According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in three seniors fall each year resulting in more than $34 billion in healthcare costs. Nearly half of these falls occur away from the home. For this reason, many companies offer personal emergency response systems (PERS) for the elderly. Numera is one such company.
Their Libris system provides a pendant with an emergency button. It provides wireless two-way communication between the wearer and a call center. It also provides location information, so that emergency responders can be dispatched if necessary. The system also has automatic fall detection. The system does not rely on home networks, and so can work inside and away from the wearer’s home. The company also has a Libris+ version that can receive and forward health information from wireless devices such as smart scales. This can make the information available to caregivers and healthcare professionals so that they can monitor the wearer’s health and activity remotely.
The news is that Nortek Security & Control has acquired the Health and Wellness Technology business from Numera. The company has more than 50 years of experience and is a leader in smart connected products and services. This announcement is of particular interest, given the rapid growth of the wearables industry. It makes sense that we will see consolidation and attrition, as smaller companies get acquired or fall by the wayside. This is probably a good thing overall, as it means more resources will be available to promote and develop a smaller number of winning products.
