Smart technology adoption will unlock the ability for senior living caregivers and families to provide better care and resources for loved ones, says K4Connect’s Senior VP of Engineering, Kuldip Pabla.

By: Robin Seaton Jefferson

December 17, 2018

Kuldip Pabla says it’s a misconception that senior adults “do not like or want technology,” and that error alone has caused the development of technology for older adults to lag behind that of younger people. Pabla is the senior vice president of engineering for K4Connect, a technology company that creates smart solutions for older adults and individuals living with disabilities. As such he has come up with five predictions that he says we should expect to see in the tech space for older adults in 2019.

As the world’s fastest growing demographic (by 2050 the number of older persons is expected reach 2.1 billion), “older adults both need and want technology that’s built specifically for them,” Pabla said.

He’s not wrong, at least about the aging demographic and how it is expected to change the world. According to the United Nations, “population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of the twenty-first century, with implications for nearly all sectors of society, including labor and financial markets, the demand for goods and services, such as housing, transportation and social protection, as well as family structures and intergenerational ties.”

The following are five ways Pabla believes technology will change the lives of seniors and perhaps everyone else in 2019:

1. Consolidation of the senior-care vendor market:

“It’s a fact that the technology industry has lagged in engaging and serving the older adult market,” Pabla said. “This gave way, in the interim, to several niche vendors selling point products or single feature apps addressing older adult and senior living markets.” But this approach has put an unreasonable burden on senior living executives and older adults to play the role of system integrator and support specialist when it comes to attempting to create enterprise solutions—a huge barrier and cost for seniors as well as caregivers, assisted living and independent living community operators and loved ones, he said.

“Imagine a CxO [corporate executive] with a very small team dealing with 40 plus vendors to handle the digital transformation of their community or a senior dealing with 10 apps or more along with the various disparate smart devices to manage different aspects of their lives, Pabla said. “Not only is this an expensive approach, but one that is also time consuming and chaotic.”

Instead, with true enterprise platforms and through associated vendor consolidation, in 2019 CxOs will need to deal with fewer vendors, drive more and more value, and ultimately will see, in Pabla’s view, an acceleration of technology adoption in the space. “The value creation does not stop at the community, as these new integrated enterprise approaches will also dramatically improve user experience and value creation for older adults and residents as well. During 2019, we will see a beginning of consolidation in this market, where players with 360-degree services around the residents will start gaining traction,” he said.

An enterprise platform integrates multiple services from one or more vendors into a wholistic solution that provides a single and consistent user experience across services. It enables customers to interface with a single vendor, eliminates many older systems, and ultimately can eliminate the need to deal with multiple vendors.

It’s important to note that while there are various apps (or products) seemingly coming out every day, very few are designed specifically for older adults, Pabla said. “Most of these apps might be complete in themselves and can be used independently. However, they can provide a much better and holistic user experience when integrated together. To achieve this broadly integrated solution, a well architected platform plays a critical role.”

Pabla offers a few examples of the type of solutions which are often disparate, but have the capacity to be pulled together in senior living communities:

a. Community Calendars: Each community publishes daily, weekly and monthly calendars often across various service areas including wellness, trips and entertainment. Today, communities are using various tools to create, print and publish these calendars including design tools, word processors, slide creation or other online services. To make things more challenging, due to the limited nature and age of many of the tools in the space, the communities often have to re-enter data in various programs to get the information to print, the web, digital signage or even a resident app or portal.

b. Dining Management: Executives are ultimately managing 1 to as many as 10 different restaurants and cafes in their communities. Keeping menus, daily specials, reservations and special events up to date is a challenge. Much like community calendar management, we see various tools and templates used to solve pieces of the work flow. However, most communities are forced to do a lot of manual rework due to tooling limitations.

c. Digital Signage: Like hotels, older adult communities have multiple televisions to publish various content (announcements, calendars, events, daily specials, etc.). Digital signage enables communities to manage and publish contents to multiple screens simultaneously.

d. Others including surveys, family/staff/resident communications, resident directories and service requests (maintenance, housekeeping, etc.).

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Read the remainder of Kuldip’s tech changes on the horizon for older adults on Forbes, here!

 

Our K4Community technology is specifically designed for the residents of senior living communities, as well as the staff that supports them. We’ve also complied several ways in which you can give an older adult something to look forward to by helping them get involved, staying connected, and live a happier, healthier, simpler life.

