Seniors Using iPhone Apps to Alert When They Fall

Each year falls create fractures, bruising, and serious injuries for the elderly, as their bodies are not as durable and they often cannot get up on their own. The elderly often live at home alone until they move into senior housing, and not having anyone around is a frequent worry for their loved ones who are concerned with their safety. Now there are some new apps for the iPhone or iPod Touch that seniors can use to help alert others when they take a fall. The two apps starting to generate buzz in the space are Fall Alert and iDown, which both rely on the internal accelerometer which allows the app to detect rapid acceleration like a fall. Seniors using iDown will only have emails sent to others when they take a fall, but those using Fall Alert will have the app call a designated phone number.

The iDown and Fall Alert apps are still relatively new, and early reviews indicate that they still have work to do to become more useful to those seniors who are looking for extra support if they were to take a fall. Falls happen in all sorts of directions, and the accelerometer is only so intelligent on picking up all falls, so many people who have downloaded the app report that it only works about half of the time. If app developers continue to improve upon this technology, it could give millions of seniors an easy way to add a fall detection app into their everyday life to help keep them safe.

(Source: guidetonursinghomes.com)