Seniors and Senior Living technology is the buzz arena for investors and inventors.

Seniors and Senior Living technology is the buzz arena for investors and inventors.   I spend a fair amount of time looking at these emerging technologies and, if I am honest, most are not that exciting.   Often they are derivative ideas, don’t really change things up or, while technologically interesting, figuring how to make them work in real life seems just too big a challenge.

Great Senior Living Technology

In my view what makes for a great technology are 3 things: 1.  It is something brand new or, if derivative, it so radically twists the original concept that it is as if it is a brand new thing (think iPad). 2.  The cost to the consumer or senior living community is reasonable. There is not an absolute number, but rather the cost needs to be commensurate with the value it brings to the community. 3.  The technology actually makes life easier for residents and staff. I have seen a number of pretty neat technology ideas that could really benefit a senior community, but when you take a look at how they would fit into the work flow, it would substantially increase the load on already over-burdened front line staff.

Lively Wins

Lively is a motion sensor based company that monitors the behavior of seniors at home or in senior living communities in these areas:

  • Medication
  • Food & Drink
  • Activity
  • Custom applications such as monitoring bathroom doors or a favorite chair

What makes it even more attractive is the equipment price of $149 with a monthly service fee of just $19.95 a month.

Lively and Vigil

Vigil Health Solutions, a Senior Housing Forum Partner, and Lively have just announced that Vigil has entered into a reseller agreement for the Lively System. This will allow Vigil to offer the Lively System to their emergency call system customers as a way to provide a more complete technology solution. Lively initially targeted the home market but is just finishing the development of a multi-user dashboard designed to meet the needs of senior living communities. The next goal is to integrate Lively into the Vigil reporting system, providing users an easy to use integrated dashboard that will provide even better insight into resident behaviors and health conditions. This agreement is consistent with Vigil’s goal of being the technology leader in the emergency call space. This leadership includes the Award winning Vigil Dementia System and the smallest wireless pendants in the marketplace. Steve Moran If you like this article (or even if you don’t) it would be a great honor to have you subscribe to our mailing list HERE