Elderly Monitoring

I'm looking for some ideas...

My 96 year old grandfather still lives on his own. Geographically, I am the closest. My father and his sister are in town, but about 20 min away. So the old guy had an episode a couple of weeks ago where he left the house on foot and got lost. He went to the neighbors' and they called my dad, but it could have been much worse.

So I started thinking about this and figured that door sensors and 2 way cameras are the solution to this. A text when the front, back or garage door open and then check the video if there is concern...

I was pretty  shocked that my googling only came up with 1 product, and it didn't have cameras! That product is called silver mother, and has awful amazon reviews.

So... ideas? 

My own off the wall idea was some raspberry pis at each door with camera modules attached to magnetic door sensors, but that's quite a bit of work and not exactly easy.

GRM Good Guy CWH may have some suggestions. I think he's in the security camera business.

What about a GPS tracker? Stick one in his wallet or cane. 

Sounds like you need two products; a security system that texts you when the doors are opened and an IP based video setup. Just an IP camera setup that records video when there's motion would work. Most of the cheapies will do that. I can't point you to specific products but maybe that'll jog your idea center. Combine off the shelf systems to get the functionality you need. 

Yeah, seems like most of the newer security systems would cover most of your needs.  Heck, you might even be able to use one of those Ring door monitors to allow you to ask him where he's going if he leaves the house.  You of course will want to warn him about that of course. If he is a religious man, he might think it's the rapture the first time you use it.

Bonus on using a security system is that he gets a security system, which is a good way to sell it.

I'll be the bad guy.  If he can't find the house he presumably has lived in for 50 years or more, it's time for assisted living, whether it's a group home or live in help.  

If the product you are finding has a name like "Silver Mother", you must be including "elderly" in your searches. I don't think you want that. 

Every commercial system I have done in the past 6 years has the capability you are looking for, but at a high cost. 

I'd look for "Video Baby Monitors".  

My son uses a low cost security camera he can view on his iPhone. I'll see if I can learn more...

My sister uses a couple Ring video cameras to 'peek in' parts of the house, while she's at work, as overwatch for our 80+ yr young mother.  She suffers from Sjogren's, which makes life a little unpredictable with sense of balance, and being Mom, a stubborn streak the size of a Suburban.

If there is an internet connection in the house, check out Blink.   Not too expensive, easy to set up, and you can monitor it from anywhere with your smart phone. I have a setup with outdoor cameras monitoring the doors and got notification when the mail lady delivered the mail even though I was 300 miles away.

There is not internet now, but nobody has an issue with getting it for him...

I was actually shocked that I couldn't find a home security system with the things I want built in. I'm going to call my alarm guy tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions.

It is seeming more and more like it should be a combination of alarm system and security cameras... or perhaps ring.com does have all of the needed parts, even if they aren't used as they were intended.

If only the Nest doorbell was out!

In reply to asoduk :

The Nest Cam does almost everything you need. My son has one- they use it to tell the cat to get off the furniture.

Combine it with Nest Secure, and it will do everything you need and more. Nest Secure has not yet been released, but can be pre-ordered. 

I use two products but they both work with wifi.

One, I have an old smart phone together with the free app "salient eye" pointing to the front door. There's also a pay app with more functionality but since I always leave mine on I don't need it. I just don't pay attention to the emails that come while I'm home. 

Takes pictures at any movement and sends a notification email. 

The second is "wansview" cameras and the free app.

Wansview camera on amazon

I use it to keep an eye on the house and also the kids rooms. Simple to set up and see it on my phone anywhere. The app is a bit of a battery hog if left running, that's why I keep the salient eye phone by the front door.

Your grandfather may also benefit from always having a phone in his pocket that he can call if lost or if he takes a fall.

Good luck. 

Simplisafe.com might be able to do what you want - not sure if it can do texts or is limited to emails.  If you have wifi, you can add camera's.  I use one of their systems just as a security system, and have been happy with the product and service.

Aaannd... I know this is isn't what you asked about, but if confusion is starting to be a factor, then you really will need to come up with real a plan to provide additional assistance up to and including assisted living or other situation.  Plenty of opportunities for not good things to happen even without leaving the home.  Good luck, it can be tough (just went through this with my folks - including trying to enable them to live independently longer then they really should have).

In reply to Streetwiseguy : Assisted dying you mean?   Most of those places are filled with minimum wage temp workers, who in spite of what they save to the family really don't care.  

Yes there are exceptions but most of the exceptions are extremely costly  

Thanks guys. I'm going to try the old phone thing this weekend. I'm also thinking that it would pair really well with simplisafe.

As for the other part that involves assisted living or whatever... its being looked into, and he now has help at the house every day, which I guess kind of makes this more of a security thing now. Go figure.

Streetwiseguy said:

I'll be the bad guy.  If he can't find the house he presumably has lived in for 50 years or more, it's time for assisted living, whether it's a group home or live in help.  

My mom always told us she didn't want to go to assisted living . We did everything we could to take care of her as she aged. We even moved her into a house next door to me but my 12 hrs days didn't give me much time to spend with her. After five years it became harder for her to do the smallest tasks like cooking, laundry etc. She asked if we could find a good assisted living home for her. It turned out that she loved it. She made friends and she was only alone when she wanted her privacy.