New Features - All Included!

Back in May we wrote about how we always intended our product would improve even after you bought it, so today we're delighted to be keeping that promise with even more new features that we're including not only for new customers but also free to existing ones!

Statistically falls are most likely to occur at night or early in the morning and often in the bathroom, where surfaces are hard and space typically quite confined; this means it's an area where StackCare is already particularly watchful. Apart from our usual notifications, StackCare data scientists have studied motion patterns that preceded a fall and came up with 3 new alerts which we've introduced via a software update this week...

1. Nighttime Bathroom Overstay - where Stackcare will alert you with a notification sent directly to your phone when it detects that your senior loved one has been in the bathroom an unusually long time. Whether there's a fall or not, being in the bathroom for 30 minutes at 2:00am is probably not a good sign!
2. Nighttime Total Time - StackCare will send an alert when the total amount of time in the bathroom during the night exceeds a limit. There might be a number of short visits that add up or just a couple of longer ones which do not trigger a Bathroom Overstay. Even if there's no immediate issue, your senior loved one is likely not sleeping well for some reason and fall risk increases significantly when we're tired.
3. Nighttime Total Visits - regardless of the time spent in the bathroom, StackCare also already looks at the absolute number of bathroom visits; repeatedly needing to visit the bathroom could be an indicator of a developing infection or illness and certainly reflects a disturbed sleep pattern. Now there's a specific alert especially for this eventuality occurring at night.

We recommend keeping all notifications enabled but customers can choose which alerts they want at any time via the app.

For new customers, we've also improved our installation process to make it even easier. Just connect your phone to the gateway via Bluetooth and follow the instructions. Anyone can install StackCare in less than 15 minutes and no tools are required!

Finally, we're also delighted to announce the launch of StackCare for Android phones; now it doesn't matter whether you have an iPhone, Pixel, Galaxy or LG...Just search in the App Store or Google Play for "StackCare".

Thank you to all our customers! We'll have even more updates coming soon so stay tuned...

Nigel Mould, CEO - StackCare

Julia's Story - In Her Own Words

When my mom passed away a few years ago my dad was left living on his own in our old family home in about 200 miles from us.  He agreed with me and my husband that it would be good to have him closer to us so we moved him down to our village in a house 10 minutes from ours.  It was great for me to know I could keep a closer eye on him and make sure he was ok - and good for dad as he could see us and his grandchildren more often.

I could see that he was becoming more frail but he has always been a very independent man and he didn’t feel ready for any sort of care. I was left wondering what I could do to ensure that he really was ok when he was on his own. A friend mentioned StackCare and it sounded like a great solution!

Installing StackCare in my dad’s home was dead simple, as was setting up the app on my phone.  The sensors in his home are small and unobtrusive.  It quickly got to know dad’s normal behaviors – his times for going to bed, getting up and visiting the bathroom for example. If he deviates from these norms it tells me and we can check to see if there’s a problem.

StackCare really came into its own after dad had a nasty bladder infection.  After a brief hospital stay he came home and had to use a catheter for a short while, but the medication he was also on made him confused. I could see on the StackCare app that dad had had a terribly restless first night home and, as the app knows what is normal behavior for my dad, it sent me an alert to say he had been visiting the bathroom much more than usual. This was more than enough for me to check-in, and to my horror in his state of confusion he’d damaged the catheter and so I got him back to the hospital straight away. Without StackCare we wouldn’t have known exactly what had gone on, and maybe not even known at all for some time either. The information StackCare gave us was really valuable in knowing what had actually gone on during that night.

I love the reassurance that StackCare gives me.  It’s incredibly clever and it does all the work for you. Dad loves having it in the house too as he knows that we can keep an eye on him, but from a distance, so he keeps his independence whilst feeling secure. He likes that there are no cameras involved, so he doesn’t feel like he’s being spied on! 

StackCare is a great solution for us, it allows my dad to stay independent in his own home for that much longer and gives us another level of reassurance that he really is ok.

Julie (we changed her name for privacy reasons) kindly gave StackCare permission to reproduce her story. As we publish this, her Dad is doing great and enjoying his continuing independence.

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Tech Trends - How seniors view things...

AARP: “Three in four older Americans want to stay in their homes and age in place, and technology that allows them to get help in an emergency or track their health virtually can be critical to helping them achieve that goal.”

An AARP survey “2020 TECH AND THE 50+” which came out in December 2019 offers some interesting insights into older adults’ increased usage and acceptance of technology and confirms a growing trend.

Adults aged 50 and older adopt and use smart technology on a daily basis at the same rate as consumers aged 18-49. (p.5). They are increasingly interested in Smart Home Safety Technology which provides convenience, safety and peace of mind. Consequently, in the last 2 years, the adoption of Smart Home Technology by older adults has more than doubled from 7% to 19%. (p.32)

Of particular interest for StackCare @home is the older adults’ high level of interest in purchasing systems that will monitor their wellbeing. 42% are interested in purchasing “A system that lets a family member know if you are okay, or if your daily routine changes suggesting you might need help”. In addition, 39% of older adults are interested in purchasing “Sensors placed throughout your home to detect if someone falls and if so, calls for emergency help”. (p.35)

StackCare @home fulfills these requirements: motion sensor technology and data science algorithms constantly search for anomalies and occurrences or events and when something is spotted (this is where Artificial Intelligence “understands” that there may be a problem) the notification platform issues a notification back to the family or the caregiver.

The current pandemic is likely to lead to a further increase in these percentages as more and more people will want to continue living in their own home as they get older. Seniors themselves (not just their families and caregivers) want the reassurance to know that someone will be notified and come to help them if they have a problem without them having to actively make a call or push a button.

In conclusion, we can see a growing interest in home monitoring systems which facilitate aging in place safely. A discrete motion sensor system is a great solution to maintain the seniors’ independence and give peace of mind to their families.

Nathalie de Vazeille
Sales & Marketing Manager - StackCare

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Citations from: Nelson Kakulla. Brittne. 2020 Tech Trends of the 50+. Washington, DC: AARP Research, January 2020. https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2019/2020-technology-trends-older-americans.html

https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/technology/2019/2020-tech-trends-survey.doi.10.26419-2Fres.00329.001.pdf