Fall Detectors - Improving Senior Home Care

In this post I would like to talk about a specific technology that would significantly improve the senior home care and at the same time present a potential business opportunity in telemedicine.

The technology is a Fall Detector that is a watch-like mini size device (Figure 1). It could be attached on the wrist of a senior person or patient. The device is capable of measuring unusual pulse rate and detecting free falling¹. When there is a case of abnormal pulse or free falling motion detected by the device, it would play an alarm sound¹. If the alarm were not turned off in a pre-set time interval, a signal recording the pulse or free falling information would be sent to a GSM modem previously set up in the room where the patient was in¹. The modem after collecting and receiving the information would send a signal to the care center, ambulance, or the patient’s relative’s house wirelessly linked with the GSM modem¹. In this way medical professionals would receive the real time alerts from the device attached to the patient and would be able to respond at the earliest possible time. The implication is that for seniors living by themselves, this device could safe many lives by asking for medical services in the shortest possible time interval.

Figure 1.

The potential market for this telemedicine application is promising. The total number of older persons worldwide over 60 years old has almost tripled from 1950 to 2000 from 205 million to 606 million². In the coming 50 years this number will be tripled again to about 2 billion in 2050². The number of countries with more than 10 million people over 60 will increase from 10 in 2000 to 33 countries in 2050². In the U.S., the number of people over 60 will increase from 46 million to 107 million by 2050².  

I think it is safe to say that, according to the social structure, most of these senior people would either live by themselves or with other seniors who will be facing the similar challenge to seek for help whenever there is an emergency. This Fall Detector would become a must-have device for senior people to avoid delayed medical care and improve their life quality.

References:
1. http://www.owentix.com/en/ow_telemed_operator.php
2. United Nations, World Population Aging, 2002, http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/80chapterii.pdf