 

By: Kimberly Hartmere

Product Manager, K4Connect

December 4, 2018

Every day, all over the world, social isolation and loneliness happen more than most of us truly realize. Social isolation occurs when people distance themselves from friends/family psychologically, physically, or both. Sometimes this can happen selectively, but most often social isolation occurs as a result of circumstances older adults cannot control or fix on their own. Much has been published via medical journals and case studies proving just how harmful social isolation can be over prolonged periods.

According to data published through AARP, isolation in adults 50 and older happens as a result of a series of circumstances and factors at different levels. The main causes driving isolation include:

• Living alone
• Death of a significant other
• Mobility or sensory impairment
• Major life transitions
• Low income
• Limited resources
• Being a caregiver for someone with a severe impairment
• Psychological or cognitive vulnerabilities
• Rural areas
• Unsafe areas
• Inaccessible neighborhood or community
• Language barriers

“I still think that the greatest suffering is being lonely, feeling unloved, just having no one… That is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience.” – Mother Teresa

The impacts of social isolation may surprise you.  The health risks associated with prolonged isolation are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes per day! In addition, a study published by BMJ Journals noted that the risks are comparable to obesity, lack of exercise and high blood pressure. Several case studies point to prolonged isolation’s association with cognitive decline and mental health conditions such as depression and dementia.

Connect2Affect.org, a website created by AARP Foundation, provides us with some interesting facts on the size and scope of social isolation:

• 51% of people 75 and older live alone
• Research shows a 26% increased risk of death due to subjective feeling of loneliness
• 6 million adults 65 and older have a disability that prevents them from leaving their homes without help
• Research from the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 43% of older adults report feelings of loneliness.

Joseph Lindoe recently shared his experience with social isolation, following a personal experiment in which he spent seven days inside a small UK apartment with no phone, no internet, no friends.  Joseph also elected not to leave his apartment for the entire week. This project was an attempt to bring awareness to older adults and isolation. By the third day, he noted overwhelming feelings of entrapment and despair.  You can read about his experience here, but imagine what it must be like for those who have no other options.

“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

So, how can we help?

First, start by increasing our awareness of social isolation. Can you imagine someone coming to you tomorrow and taking your keys away from you? Or taking your medication away and telling you they’ll hand it to you when it’s time for you to take it. Think about trying to enjoy a great book, but your poor vision makes reading nearly impossible. Or picture being in your home alone, with nobody to talk to or touch for more than a week. You might not even be able to get outside to take a walk and connect with neighbors.

There are many different ways to help aging adults combat their loneliness and feelings of isolation. Many older adults have lost so much of their independence they are left with memories of the life they once knew. Things that were once so important to them are taken away, such as the ability to drive, go to church, read a book, or even managing their own finances. Here are a few ways in which you can be sure you’re giving an older adult something to look forward to by helping them get involved:

• Volunteering in senior centers and church
• Writing letters
• In-home visits
• Planning an outing to go to a local museum or a movie.
• Including them in decisions involving their own care and well-being can make them feel like they have some control over part of their life

Among the ways to combat loneliness, technology is starting to play a major role in helping to bridge the gap of interactions that older adults need. Here’s a list of ideas that seniors all over the world are beginning to adopt more and more:

• Phone Calls – This is probably the most common one. Whether it’s just a voice call or video call, hearing from someone you love can instantly brighten their day. Many seniors still have landlines but their grandchildren are much more likely to have cell phones to call and check in.

• Photo sharing – Everyone loves to see photos of their friends and families. Older adults are no exception! Looking at photos on a device can bring a smile to someone’s face and help them feel like they’re included in their families lives just by knowing what they’ve been up to.

• Tablets – Equipped with apps and programs geared toward seniors, tablets can increase communication with friends and family by using voice or video calls, be a device to share and receive photos, challenge their brains and pass the time by playing games, and help them find local events and things to do within their communities. Tablets are a great way to help seniors engage with their community and their loved ones. Many senior housing communities across the country are adopting technology and solutions to help older adults be more involved in their community and with their friends and families on the outside. Staff can also have more time to focus on the residents, giving them more social interaction, because some of their daily tasks and processes can be streamlined with technology and onto the tablet.

