New App Lets You Monitor Your Elderly Parents in Their Own Home

Our parents have cared for us all of their lives. Now, for those of us with parents of advancing age, it's our turn to care for them.�But what are the best options for providing 'round-the-clock supervision and support to an elderly parent?

"The average yearly cost of an assisted living facility is $43,200 per year, and the cost of a nursing home with private room is over $90,000 a year according to the 2015 Genworth Cost of Care Survey," said health care systems expert Jason Carroll, Senior Sales Manager of the fast growing health technology company, Vitall, Inc. "But even for families where such costs are not prohibitive, parents are often reluctant to be relocated from their own homes, which are filled with years of happy memories, and placed into an unfamiliar environment, living with strangers."

As an inexpensive alternative to relocating parents to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, Carroll's company has developed HeyMomDad, the world's first two-way communication and wellness monitoring system for seniors. The system allows children and loved ones to see and hear, in real time, that their elderly parents are safe and well simply by opening an app on their smartphone any time during the day or night.

"The system allows your mom or dad to press one button to talk to you or, if necessary, notify you if help is needed," said Carroll. "Once the notification appears on your phone, you just tap the HeyMomDad icon and you can instantly see, hear, and talk to your parent through the high quality HD video and two-way audio component that's part of HeyMomDad."

Carroll said the HeyMomDad monitoring solution isn't like other systems that simply call a monitoring service or dial 911.

"Most seniors are very reluctant to call 911 in an emergency because they're embarrassed or they don't want to cause a fuss or incur an expense, which can be as high as $1,200 even for false alarms where paramedics were dispatched," said Carroll. "But with the HeyMomDad solution, seniors have a choice: press the blue button on the Instant Alert Pager to alert only family and friends, or press the red button to alert family, friends and 911."

Carroll said the system's high definition camera can be controlled through the smart phone and directed to any location in the room, permitting a full 270 degree view. The camera even boasts night vision for clear viewing in dark rooms where lights have been turned off.

"What we're offering families with elderly members is a way to stay close; a way to know in a second if your parent or grandparent is doing well. One button push and they're connected to you," said Carroll.

"Just as importantly, HeyMomDad is a way for our parents to keep their independence and live life the way they want -- with honor and dignity in their own homes. Not only does it address the needs of seniors and their caregiving family members, it's an excellent, low-cost alternative to engaging a nurse or moving to a senior living facility."

The HeyMomDad monitoring solution is easy to install with simple plug-and-play functionality. The only requirement is a reliable connection to the Internet via any existing Ethernet modem (not included).