Worldwide, the life expectancy of older people continues to rise. By 2020, for the first time in history, the number of people aged 60 years and older will outnumber children younger than 5 years of age. By 2050, the world's population aged 60 years and older is expected to total 2 billion, up from 841 million today (according to WHO report). This population needs continuous medical supervision and care.
Personal emergency response systems or devices, also referred to as PERS devices, promote the independence and improve the quality of lives of elderly and disabled members of the population by providing “anytime-anywhere” access to assistance provided by family or a professional alarm control center.
“Anytime” access requires that a PERS device is always operational and ready to output an alarm to a service provider in case of an emergency,
“Anywhere” access means that the PERS device requires technologies that allow the service provider to communicate with and possibly locate the incapacitated person. Such technologies include communication technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth; and location technologies make (for example) use of a global positioning system (GPS) or Wi-Fi. The fact that the PERS device needs to be with the user at all times necessitates that the PERS device is attached to the neck or elsewhere on the body.
US2009121863 and US20140150530A1 disclose wearable PERS devices that have communication technologies for sending a help request to a professional alarm control center.
US20090121863 discloses a PERS device containing an emergency button that the person can press to call for help. However, in an emergency situation, the person may panic and be confused making it difficult for the person to properly press the emergency push button.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of initiating an alarm that is simpler for a person in distress.