• Social Media – Connecting with children and grandchildren on facebook, skype or instagram can be a great way for a grandmother to passively see photos and posts their grandchildren make and feel like a part of their lives by knowing what their hobbies and interests are.

• The Internet – Logging on to send emails to friends and family, playing games online, and finding community resources through senior center websites are easy ways to help utilize all that is out there for seniors to do.

• Music on a device – Listening to their favorite songs or radio station can take them down a walk on memory lane and help them to remember good times. Music has been proven over and over again to help in many different areas of dementia, Alzheimer’s, and depression.

• Call Support Lines – Companies like The Silver Line, a UK based charity, and the Friendship Line, a US based company, are helping older individuals by giving them a place to call and have a chat with someone when they’re feeling lonely. The Friendship Line says they specialize in lonely, depressed, isolated, frail and/or suicidal older adults. These helplines are wonderful for older adults who may live in rural areas or have trouble getting out of their house to participate in community events.

• Transportation – Many cities offer rides for seniors through the community, allowing them to get out and engage with others. Whether it be for doctor appointments, church, social events, or just getting out to go shopping, it is a great resource for seniors to gain some of their independence back when they may have lost the ability to drive. By not having to rely on friends and family to always drive them places, they can take back control of arranging a ride when they need it, rather than feel they are over asking for favors.

• Robotic Pets – Several companies offer robotic pets to help combat loneliness and give seniors who may be suffering from dementia a way to feel needed and comforted. Dogs, cats, and even seals are some of the pets that seniors are befriending across the country in senior living communities that specialize in dementia care. Just giving a senior a purpose can really go a long way in helping them to feel needed and less isolated.

While many of these things can be daunting to a senior who feels less than tech savvy, at K4Connect, we are creating solutions to serve and empower older adults with easy to use smart home solutions, health and wellness applications and ways to connect with family and friends all in one application. We’ve found across the board that many older adults don’t necessarily dislike technology, they just don’t identify with technology that has been designed for someone in their teens or twenties!

Our first product, K4Community, is specifically designed for the residents of senior living communities, as well as the staff that support them. With future plans to introduce K4Home for those we serve who live in their own homes, we’re determined to reach as many people in need, as quickly as possible. Of all the ways K4Community helps older adults stay connected and live simpler, healthier, and happier lives, some of my favorites are:

• By integrating all of the products and applications required to automate a home, socialize with family and friends, manage schedules, keep track of the weather, play fun games and even set and track goals for health and wellness into one single application that has been designed for and with seniors, we have found the majority of them actively use it – and love it!

• In addition to staying in touch with loved ones, seniors within a community can enjoy a community calendar and schedule of events, menus, community photos, notices and alerts, community wide news, and even a directory of residents where they can message or call one another from the comfort of their apartment.

• At K4Connect, we take seniors trust and safety seriously and have developed a secure invitation only for connection between residents, family and friends. No one has to worry about spam emails or robo calls that target and often take advantage of an older adult.

• A free Guest app which makes it simple for families who enjoy different platforms, like iOS and Android, to use our app to connect with their loved one in a community regardless of what platform they use.

“You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

 

 

Social isolation is a sad and frustrating event in an adult’s life. It can be unexpected and take older children who are caring for their parent by surprise. But the problem can be solved and even prevented. Reaching out to community leaders who specialize in aging adults can help you find the resources that are available to them and even for their caregivers. Finding a group or hobby they enjoy can really go along way into giving them a sense of purpose again. But it’s important not to underestimate the power of technology when thinking about ways to enhance a senior’s interactions with friends and family and supplement their social life.

There are challenges associated with technology and older adults, like vision problems, hearing loss, health conditions, being skeptical about the need for technology or about their ability to learn to use it.

However, with patience, support and the right technologies, older adults can learn to adopt technologies that have been designed with them in mind!

It’s all around making older adult’s lives simpler, healthier, and happier. Simpler is those home automation things; healthier is the wellness devices and services; and of course, happier is all around connectivity to the community around them.

By: Stephanie Condon

November 20, 2018

Amazon‘s Alexa and other voice-activated assistants are popping up everywhere these days. Alexa’s user base, however, is decidedly young: A plurality of Amazon Echo users (24 percent) are between 18 and 29 years old, Forbes recently reported, while 30- to 44-year-olds make up 20 percent of its user base.

