Did you know that falling is the leading cause of injury in older adults (65+)? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 25% of older adults will fall each year in the US and 3 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries.
People with dementia are at even greater risk of falling because they often have problems with mobility, balance, and muscle weakness. After a fall, they can also have great trouble articulating how they fell and sometimes even have trouble verbalizing what part of their body hurts. This makes it hard to know what kind of follow-up care they might need and what changes need to be made (if any) to mitigate a future fall.
It’s information like this that inspired George Netscher to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution to reduce falls and elevate dementia care. In fact, Alzheimer’s disease runs in his family, so for George, it’s a deeply personal mission.
The company George built is called SafelyYou. Their solution, called SafelyYou Respond™, gives a voice to those living with Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive impairments.
Falling is the leading cause of injury in older adults
Understanding how a fall happened
When a person falls, it’s important to understand how they fell in order to properly assess injuries and mitigate future falls. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality notes that a past fall is the single best predictor of future falls. In fact, 30-40% of those nursing facility residents who fall, will do so again. They have created a comprehensive approach for a nursing facility response to a fall. At the top of the list is caring for the resident followed by investigating the circumstances.
How SafelyYou Respond™ works
To capture the moment a fall happens, and including the moments before and after, SafelyYou installs AI-enabled cameras in the bedrooms of consenting senior and memory care residents.
An AI enabled camera is mounted discreetly in the room of a consenting memory care resident
The cameras are connected to an on-site edge processing system for AI inference. The algorithm detects on-the-ground events in real-time for continuous fall monitoring. In the case of a fall event, on-site care staff are immediately notified to ensure the resident gets the help they need quickly.
Upon detection of a fall, video is saved, including a short window of time before and after the event. The video enables caregivers to determine the “how” and “why” of an unwitnessed fall to inform whether the fall requires a trip to the emergency room. And, it gives valuable data on what caused the fall, empowering caregivers to take steps to help prevent future falls from occurring.
Only video surrounding fall events is stored for assessment. Everything else is immediately deleted from the system. SafelyYou adheres to strict privacy standards and it’s HIPAA compliant.
SafelyYou leverages the AWS Cloud
As part of their solution, SafelyYou leverages the AWS cloud. AWS securely houses fall videos, manages notifications to on-site care staff, and enables them to review fall videos for ways to improve resident outcomes. No matter how many devices in the field, AWS enables SafelyYou to securely manage customers’ data at scale.
Hardware requirements
SafelyYou needed an edge computer that could deliver powerful AI inference capabilities. It needed to be backed by a reliable supply chain to deliver a dependable device that could be counted on for years, even in unpredictable conditions. They chose the OnLogic Helix 600; a fanless, solid state platform with expansion for additional storage, I/O or graphics cards.
“Our edge computers need to be reliable, powerful, flexible, secure, and quiet and OnLogic checks all these boxes. The residents and families we serve are counting on us to be there for their loved ones, every minute of every day - and OnLogic is a big part of that.”
- Ken Bedwell, Principal Engineer, SafelyYou Device Fleet Management
The flexibility that the HX600 offers was important to meet the requirements of the SafelyYou team. The result was a solution that could be customized for their various installations.
“Most companies we talked to would try to steer us toward an off-the-shelf solution they already had built. OnLogic was different in that they offered a consultative approach and worked to understand our particular requirements. We asked for a comprehensive solution, and OnLogic delivered.”
- Ken Bedwell, Principal Engineer, SafelyYou Device Fleet Management
Results
SafelyYou Respond™ is delivering results and helping communities deliver the care that residents need.
- Over 100,000 clinically reviewed falls
- Over 99% of on-the-ground events detected
- 80% reduction in fall related ER visits
- 40% fewer resident falls with SafelyYou Respond™
Looking to deliver results for your AI solution? Let OnLogic assist you in creating a comprehensive system for you.
