Helping residents to live independently for longer

The Issue

Managers of sheltered housing have an implied duty of care to their residents. They provide an environment where people want to continue live safe independent lives as long as possible. The biggest risk is people falling and being unable to call for help. It is traumatic and can lead to poorer health outcomes, lack of confidence and inability to return to independent living. The impact is void tenancies plus the cost of refurbishment and finding new tenants. In the worst-case scenario, people tragically die unattended after a fall that has not been identified by family, friends, carers or housing providers.

Many vulnerable of people are at risk, not just the older generation. Examples are people with learning disabilities, epilepsy, vision impairment, wheelchair-users and patients recently discharged from hospital.

Dehydration, malnutrition and living in cold, damp conditions also increases the probability of falls, urinary tract infection and generally poor health. Together they increase the cost to housing providers, health services and social services - plus the stress to families and friends.

The Solution

Install Kemuri K-Sockets in the kitchens of vulnerable people. They are “fit and forget” because all control and calibration is done via the Internet. Kemuri continuously collects data on ambient conditions and sends data via the Internet to machine learning algorithms. The technology automatically recognises patterns of movement, eating and drinking and checks every hour for significant changes. After detecting many changes, Kemuri sends alerts to 24/7 alarm response centres, care managers or family members. They then take action, depending on the underlying reason for the alert.

Asset managers can also be alerted after prolonged power cuts, high temperatures caused by fire, freezing conditions, high humidity and security for voids. Monitoring services can be stopped and started remotely to suit the care needs of residents.

KemuriSense

Kemuri alerts family friends and carers whether a vulnerable person is not moving around, eating, drinking and keeping warm as normal.

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People move around the kitchen, using their kettles and microwaves as normal. Kemuri® K-Sockets measure activity continuously and send data to the Internet without using broadband and even during power cuts. Machine learning alerts the risks of unattended falls, dehydration, malnutrition and hypothermia for carers to take action.

The Benefits

Accommodation with pre-installed K- Sockets should be more attractive to prospective residents and their families who want increased peace of mind. They know that hourly monitoring will generate alerts if service users show big changes from normal patterns of activity. New IoT sensor products under development will also increase safety with a panic button, smoke alarm, motion detector and flood detector. These devices can not only save costs of repairs – they can save lives.

A simple colour-coded dashboard shows an hourly update of all the service users monitored by one person, such as a care managers supervising several properties. They can see at a glance if anybody may need immediate attention and set priorities for scheduling care visits. Longer tenancies with healthier people benefits everybody.