Scott Moody’s five-year old company K4Connect focuses on bringing the latest technologies — including Alexa — to senior citizens. It’s a largely overlooked market with significant potential, he recently told ZDNet. On top of that, deploying technology for older Americans and observing the way they use it can shed light on what it takes to build a successful product.

“There are some unique challenges associated with older adults,” Moody recently said to ZDNet. When it comes to voice-activated assistants, that can include adjusting for “the cadence of [the user’s] voice, acuity levels, maybe, as you get much older… the voice tone, the voice frequencies.” That said, a well-designed product should create a smooth user experience for all audiences, Moody added — even those with physical challenges, disabilities, or a skeptical attitude.

“Technology’ is a euphemism for poor design,” Moody said. “When technology really works, you stop calling it technology… You call it a radio, or a TV, or a dishwasher.” Or maybe just Alexa.

Moody talked to ZDNet about the market opportunity that exists for bringing Alexa and other tech to seniors, how is company is reaching that market and the insights they’ve gained so far. Here are the highlights of that conversation:

OLDER ADULTS: AN OVERLOOKED AUDIENCE

“I think a lot of people, when they talk about seniors or older adults or people living with disability, they talk about monitoring,” Moody said. “But as I joke with people, at roughly the age of two years-old, you stop like being monitored, and it doesn’t change as you get older. Really, it’s how do you empower them to live a more independent life, live a healthier life, and a more connected life? It’s all around this first-order value to the people we serve versus simply ‘monitoring.'”

Technology for older adults often misses the mark, Moody said:

“Usually, somebody develops an app for, let’s say, a 25 year-old, and then they put bigger fonts on it and then they give it to some older adult. They’re saying, ‘Well, you know, they don’t like technology.’ Well, true, they don’t let technology that’s designed for a 25 year-old.

“The way I look at it is, my daughter’s grandmother does not wear the same clothes as they do — which honestly, we’re pretty thankful for, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like clothes. She just wants clothes that are tailored for her, that are comfortable, that fit some utility in her life. So what we find is if you design the technology so that they find it easy to use, but more importantly, adds value to their life… then they actually do use it.”

HOW K4CONNECT REACHES A GROWING POPULATION OF SENIORS

As many as 1.4 billion people in the world today are either over the age of 65 or are living with a disability, Moody said. There are already 23,000 senior living communities in the US, and they’re growing at a rate of around 5 percent to 10 percent a year because of the aging US population, Moody said.

K4Connect aims to bring older adults and people living with disabilities “the best technologies out there, whether they’re home automation or health and wellness-oriented devices — it could be applications, it could be services,” Moody said.

The company provides a multi-modal software platform that integrates it all into a system with a single UI, incorporating voice, touch and eventually capabilities like gesture, Moody said, “so that the older adult or the person living with that disability finds it easy to use.”

K4Connect’s first service, K4Community, delivers that platform to senior living communities. Community administrators can integrate whatever wellness, connectivity or automation products they want. The residents can use the platform for things like signing up for community activities, ordering food or requesting transportation. In addition to enabling tech for senior community residents, K4Community provides relevant data to caregivers and community staff.

“The focus of the company is serving and empowering that older adult or personal living with the disability,” Moody told ZDNet. “It’s all around making their lives… simpler, healthier, and happier. Simpler is those home automation things; healthier is the wellness devices and services; and of course, happier is all around connectivity to the community around them.”

Next year, K4Connect will be introducing a product called K4Home, which brings its platform into seniors’ homes.

BUILDING TECH THAT’S INTUITIVE AND EASY FOR EVERYONE

While older adults may have “unique challenges” when it comes to using certain technologies like voice-based UIs, Moody said a well-designed product will take those challenges into consideration.

“I often joke with our engineers, ‘If you use “train” in a sentence, it’s wrong,'” he said. “It should be intuitive and easy to use… ‘Technology’ is often a euphemism for poor design. So if somehow, if I call something ‘technology,’ there’s this expectation on the user that I’m going to have to do something different. I’m going to have to download this, I’m going to have to reboot that, I’m going to have to stand upside down and do it this way, I have to change the way I’m speaking. That’s crazy… When technology really works, you stop calling it technology. You call it a radio, or a TV or a dishwasher, or an ice box — refrigerator nowadays. All of which, when they were developed, were ‘technology.'”

