A Dublin-based technology start-up announced today that they are looking for Donegal volunteers to help launch an innovative new online system aimed at the active elderly.
Siobhan King-Hughes, CEO of Sensormind, is about to launch her unique internet-based assisted living system, “Sensormind Independent Living”.
To get the new system up and running she is inviting anyone who has an elderly relative living alone to help test the system by joining the free trial programme.
All participants will be given 3 months free use of the state-of-the-art monitoring product. The system monitors an elderly person’s normal activities and if there is an accident, fall or other emergency it contacts a nominated relative or carer via text message.
The elderly person is also given a panic button to let them call for help when they need it. Volunteers will get the equipment for free for three months and can nominate up to 5 relatives to have access to the Internet system for the course of the trial.
In return, they will be asked to provide feedback on how easy it is to use the system. “We want to sign-up 100 volunteers across the country as quickly as possible” says Siobhan.
“We have already successfully deployed the system during a trial with a private care organisation and this is the next step before we go to a full market launch in Ireland and the UK later in the year. The feedback is already fantastic – people love the fact they can look after their elderly parents or relatives even when they are physically remote from them”.
Siobhan founded Sensormind in 2008 with husband and Chief Operating Officer Cian Hughes.
She builds on a strong track record, having held senior positions at AOL, Oracle, IBM and Adobe in a 19 year career that began at Microsoft. A graduate of DIT’s “Hothouse” business development program, she sits on the steering committee of the Centre for Affective Software for Ambient Living Awareness (CASALA).
CASALA is an Applied Research Enhancement programme supported by Enterprise Ireland. Cian is Executive Director of the Irish Technology Leadership Group and has a 20 year career in high tech operations and strategic management, including spells at Lotus, Intel and Pivotal.
Sensormind is an innovative ‘assistive living’ technology that enables elderly and vulnerable people to live independently and safely at home. With improving life expectancies and the rapid rate of population aging in Europe and North America, there is growing demand for these technologies, with a market forecast of $335m for ‘social alarms’ by 2012 in Europe alone.
Sensormind uses a network of discrete sensors placed in the home connected to a web-based central monitoring service to monitor normal daily activities and raise an alert if an unexpected behaviour pattern occurs.
About The Trial
Anyone who would like to participate in the free Sensormind trial should visit www.sensormind.com/trial, email trial@sensormind.com or call 01 4800518 to get their name on to the volunteer list. Volunteers will be selected on a ‘first come first serve basis’.
About Sensormind
Sensormind develops products that make life better for the elderly and vulnerable. We build ‘Assistive Living’ technologies that help people remain independent in their own homes while ensuring they are cared for if they need help or assistance. Based at the Invent business innovation centre at Dublin City University, Sensormind is supported by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish state enterprise development agency.
www.sensormind.com