What happens when you just need a little reassurance that your parents, or that old uncle with dementia, are all right -- that they haven't taken a fall in the shower, or forgotten to eat? Well, once again the gadgets are here to stay, and to help.

The latest systems available can actually monitor the house -- and person -- of your choice, making sure that you're alerted when something isn't right, with no need for the person to interact themselves.

Business Week online reports today (actually, the date on the article is January 30th...) about new systems from Accenture that will notice if the refrigerator hasn't been opened, if the shower has been running for an abnormal amount of time, or if the person it's looking after has wandered off to places they don't normally go to.

The system is very flexible, they say, and if something strange happens, it will first call the person, and if no response is received, it will call or send an e-mail to either a relative or healthcare agencies, saying that there seems to be a need for assistance.

The whole thing is based on the types of burglar alarms that have been used for some time, and considering one customer's system, it's very versatile. As Business Week reports, he can check, through a few clicks on his computer, everything from his mother's blood pressure to a list of recent visitors. A tracking device carried on a necklace will show her position, and floorplans of her home is also available, for easier view of her position.

As a means of keeping an eye on the medical condition of a patient from a remote location, the University of Virginia has developed a "smart bed", that will read and transmit the basic stats as soon as the person lies down -- but as UoV says; for it to be effective, there needs to be a caregiver "in the loop".

And the cost of all this? Not too bad really, considering the benefits. The system costs about US$ 300,00 plus 20 dollars per month to maintain a link to an emergency service agency, and if you want the bed, that's another grand. It will probably be available by the end of this year.

See the article from Business Week.

Article submitted via Creative Reporter.

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