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Continue reading the full story on ZDNet, here!

 

 

Fast-growing senior living tech startup K4Connect was among the companies recognized when the North Carolina Technology Association hosted its 2018 NC Tech Awards Gala.

 

By: WRAL TechWire

November 16, 2018

More than 800 attendees packed into the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham for the annual event, which recognizes those who have made significant contributions over the past year to the tech sector, community and state.

“Year after year we continue to see a high level of excellence and innovation from the technology community in North Carolina,” NC TECH’s president and CEO Brooks Raiford said in a statement.

“We’re pleased to highlight such a diverse mix of companies and leaders at this year’s Awards event.”

K4Connect, along with a host of other North Carolina-based technology companies, won an IoT Award at the annual NC Technology Association Awards. 

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See the full story and list of winners on WRAL TechWire, here

 

As we continue to develop our products, finding creative and useful ways to help caregivers is something we always consider with each new feature. At K4Connect, our goal is to help family and professional caregivers give their loved ones the best care possible.

 

 

By: Diana Gore

Product Manager, K4Connect 

November 4, 2018

Being a caregiver is not for the faint of heart, no matter the age of the care recipient.  As a mom of twins I experienced the reality of sheer exhaustion and the stress that comes with two babies.  And a few years later I discovered another level of stress that came with two toddlers and a new baby in our home.  Just as caring for young children adds a new dimension of stress to life, so does caring for an aging loved one. Luckily, there is a massive new wave of caregiving resources being developed as baby boomers age.

As a product manager at K4Connect, I work daily to understand how the technology we create can help improve the lives of seniors and those that care for them.  As a company we believe that tech can make the lives of seniors and those that care for them simpler, healthier and happier. Our first product, K4Community, includes communication tools that help families stay connected through voice, text and video chatting which can help provide caregivers peace of mind about their loved one.  In addition to improved communication, there are a bevy of low-cost (or free) tech tools that can help ease your mind and lift your spirits.

According to the 2015 National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP Caregiving in America report, about 34.2 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult age 50 or older over a 12 month period.  Almost half of all family caregivers reported being “somewhat stressed” and more than a third reported being “highly stressed”meaning that if you’re experiencing this, you’re not alone!  Being the caregiver of an aging loved one can be rewarding but also comes with challenges, many of which can affect your own health.

Paid, professional caregivers are also not immune to the stress that comes from caregiving.  The PHI Workforce Data Center sites that in 2016 there were almost 4.5 million direct care workers providing hands on care in the United States. These paid caregivers often work long shifts and have physically, mentally and emotionally demanding roles.  The American Psychology Association’s 2014 Stress Statistics list job pressure as the number two cause of stress, just behind money.  Implementing ways to reduce stress for direct care workers can improve morale and job satisfaction.

Caregivers must care for themselves so they can in turn care for others.  Paid or unpaid, caregiving is a challenging role and finding ways to reduce stress is critical to maintaining the caregivers overall health.  Stress can be a constant companion when you are a caregiver but it doesn’t have to be.

Here are 5 ways to reduce caregiver stress:

1. Laugh

A good laugh can help relieve built up stress and improve your mood. By following sites like Reader’s Digest’s Funny Jokes on social media, you can get your daily dose of laughter just by scrolling Facebook. Here’s a sample of what you might see:

Why aren’t koalas actually bears?

• They don’t meet the koalafications.

What does a pepper do when it’s angry?

• It gets jalapeño face!

As a scarecrow, people say I’m outstanding in my field.

• But hay, it’s in my jeans.

Laughter really can be a great medicine! A 2014 study conducted at Loma Linda University showed that humor can have clinical benefits and help support whole-person wellness.

The Mayo Clinic states that laughter has the following short-term health benefits:

Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain:

Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.

Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress. It’s hard to feel anxious or tense when you have a big smile on your face.

Read the comics, watch a comedy show, search for funny video clips online, call or text a friend who makes you laugh, download some of these funny apps or check out this site for some more good clean jokes!

2. Take a break

Grab a quick 5 minute walk, linger at the water fountain or sink and sip your water, scroll through some pictures on your phone or tablet, listen to one of your favorite songs, play with a pet, sit in your car an visualize yourself in a place that is peaceful or jump online and visit the Calm website or use the Calm free mobile app (available for both iPhone and Android for quick stress reduction.

