Mesa assisted living community using artificial intelligence to prevent falls

MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — Getting older comes with challenges, and the risk of falling is very real.

“A fall changes a person’s life forever,” said Tawnya Williams-Christensen, the assisted living director at Fellowship Square Mesa.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 14 million Americans 65 and older report falling yearly. Seniors who suffer a fall could face steep medical bills, rehabilitation, and maybe even a loss of independence.

“We spent a lot of time looking for fall detection, and suddenly it hit us. Why am I trying to find people who have fallen? Is there a way I can prevent the falls?” said Jon Scott Williams, the executive director of Fellowship Square Mesa.

He says he found his answer in a little device called Paul. It’s a radar-based device that uses artificial intelligence to analyze motion.

“They are calculating those fall risk factors; how we sleep, how we move, how fast am I walking, stability of walking, and everything is combined, and if a resident has a high risk of falling, it will be show to the caregiver,” said Sandro Cilurzo, the founder and CEO of Helpany, which created Paul.

Caregivers can access a dashboard that alerts them to changes in a resident’s movement.

Maybe somebody is getting up more than usual. Maybe they didn’t use their call button for help getting to and from the bathroom. Now, with information and alerts from the device, the caregiver can get there before a fall happens. “It’s privacy preserving. No camera, no microphone, purely based on motion,” Cilurzo said.

For residents, the privacy is a big deal. Still, the thought of A.I. in their personal space wasn’t welcomed for some.

“All of these new technologies are scary at first,” said Williams-Christensen. “But once we fully understand them and we can express and educate the staff and the residents about how beautiful this can be for their lives and how they can live stronger longer, people tend to buy in pretty quickly.”

Fellowship Square Mesa believes that buy-in is paying off. The facility used to average about 20 falls per month among residents.

After they started using Paul in July, that number dropped to 12. In August, there were six falls among residents, and in September and October, there were just four falls each month, according to Williams-Christensen.

“When you don’t have a fall, that is less resources from the fire department, less resources from the hospitals, less resources from families that have to take off and go take care of their loved one,” she said.

In the U.S., Paul is only available in assisted living and senior communities, but Cilurzo says the technology has been used successfully in private homes in Switzerland and that there is potential for expansion.

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