Personal Reminder Devices for the Elderly Help Make Independent Living a Reality

Medical Alarms

Medical Alarms

With more older adults living alone in their homes, the importance of personal reminder devices is becoming vital accessories in helping to make independent living a reality.

The situation has been made more prevalent with the outbreak of the coronavirus disease pandemic, which limits in-person care provision and health monitoring except in an absolute emergency. Remote health monitoring and technology-assisted care provision have become more important than ever.  

We take a look at how the SOFIHUB home personal reminder device is helping the elderly to feel safe, secure, and less isolated when it comes to living independently.

What is the SOFIHUB home? 

SOFIHUB home is a personalised and proactive digital companion that uses spoken word reminders to encourage positive living and adherence to health-related routines such as medication and appointments.

Working out of the box and only requiring power, the hub, usually placed in the kitchen or lounge room is supplied with eight battery-powered motion sensors designed to monitor movement throughout the home.  Connection to the internet comes via an internal 4G sim card giving the system the ability to send alerts and receive software updates and deliver caregiver notifications.

In case of a power outage, the SOFIHUB home has an in-built 4-hour power backup.

The motion sensors work best when placed in strategic locations in the home, e.g. bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room, and monitor the user’s movements in a non-invasive way, alerting assigned carers or response centres if any unusual motion is detected.

SOFIHUB home – Key Features and Benefits

We’ve highlighted some key features of the SOFIHUB home and how they can benefit elderly loved ones who are living on their own:

Anomaly Detection

During the initial installation three key routines, time to bed, time to rise, and duration spent in the bathroom are programmed into the system via our SOFIHUB portal. This portal allows nominated caregivers or family members to also add, delete, or amend personal reminders and create live-text to voice-messages as needed.

When an anomaly is detected in one of these key routines the hub will ask for a tactile interaction between it and the resident in the form of the button press on the hub to reset the anomaly indicating all is ok, if no interaction is detected following a number of spoken words prompts to the resident an automatic alert is sent to designated contacts via SMS assuring help is on its way.

The portal can be accessed via a PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Text-to-Voice Messaging 

In this global COVID-19 pandemic where contact between the elderly and other family members is so limited, sadly depression and loneliness can easily set in. 

The SOFHUB home enables you to convey messages to your elderly loved one such as ‘we’re here for you’ or ‘let me know if you feel like a chat?’ to show care via text-to-voice messaging. All family members need to do is log in to the SOFIHUB online or via the iOS / Android app on their smart device and type in the desired message to be heard by the resident. The SOFIHUB home will do the rest and vocalise the message to your loved one instantly or at pre-programmed times assuring that the message is heard. Once triggered the message then is shown in the history list indicating that it has been delivered.

Timeline Reporting

The SOFIHUB home personal reminder device can also help care providers, health care professionals and family members learn the routines and behaviours of their elderly loved ones. These behavioural insights and timelines make it easier for them to spot any anomalies. 

The system provides useful behavioural insights and clear timelines so that it is quick to see if users have missed daily milestones like:

  1. Medication
  2. Bathroom Visits
  3. Time to bed
  4. Time to rise
  5. Time taken to move around the home ie. from the bedroom to kitchen to lounge

Event, Appointment, and Medication Reminders 

The SOFIHUB home operates as a type of technological companion, encouraging safe and positive behaviours in the home. Events like doctors’ appointments, family members’ birthdays, and medication reminders are all vocalised to the user, giving them essential reminders of the health-related and other activities they must do for the day. 

You can rest assured, that even if your loved one is living with early-onset dementia, chronic illnesses, or limited mobility, there is a remote helper in the home, reminding them to keep healthy and responsible. 

Learn How You Can Get the SOFIHUB home for Your Loved Ones

Personal reminder devices like the SOFHUB home have become an extremely valuable tool for the modern era of senior living. 

Apart from operating as a safety system, it also acts as a constant companion, relaying messages and reminders from family and loved ones, reducing the likelihood of older adults succumbing to depression due to loneliness. 

If you want to learn more about the SOFIHUB home, download a brochure from our website, or call us directly on 1300 110 366. You can also send us a message online, and we’ll get back to you swiftly.