Giving yourself a few minutes throughout your day to take a break and regroup will give you the boost you need to continue to stay focused and energized as a caregiver.

3. Practice Breathing Techniques

A highly effective way to relieve stress is to use focused breathing techniques that encourage slow, deep breaths.  You can start by simply taking a slow deep breath in through your nose and breathe out gradually through your mouth (try to make the exhale take twice as long as the inhale), repeat 3-4 times.  Other recommended breathing techniques that help reduce stress are belly breathing, 4-7-8 breathing and roll breathing.

There are now several free apps that help guide you through this. Check out these out:

• MyCalmBeat on iPhone or Android
• Breathe2Relax on iPhone or Android

4. Get Up and Move

Exercise releases endorphins, the natural chemicals produced in your body and brain that create a positive feeling in your body, often making you feel pleasure and satisfaction.  The positive feeling will leave you feeling less stressed and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. John Ratey, MD, a Harvard Medical School professor and the author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, says just two minutes of exercise is enough to change your mood if you raise your heart rate.  “Anything from squats to jumping jacks supplies a surge of neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin – the same targets as antidepressants,” he says.

30 minutes of physical exercise a day is ideal but if you can’t fit 30 minutes straight into your day then break it into three 10 minute intervals.  Go on a walk, do some yard work, stretch, jog in place during commercial breaks of your favorite show. Take 10 minutes and do some simple exercises – 10 air squats, 10 jumping jacks, 10 standing push-ups, 10 calf raises and repeat.

Activity trackers can be a great way to motivate you to get up and move around, even when you might not feel like it.  It’s such an important part of overall well-being that K4Connect partnered with Garmin to provide fitness trackers to residents in communities using K4Community.  This provides them a way to keep track of their wellness and get out and move. You can start tracking your daily exercise and set goals for yourself using activity tracking wearables such as the Garmin Vivofit 3 that is used by K4Community members.

5. Gratitude

This can be a powerful means to combat stress because it reminds you to look for the positives.  There are good things in life regardless of how stressful or overwhelming things may seem. Making time to pause and acknowledge things you are grateful for will help shift your perspective and reduce your stress.  Not convinced about the importance of gratitude, here are 7 scientifically proven benefits of gratitude.

Here are some simple ways to inject gratitude into your day:

• Keep a paper gratitude journal or check out these gratitude journal apps on iOS or Android.
• Post quotes and images that remind you to be grateful around your house or workplace.
• Surprise someone with an act of kindness.
• Watch an inspiring video that will remind you of the good in the world.
• Send someone a handwritten thank-you note or thank-you email or text.
• Make a donation to an organization you are grateful for.

Unfortunately for caregivers, stress is an inevitable part of the job.  With some management and help from technology, there are many ways to help assist in this.  

At K4Connect, we don’t have all the answers, but our goal is to help family and professional caregivers use technology to stay cool, calm and collected.  As we continue to develop our products, finding creative and useful ways to help caregivers is something we always consider with each new feature.

Wearables and smart home devices are quickly on their way to becoming a “must-have” rather than a “nice-to-have” for older adults.  The info they can provide to users, users’ families and their doctors can potentially save a life or correct an issue before it becomes a real problem.

By: Kuldip Pabla

Senior Vice President of Engineering, K4Connect

November 1, 2018

Smart home devices and wearables are revolutionizing our world in many ways and will continue to do so – in fact the U.S. market for wearables is expected to grow to 51 billion by 2022. Wearables have gone beyond simple personal fitness devices for monitoring heart rates to those that can now monitor blood glucose levels or even help protect against skin cancer. Sophisticated AR/VR devices, such as Google Glasses, are allowing surgeons to float medical images in their field of view during operations.

Wearables are also transforming elderly care, which will be critical in the years to come. By 2030, older adults are projected to outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history, with nearly 1 in every 5 U.S. residents of retirement age. This increase in the aging population combined with the rise in chronic illness will have tremendous impact on the U.S. healthcare system. Cardiovascular problems, along with diabetes and obesity are problematic for older populations. These diseases may be attributed to lack of physical movement, unhealthy lifestyle, or even bad posture – which wearable devices can help.

