Elaine's Story - A Senior's Perspective

Elaine… An impressive 83 years old!

I lost my husband seven years ago which was a massive blow after 49 years of marriage. We all dread losing our partner and there’s always the worry about how you will manage on your own. After Derek passed I moved homes twice, downsizing, before settling on the cozy apartment I live in now.

I’ve recently turned 83 but I feel lucky that I am relatively healthy, though I do suffer a bit from arthritis. I like to stay active and prior to COVID-19 I was out and about most days, keeping myself busy, enjoying my independence and settling into my new home. My son Rod and I are very close and we speak most days - he lives more than an hour away and it’s good to catch up with him and hear his news.

He always wants to hear how I’m getting on and to know that I’m safe and well – I know he frets about me! When I moved into my new apartment, which is on the first floor of the building, we had a stair-lift fitted as well as an emergency call button system that operates via my telephone. Knowing I have them is really reassuring but when we heard about StackCare we were interested to know if it could offer us something else that would give us even more peace of mind. The key for us was seeing that StackCare would send Rod daily updates on how I’ve been getting along. We loved this feature in particular so we decided to give StackCare a go.

We were both surprised at how easy the installation of the StackCare system was – and how discreet it is in my apartment. I barely notice it’s there and I certainly don’t feel like I’m being spied on! It’s amazing – 100% marvelous – and I am so pleased we have it. For me, alongside my call button, I feel that StackCare is part of my safety ‘package’ – like with ill health when you blend different medicines to make you feel better, this is part of my day-to-day multi-pronged approach to staying safe and living my independent life.

I feel really reassured that Rod doesn’t have to worry – he’s a busy, successful businessman (I’m a very proud Mom!) and I know he’s busy, so the less he worries about me the better. We both know that he will be alerted if something is wrong so he can rest easy if he doesn’t hear anything. We laugh that StackCare has also given us a new topic of conversation on our calls! We like talking about what StackCare has been reporting and how I’ve been – I don’t have to try and remember everything to tell him.

I love my new apartment and I love having StackCare help look after me – it’s reassuring for me and I know it’s really reassuring for Rod. And if my son is happy then so am I!

Elaine kindly gave StackCare permission to reproduce her story. As we publish this, she is doing great and enjoying life and her continuing independence.

Grandma Dorothy

We recently heard from one of our customers the story of how his grandmother felt dizzy one night and, doing the absolute right thing, she leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor avoiding any injury. Dorothy wouldn't call her grandson in the middle of the night but, extraordinarily, she was also in a room away from the StackCare sensors. Fortunately Dorothy was fine and all was well but her story set us thinking...

What if we created a 'Night Activity Monitor' to let Dorothy's family know she hadn't made it to bed that night? StackCare data scientists and engineers got to work and we're delighted to announce that our new software release contains the 'Night Activity Monitor' which will send a notification when your senior loved one is absent from the bedroom for too long during the night. StackCare will send the notification regardless of whether someone doesn't make it to bed, or if they get up but don't come back. We'll shortly be releasing another enhancement which will allow you, the family member or caregiver, to customize the time limits.

For Dorothy and her grandson, StackCare just got even better. As with all our improvements and new software features, we update everyone's system automatically and at no extra cost; we'll be rolling out this feature over the next 2 weeks.

Nathalie de Vazeille
Sales & Marketing Manager - StackCare

Above & Beyond

One question that we’re often asked relates to privacy and access to information; sounds like the perfect subject for a blog post…

Let's start with HIPAA - The CDC states that “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (also known as ‘HIPAA’) is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.”

OK, that’s the official wording but what does it really mean? In simple terms, nobody should ever share your health information without permission.

StackCare tracks motion data and looks for changes or unusual patterns that could indicate a problem; if or when the system does sense an issue we send an alert notification securely to your family member or caregiver. So, we don’t have any access to health information but we still take our responsibilities seriously.

We use a variety of encryption techniques, starting with a random 28-30 digit code to identify any specific location. That makes it realy, really difficult to break into. Then, motion data is stored as 1’s land 0’s so that even if someone were to hack our database all they would see is lots and lots of unidentifiable and useless information. The real magic of StackCare is the separate data science algorithms that constantly scan the data; they’re really the key to understanding motion and without them everything stays beautifully hidden.

With StackCare there's no cameras and no microphones, our philosophy is that seniors are entitled to their privacy and dignity so our technology uses simple infra-red sensors; that's the same thing that opens the supermarket door when it senses you approaching.

So we don't know, or care, if your senior loved one wears pajamas in the middle of the day and it's his personal business who his friend is! 🧸

Next, a note on bathroom visits: StackCare includes a bathroom sensor because it’s statistically a prime area for falls and there’s lots of hard surfaces in there. However, as the system is tracking motion/occupancy it has no idea whether the resident is brushing their hair or using the toilet; it does filter out brief visits (such as grabbing a tissue and leaving again) but over the first couple of days the system learns what is typical for that individual person or couple. Notifications are looking for changes in patterns or unusual events such as being in the bathroom for too long in the middle of the night, which could be an illness or a fall! Senior loved ones don’t need to worry, we’re not ’watching’ what they do in there.

So, in strict legal terms StackCare doesn’t fall under HIPAA regulations, but we’re always proud to say that we’re HIPAA-compliant; we meet all the requirements and guidelines because we want to, not because we need to.

We treat your senior loved ones’ information as if they were our own parent or grandparent, and in some cases they actually are… Hi Mom! 👋❤️

Nigel Mould, CEO - StackCare

P.S. To answer a bunch more questions that Mom/Dad might have just click here!