Nortek Security and Control (NSC), which bought mPERS and telehealth company Numera Libris this past summer, has announced the first new product from the Numera brand post-acquisition. Numera EverThere, a cloud-based data analytics and notification platforms for seniors aging in place.
"We’re bringing together personal safety and emergency response with health monitoring and providing services that allow you to proactively engage with people," Tim Smokoff, group vice president health and wellness at Nortek Security and Control and former CEO of Numera Libris, told MobiHealthNews. "Most of what’s in the market is reactive -- 'I’ve fallen, I can’t get up, I have to push the button.' Libris does automatic fall detection. In over half the cases, the senior is incapacitated and can’t press the button and we use activity data to learn that the fall occurred. [With EverThere] we’ve broadened that to include general activity level throughout the day and trends over time in a consumer-directed way."
Everthere will aim instead to be proactive, analyzing users' activity data to predict when a fall or some other adverse event might be likely, and alerting caregivers -- whether they are family members, neighbors, close personal friends, or professional health workers. It will alert preselected individuals in the event of a fall, a prolonged lack of movement, or a deviation from normal movement patterns, for instance.
Numera bought the trademark for EverThere back from AT&T, who had used it to sell a whitelabelled version of Numera Libris. The new EverThere refers to a platform that will mainly connect to Libris, an mPERS pendant, but can also do analytics and generate alarms from other sources. Users can monitor a senior's blood pressure, weight, and blood glucose levels with other connected devices, according to Smokoff.
In the future, NSC could incorporate EverThere with other sorts of sensors in the home, including "smart home" devices.
"This is an effort that was started prior to the acquisition, but it really takes on additional life within Nortek Security and Control," Smokoff said. "It establishes the first cloud service and cloud analytics for NSC. You’ll see us continue to build out over time additional functionality that ties into the home sensor market. ... You can imagine motion sensors in the home, sensors attached to the refrigerator, etc. as additional signals that feed the cloud analytics to create events people might be interested in."
