One in a MILLION!
This week, we’re recognising the amazing work of Helen Dempster, 48, from Hampshire. She wrote to say…
When my grandfather Eric, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 62 and then Parkinson’s at 64, the whole family was shocked.
He and my grandmother Mollie lived a 45-minute drive away from us, and we knew they were going to need all the help they could get.
So, we moved them into a purpose-built annex next to our family home.
However, we soon realised we needed professional support to help my grandma when we were not there.
Bringing in outsourced care was great, but we still felt out of the loop.
Although there was a file logging everything that happened during the day, we wanted more detail. And so, my husband Jason gave up his job to become a fulltime carer, with the help from my family.
Now, we were able to track exactly how Grandad’s conditions were affecting him.
For example, we could tell from playing dominoes that he was starting to show symptoms of a UTI.
Overtime, patterns in behaviour emerged and we kept a diary to track them.
Sadly, my grandmother passed away in July 2012 and Grandad the following year.
Shortly after, we looked at the data we had collected.
‘If he had patterns, I bet other people do’, I said.
So, we started investigating. We were right.
And that’s when the idea for Karantis360 came to life.
We wanted to create a system which could track patterns in older and vulnerable people, and give families transparency.
And in September 2017, our company was launched.
Working closely with IBM and developers, we created a passive sensor-based system which tracks behaviours and movements.
With no cameras, microphones or listening devices, the sensors simply pick up data from the likes of movement, sleep patterns and temperatures.
At all hours, it tracks an individual’s behaviour and if anything seems out of the ordinary, it will send an alert via the app or email.
The alerts can go to family, friends, care agencies and even clinicians so they can act.
For example, if an individual opens their front door at 3am, an alert will be sent.
We have helped to diagnose various ailments including UTI’S and diabetes related issues and provided data to help diagnose prostate cancer.
The system is very easy to use and install, leaving your loved one to live their life without being invaded.
The sensors allow independence, safety and reassurance with clinical oversight. For more information, visit: www.karantis360.com
It tracks patterns to spot problems