Tech has an important role to play

Technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart devices, can help us predict –and sometimes even prevent – certain illnesses and play an important part in preventative care. In addition, smart devices for the home can help seniors overcome day-to-day physical challenges due to age or disabilities, and remain independent.

Wearable devices have an important role to play in assisting the elderly, but have shortcomings as well. For example, while the concept and function of the neck pendant to detect falls is fantastic, older adults are less inclined to adopt it, as they don’t want to be stigmatized as needing help or needing to be watched over. For a wider adoption, wearable devices will need to address sentiments of a senior as much as the functionality. Like beautiful jewelry, technology must be able to be a seamless part of seniors’ lives.

We need to ask more of smart devices. These devices possess a plethora of rich data that can be leveraged to take preventative or corrective actions. With the help of these devices, we can monitor and observe a user’s physical activities and gather data not just about the number of steps taken, but how those steps were taken. Were they quick or slow? Devices should track a user’s trend in how speed and movement has changed over time. Has the user slowed, begun limping, or altered activity overall? Coupled with AI, these insights can help predict if a user is prone to a chronic disease or chronic pain in the short or long term. This information can also alert the user to visit their doctor for further help – before a problem gets worse. Since the data is collected over time, doctors will have access to richer information instead of diagnosing a patient at a given moment, which only tells a small part of the story.

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Check out the full story on IoT Evolution Health News, here

About the author: Kuldip Pabla is the Senior Vice President of Engineering at K4Connect. He oversees the continued development of K4Community, the company’s solution designed specifically for, and with, the residents and staff of senior living communities worldwide, as well as the development of future solutions planned for the home.

Edited by Ken Briodagh

K4Connect a Raleigh, NC-based provider of smart home and on-demand app integration for senior-living facilities, raised $12 million in new venture capital funding led by AXA Venture Partners.

By: Dan Primack

October 24, 2018

Why it matters: This is one of very few consumer tech startups aimed at America’s fastest-growing demographic, and it’s founded by the guy whose last company helped Apple enable TouchID.

“There’s a joke that San Francisco is the premiere assisted living community for millennials. You can sit there and have everything brought to you that you ever may need. We integrate technologies that have been targeted toward a younger demographic and make them work for older adults and people living with disabilities.” — K4Connect CEO Scott Moody via CNBC.

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Read more from Axios, here

AXA Venture Partners and Intel Capital are among investors pouring $12 million in Series B funding into K4Connect. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, K4Connect aims to make the best new technologies accessible to seniors and people living with disabilities.

By: Lora Kolodny

October 23, 2018

In 2012, “biometric authentication” sounded like science fiction — scan your fingerprint into a mobile phone to unlock it and access your digital wallet.

An entrepreneur named Scott Moody helped take biometrics mainstream. He sold his first company, AuthenTec, to Apple in 2012, enabling features like Touch ID and Apple Pay in iOS devices.

Now Moody is working to ensure that seniors won’t be left behind as new technologies take over the home, whether it’s smart devices or on-demand apps. His new company, K4Connect, brings the latest tech to senior communities, and makes it all easy to operate without the need for expensive IT teams.

“There’s a joke that San Francisco is the premiere assisted living community for millennials,” Moody said, in an interview. “You can sit there and have everything brought to you that you ever may need. We integrate technologies that have been targeted toward a younger demographic and make them work for older adults and people living with disabilities. We’re integrating the best in technology to improve their lives.”

K4Connect’s system employs edge-cloud architecture, which means that even if the Wi-Fi goes out at a given facility, residents can still use their smart ovens, televisions, lights and more. K4Connect is currently used by at least 13,000 residents in senior living communities from Florida to California.

AXA Venture Partners and Intel Capital are among investors who just poured $12 million in Series B funding into K4Connect, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $22 million.

Moody said that his Raleigh, North Carolina-based start-up will use the funding to expand to new senior and assisted living communities. K4Connect is constantly piloting new technologies, he said, including voice-controlled devices. Moody has an eye on autonomous shuttles and robotics that could help seniors and people with disabilities stay as mobile and socially connected as they desire.

“It’s not that older people don’t like tech,” he said. “They just don’t like tech that was made by a 25-year-old, with a large font slapped on it.”

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Read more from CNBC, here