When looking at assisted living or memory care communities, one of your top priorities is safety, right? Depending on the design of the community, you might expect standard safety features like grab bars, handrails, and call buttons to be in place. But these days, senior living technology can do so much more to protect residents.
At Park Senior Villas, we heard about an advanced fall prevention device for assisted living facilities that could not only help prevent falls but also detect changes in residents’ movement patterns that would generate alerts for caregivers. In some cases, we learned, these alerts have resulted in the early diagnosis of underlying health conditions, enabling treatment to begin before the health issues became severe.
Naturally, we wanted to know more.
We called Helpany, the company that developed this technology for assisted living facilities, and arranged for a demonstration. That’s how we met Helpany’s co-founders, Sandro Cilurzo and Eugenie Nicoud.
The Future of Assisted Living Technology, Available Today
When you think of technology in senior living, you might think of “nanny cams” and other monitoring devices that help family members keep an eye on an aging parent who’s still living at home. Or motion detectors that let caregivers know when someone is getting out of bed.
While artificial intelligence might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of assisted living technologies, that’s precisely what makes Helpany’s AI and radar-based integrated fall prevention system, called Paul, so remarkable.
Here’s a basic description of how Paul works.
Discreet Devices — No Cameras, No Microphones
Paul’s motion sensors are small, wired-in units set in an appropriate location within the room. They use radar to sense even the slightest human movement within the room. The AI component analyzes patterns in these movements over time to detect changes in the patterns.
For example, Paul can identify obvious changes, such as an increase in the number of times a resident gets up during the night to use the bathroom. But Paul can also detect more subtle changes in how a resident “moves through space,” as Cilurzo phrases it, such as differences in a resident’s gait and step length. Any of these and other changes Paul identifies can signal a potential increase in a resident’s risk of falling.
And, since Paul uses no cameras or microphones, the resident’s privacy is protected.
Senior Care Technology That Acts as a Virtual Care Assistant for Caregivers
Helpany’s fall prevention system supports caregivers in their daily routines by continuously monitoring human motion 24/7, generating reports on detected changes in residents’ movement patterns. The reports help caregivers identify concerns early so they can talk with residents about changes in their mobility or well-being. Often, residents don’t notice these gradual changes themselves. Raising their awareness can be crucial in identifying and addressing underlying causes.
Real-Time Preventive Alarms for Proactive Fall Prevention
In addition to motion reports, Helpany’s preventive alarms provide real-time alerts when a resident starts moving within their room. This allows caregivers to respond promptly, ensuring timely assistance and reducing fall risk. These alerts are particularly critical for residents at high risk of falls and at night, when residents may be more vulnerable.
Remote Monitoring Enhances Residents’ Safety
Helpany’s remote monitoring capabilities essentially allow caregivers to be multiple places at once, as they can use their smartphones to see if residents are in their rooms even while assisting another resident. By streamlining information access, the system increases efficiency, reduces caregiver workload, and ensures a higher standard of care for residents.
Bringing Paul to Park Senior Villas
We were so impressed by Helpany’s demonstration of their technology and what all it can do, we decided to give Paul a try. We installed the fall prevention devices throughout our La Cañada community in Tucson for a trial run that lasted from October through December 2024.
During this three-month period, Paul helped reduce the number of falls per month by 67% (compared to our long-term monthly average fall rate). Caregivers provided more than 180 proactive care interventions, leading to more personalized and responsive care.
Based on these results, we knew we had to implement this technology in our three other communities as well.
“At Park Senior Villas, the safety and well-being of our residents are our top priority,” said Christina Ryan, CEO. “Implementing Helpany’s Paul device has been a game-changer, enabling us to provide proactive, around-the-clock care without compromising privacy.”
How Paul Was Named, and Other Helpany Insights
We recently spoke with Sandro Cilurzo, the Helpany co-founder who developed the technology known as Paul. He shared with us some interesting background on Paul’s origins and his thoughts on what lies ahead.
Below are several questions we asked Cilurzo and his responses:
Q: What inspired you to develop this technology?
A: Eight years ago, I was working in Switzerland as a cybersecurity officer in a hospital for mental conditions. During monthly “think tank” meetings with the chief medical officer and director of nursing, we would talk about problems they were having and how technology might address those problems.
The No. 1 topic from the dementia care unit was always fall prevention. They researched everything available at the time, but nothing could fulfill the needs of either the caregivers or the residents. They asked me to find solutions that would preserve residents’ privacy.
As an engineer by training, and as I became closer to the medical professionals and caregivers, I could see it was possible to solve the problem differently, through technology.
How to address the fall epidemic has been on the top of my mind all this time, because it’s a global problem.
Q: Why the U.S.?
A: For many reasons, including my personal preferences — because I just love being here in this environment. But also because of the opportunity to scale. Here it’s quite common for family members to live far apart from their parents. If they move into an assisted living community, it can be hours away or in a different state. Having the technology to connect people makes even more sense here in the U.S.
Q: How would you describe Paul to residents in an assisted living community?
A: There are two components. First, Paul is like a motion sensor but more advanced. Paul understands not only that motion occurs in the room, but also what kind of motion is happening. How we move matters because it’s an early indicator of underlying health concerns. Paul is like a private health companion to residents, in the room 24/7, helping them thrive by letting them know if things are starting to decline or change. If you’re aware of a concern, you can do something about it.
That’s where the AI component comes in — the interpretation and understanding of every individual motion pattern. AI is the perfect tool because it’s not one-size-fits-all. It needs to be something intelligent, behind the scenes, making sense of it all.
We think about the problem of falling differently at Helpany. Instead of accepting that sooner or later everyone will fall because it’s a natural part of aging, we believe the reason there are so many falls is because people lack the necessary information to be proactive. Rather than making changes after someone has fallen, it’s better to be able to spot those at risk before they fall.
Everybody wins when residents can be as independent as possible for as long as possible.
Q: How did you come up with the name Paul?
A: We are huge Beatles fans at Helpany. The song “Help” was in my head when we were brainstorming names for the company, and the lyrics seemed so accurate for the people we wanted to help.
I think Paul is a perfect name because it’s an homage to Paul McCartney, and Paul (the device) can help anyone. I’ve had residents say to me, “Paul is my pal.”
Q: Will there be a next-generation Paul?
A: There isn’t really a need. Paul is built to last, and communities get the latest functionalities all the time, similar to software updates. Paul is continuously evolving, day by day.
Senior Living Technology Trends
The integrated Paul system is an example of predictive analytics, using machine learning algorithms (a form of artificial intelligence) to analyze data and predict potential fall risks. Wearable devices, like smartwatches, are another application of predictive analytics.
Other types of technology gaining popularity in the senior living space are virtual reality, voice-activated and smart home technologies, telemedicine, and robotics. Contact us to learn more about the advancements in senior living we’re embracing at Park Senior Villas, or to schedule a time to visit any of our four communities.
Featured Image: Helpany
