The title of this item is an amusing example of a small company producing a press release headline that draws attention by ‘hopping on’ to a mainstream news theme. As it happens, the company, Hop-on Inc., produces a mobile phone that is geared to the older-people market, with GPS location and a panic alarm button button built in. It is called the ChitterChatter – although you will be pushed to find it on the Hop-on website.

I suspect many Telecare Aware readers will have reservations about the technology and the company’s gaming connections (see its home page). However, the company is nothing if not ambitious. CEO, Peter Michaels said, “Every consumer with medical needs should have this technology. It is affordable and costs less than one hour’s time for a hospice caretaker or nurse. Hop-on will make a pitch to Congress to give this phone away to seniors on Medi-Cal, so if an emergency happens, they will have the patient’s information, location, and nearest medical services, with the touch of one button.” Press release.

It’s interesting when two stories come in at the same time, unrelated except that they are tapping into the zeitgeist. Here is an example of this phenomenon. The first item is about the use of mobile phones in telehealth around the world and, if you think it is a bit ‘far out’ still, read the second item – Nokia planning to get into the ’smart home’ arena, including health monitoring.

1. Lives of a cell

2. Nokia develops a smart home platform to offer consumers new ways to control their homes with a mobile device

And, in a slightly difference vein, this story, just in:

Text message surgery saves Congolese boy

Actually, for long-time Telecare Aware readers, the main story in this item will not be the robots, but the ‘Assistive Independent Systems’ in development by Tasmanian clinical psychologist Brad Freeman who is aiming to “use new internet-based communications technologies to empower family friends and carers to support aged people in their own home”. You will hear more of this later, I suspect. Read the Canberra Times story here.

buddi is a small GPS tracker with round-the-clock emergency support. It enables:

• location of the wearer at any time in response to a button push
• conversation with the wearer
• location of the wearer if thought to be missing
• identification of the wearer leaving a specified area
• wearer tracking

There is also a version for pets.

buddi has been developed and is made in the UK. It has a battery life of more than three days in GPS mode, is easily recharged and is water resistant.

Download factsheet.

A new product launched by the Dutch TechMedic company and ‘adopted’ by the communications provider T-mobile, the Dyna-Vision is a “small and portable device, with the dimensions of a PDA…monitors up-to 10 clinical parameters through non-invasive sensors attached to the skin. The measurements include 12-lead ECG, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, RR-times, Respiration, Plethysmogram, Oxygen Saturation and some derived parameters…equipped with an internal GPRS module which automatically transmits the recordings to the secure Dyna-Vision server. Physicians can connect to this server with a computer to analyze the recordings or to monitor real-time vital signs of the patient.” according to the press release.

This item reminds me that Cambridge Wireless had a Special Interest Group meeting hosted by Mircrosoft Research last week to explore “the exciting hypothesis that a new lifestyle revolution in wireless personal video devices is fast opening up, with the mobile phone supremely placed to be the device of choice for consumption of all forms of video on the go.” Some of the industry’s heavy-hitters attended including Sagentia, Qualcomm, TTP Group, Motorola, T-Mobile, and Alcatel Lucent.

Don’t think it’s not coming…

Allerayde, a UK company that provides products for people suffering from allergies recently won a prize in a competition for companies that make products that will make use of the Galileo satellite positioning system. It was for an ‘”auto-injector’ pen that provides adrenaline or epinephrine for diabetics who experience anaphylactic shock.

According to this BBC News report (scroll to bottom), “When the pen-shaped injectors are used, patients should seek medical attention to prevent further complications from the shock. The new idea is to fit the pens with sat-nav electronics that, when used, alert a local “angel centre” of the user’s location via a mobile phone network.”

Visitors to the company’s website looking for more information are asked to sign up for a mailing list for more information.

It’s a pity that a technology-oriented company has a website whose main navigation menu fails for visitors using anything other than the Internet Explorer browser. They will be losing sales.

Results of a clinical study of EarlySense’s EverOn system conducted at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv were presented at the European Respiratory Society in Berlin on October 6. EverOn is “a continuous, contact-free, patient supervision system that measures patient parameters and alerts upon patient change in clinical condition.” Press release.

This item brings together news of some technologies appropriate for older people. “The companies that are successfully marketing new technologies to older people are not those that have created high-tech ways for seniors to open jars. Rather, they are the ones that have learned to create products that span generations, providing style and utility to a range of age groups.” Food for thought from the NY Times.

The ‘Growth Partnership Company’ (consultancy) Frost & Sullivan, seem to think so. They have awarded Noninvasive Medical Technologies, Inc. their annual Award for Healthcare Innovation for, amongst other things, a device that measures directly the fluid status of the chest. It’s called the ZOE fluid status monitor and is a lightweight, simple-to-use device that measures thoracic base impedance. The less the impedance to an electrical current means that there is more fluid, providing for an objective measurement parameter of fluid levels in the body rather than relying on the proxy of weight gain as is mostly used at present. F&S press release.

“The project TeleWatch Patient Monitoring System was developed to do home monitoring and disease management for high risk outpatients suffering from congestive heart failure. The Home Link system provides for communication and recording of patient’s data.” Read about all the developments in the Federal Telemedicine News.

The attention of lone workers, care home managers and end users is being drawn to the advantages of the GSM and GPS person location systems from UK-based company Verify & Locate. Instead of the user being restricted to home he or she can go where they like, “safe in the knowledge that their whereabouts could be located by their loved ones or professionals in a central control centre.”

Verify & Locate makes full use of current web technologies on its site to get its message across. For examples, (see the demos here) and take a look at the ‘cool’ way it presents its product brochure.

It’s come a long way since its launch, reported in Telecare Aware two years ago.

The system, called Health Guide, integrates vital sign collection, patient reminders, multimedia educational content and feedback and communications tools such as video conferencing and e-mail. It can connect to specific models of wired and wireless medical devices, including blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, pulse oximeters, peak flow meters and weight scales. It also stores and displays the collected information on a touch screen and sends it to a secure host server, where healthcare professionals can review the information.

Intel expects the Health Guide to be available from healthcare providers in the United States and the United Kingdom later this year or early next. Press release from Reuters.

NuPhysicia has incorporated ATI’s CareTone Ultra digital stethoscope into the B3Zero Telemedicine Suitcase System. CareTone Ultra, one of ATI’s patented CareTone Telephonic Stethoscopes, transfers high-quality, real-time auscultation sounds from the hearts, lungs and abdomens of remote patients. Press release.

Alert, a relatively small newcomer in the UK’s personal safety market is, with the introduction of two new alarm services, throwing down a challenge to councils and the established community alarm companies. Until now its offerings have been in the area of personal and lone worker safety (service overview here) but the two new services it is offering to the public, Phone4 Safe-T and Checking Safe-T are also being offered to councils with prices starting from £120 per person per year based on 50 users for a pilot scheme.

The three products are: a wireless automatic blood pressure monitor; wireless precision scale, and a wireless activity monitor, as part of its Lifesource range. Press release.