who enjoy the outdoors and are some-times prone to wandering. This technology provides more than the assurance that a senior has left or arrived safely at their destination – it provides seniors and caregivers with quantifiable measurements of specific activity.

MPERS Accommodates and Promotes an Active Lifestyle for SeniorsMPERS devices aren’t simply tailored to help the infirm; rather, the technology is liberat-ing. Seniors of all ages and physical conditions can benefit from MPERS’ activity level overview capabilities. A built-in pedometer function records a user's total number of daily steps taken. MPERS devices can also measure different types of motion or activity levels – activities such as washing the dishes, folding laundry, or playing tennis. This helps establish a solid baseline and a quantifiable measure of general activity, providing useful information for seniors and caregivers alike. This information can help seniors continue to keep their bodies strong, and can help caregivers ensure the ones they care for are getting enough activity each day.

Highly-trained emergency services personnel cannot only dispatch EMS teams, but can convey valuable information about a senior’s medical condition.

MPERS devices provide an effective, automatic fall-detection system. This not only serves as a sophisticated safety net for seniors, but another option for senior care. MPERS devices can thus help seniors maintain their cherished independence and possi-bly postpone a move to a nursing home or other assisted living facility while providing the family caregiver with added peace of mind.

BENEFITFEATUREGPS

3-Axis Accelerometer

Cellular

Pedometer

2-Way Voice Communication

Custom Web Portal

Location determination

Fall detection

Out of home mobility

Activity management

Real time communication

Personalized alerts and settings

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MPERS TECHNOLOGY ENABLES MORE INDEPENDENT LIVING

Intelligent Design for Easy OperationWhile there exists the perception that seniors shun technology, it’s not quite on point. A more accurate way to articulate it: Seniors may not simply adopt new technology for technology’s sake, but are open to technology that addresses their needs and features a senior-friendly design. The best MPERS devices are crafted with this understanding, and offer a simple, straightforward interface that takes into account seniors’ eyesight, hear-ing, physical strength and dexterity. Buttons are often large and easy to press, while display screens use large, easy-to-read type and simple graphics.

With increasingly smaller batteries comes the ability to reduce the weight of MPERS devices, and this will continue to improve over time. Different designs – for instance, wristwatch, pendant, belt clip (similar to a cellular phone) and more – offer seniors a variety of options for wearing or carrying a device. As MPERS technology evolves, the designs will place an increasing focus on style while retaining their pragmatic functions.

MPERS: Good for Seniors, Good for CaregiversWhile MPERS devices are often designed with senior-centric functionality, they deliver unquestionable benefits to the caregiver. MPERS devices can give caregivers peace of mind by creating a reliable safety net for their loved ones. New sophisticated MPERS devices of today operate on a trusted technological framework, and data is protected by expert security measures which are necessary to deliver a robust solution.

Next generation MPERS solutions let caregivers log in over the Web to view the current location of an MPERS device and check general activity levels, collect useful information, generate detailed reports, and make sure the senior’s needs are being met. With usable information to share, MPERS solutions can strengthen the bond between seniors, care-givers, and other concerned family members.

High Degree of PersonalizationAccess to a web portal provides a simple and convenient means for customizing avail-able MPERS services. First and foremost, seniors can provide important information like existing medical conditions – details which could prove crucial in an emergency situa-tion. Emergency Response Specialists can then convey this medical information to emergency responders regardless of whether the senior is able to speak.

Simple web-based tools give seniors many different ways to program and interact with MPERS devices, from custom tools to personalized messaging and notifications. MPERS devices can be configured to deliver helpful alerts – such as when the battery has a low charge or when the senior needs to respond to a scheduled test call. Caregivers can set up arrival and departure alerts, but there are also others available. For instance, if a senior is inactive for an abnormal length of time during which they usually are awake and moving around, a caregiver can opt to receive a text, email, or recorded voice message to be alerted to a possible problem. The same is true if the senior has missed a test call and failed to respond to the call center. These functions can be enabled through the MPERS web portal and updated as needed.

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This is Only the BeginningPerhaps most exciting about MPERS solutions is that they are still in their infancy. MPERS devices will continue to become increasingly feature-rich and customizable. Future MPERS solutions will undoubtedly feature continuous innovation such as person-alization options, device-to-device communication and integration, and the “wow” factor commonly associated with today’s consumer electronics. Vital signs monitoring and other physical performance measurements like calories burned are certainly feasible. New options will allow specific diseases to be monitored and managed; for instance MPERS devices with glucose measurement sensors to assist diabetics. MPERS devices will likely be able to communicate and integrate with sensors worn on other parts of the body and devices around the body (e.g. weight scale, pulse oximeter), transmitting this data for specific applications. It may be that MPERS technology is not just for seniors, but will be adapted for a much larger group of users.

ConclusionToday’s seniors face the same challenges as their parents or grandparents, but many find limited options for the care they need. As they become an increasingly large proportion of society, we need innovative solutions for senior care. MPERS will become a game-changing technology poised to revolutionize senior independence and care, connecting seniors to a dependable network of emergency services, detailed health information, and other invaluable features. MPERS can help alleviate caregiver stress and give seniors the support they need, while the technology directly addresses some of their biggest concerns about spending their golden years with continued independence. By offering seniors a high-tech yet simple-to-use option to help maintain their independence, MPERS technology has potential to become much more widely adopted than its PERS predecessor.

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Lifecomm is an innovative mobile health and wellness solutions company with a proven, best-in-class infrastructure of integrated back office systems and wireless network connectivity via the largest wireless carriers in the United States. Lifecomm is a majority owned subsidiary of Hughes Telematics, Inc. and a joint venture between Hughes Telematics, Inc., Qualcomm Incorporated and American Medical Alert Corpora-tion (AMAC). For more information, please visit www.lifecomm.com or follow us on twitter @lifecommllc.

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Richard Lobovsky, MBA

Richard Lobovsky is Vice President of Business Development for Lifecomm, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hughes Telematics funded by Hughes, Qualcomm, and AMAC. Lifecomm will deliver mobile health services and launch a Mobile Personal Emergency Response System for seniors and caregivers at the end of 2011. Lobovsky is responsible for all partnership development activities for Lifecomm.

Before Lifecomm, Lobovsky was Director of Business Development for Qualcomm focused on wireless solutions in the healthcare and medical device industries, and Director of Professional Services for Wireless Knowledge, a Qualcomm subsidiary, where he sold and delivered wireless consulting services and applications. He was also a management consultant before entering the wireless industry.

Lobovsky has 20+ years of experience including business development, strategy, portfo-lio analysis, BPR and implementing organizational change. He has delivered services in the financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications industries. Lobovsky holds a BS in industrial engineering from Cornell University and a MBA from Columbia University.