{{ So in 2023, Ms. Doyle, now 81, moved to a luxury assisted-living home a few blocks away from her longtime home on the Upper East Side. At the Bristal, residents can opt in to use a high-tech fall-detection system that employs a motion sensor to monitor gait, posture and patterns of movement that could portend a fall. If a resident does fall, it alerts building staff immediately.
“This system has been a godsend for Kathy,” said Ms. Doyle’s sister, Patricia Doherty. “I think she had one fall in the past year. Before that, it was every four to six weeks.” }}
The microprocessor-controlled Robo-Leg I’m getting has a similar capability. If it senses your center of mass is getting too far out of range, it locks the knee in its current position to allow you to re-center.
Falls are a big problem for seniors. A hip fracture generally gives a patient a significantly reduced life expectancy due to the prolonged immobility during recovery.
Years ago read an article about life expectancy after hip fracture, around 50% at 2 years. Don’t think it is necessarily the prolonged immobility of rehab but the long standing decline that leads to the fall.
I’m excited to see this capability to detect anomalies and pro-actively protect seniors. The article said that it is currently being used in expensive high-end senior homes. But the results show that it is saving lives (or at least independent living). According to one 2015 TigerPlace study, 83- and 84-year-old residents with room sensors had an average length of stay of 4.3 years; those without stayed an average of 2.6 years.
Given the very high cost of treating a person with a broken hip the system should pay for itself in harm reduction.
I hope that these systems will become cheaper as the technology advances and become more widespread.
At various times, a couple more recent, my Apple Watch has detected my falls, one, I was dumb enough to not watch my feet as I went to the end of the roses to trip just one more deadhead, splat on the sidewalk, scuffed knee, nothing broke, but a struggle to get back up.. The other a simple turn in the kitchen, ice cream bowl & spoon in hand, they went flying, seems the new tennis shoes didn’t slip as I turned, left me crashing into the nearest counter, big bruise under my arm, torqued my back a bit, spooky not to be in control so suddenly! Nothing broken, but both times the watch asked if I was OK, and would have called either my wife or 911 depending on the response.. More careful in my recovers, neosporin/bandage as needed for the knee, healing nicely, the underarm bruise will take a while linger.. Just happy nothing broke! Us old timers need to always be more careful, but we do get wrapped up in other thoughts, need to be more deliberate!
weco - Yes, AAPL along term holder, listening to today’s earnings call//