Telecare Aware has moved – see below

One service lets users check when an electric kettle is used. Data from a wireless transmitter attached to the bottom of the kettle is sent in an e-mail to the elderly person’s son or daughter and the company’s Web site. Records are sent twice a day at designated times, but a worried user can ask for the latest data anytime. A lease on an electric kettle with the transmitter costs an initial fee of 5,250 yen (approx £25) and then 3,150 yen (£15) per month.
Read more about this, and the other two initiatives.

Malta’s telecare service moves to new one-stop shop. Read more.

The Columba bracelet automatically detects any departure from a previously defined security zone. At the slightest straying from this area, it alerts AXA Assistance’s medical assistance centre which can precisely geolocate the bracelet and speak with the wearer through the bracelet’s “handsfree” feature. Read more.

A snippet that indicates systems being further embedded in mainstream care. American Medical Alert Corporation press release.

Information on Malta’s telecare (alarm service) for which people become eligible at 80, or yonger with certain conditions. Click here to see their site.

Will be of interest to:
1. Emergency Control and Management Centers.
2. Organizations representing the final users (elderly, disabled (blind or people with cognitive disabilities), children with disabilities, people suffering from Alzheimer disease etc.)
3. Mobile Telephony Operators, capable of offering at least GPRS / GSM services.
Click here for details.

Readers of earlier entries, such as ‘Safe in their own homes on Mother’s Day’ will know that we are interested in the differences in the cultural context of telecare between the US and the UK. In the US, where people turn instinctively, and by force of circumstance, to the private sector for support services, alarms are sold into the ‘concerned sons and daughters’ market. We were therefore interested to read these up-front scripts for persuading your relative to have a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) installed. Read the page and explore the LifeFone site.

Mental health consultations by video link in New Mexico. Click here to read more.

Introducing the Columba phone-bracelet within the health and social sectors, Pasteur Mediavita will be targeting doctors’ and pharmacists’ associations, decision-makers in government, general councils, municipalities and home-care associations. Read full story.