Aging In Place Directory

#49 - Beyond Cameras: Reimagining the Connected Home for Elderly Care

• Esther C Kane CAPS, C.D.S. • Episode 49

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Jim Conti from HomeSite joins us to explore how their innovative TV-based health hub creates a safe aging-in-place experience through non-intrusive monitoring and family connectivity. The technology leverages familiar devices seniors already use while providing caregivers and family members with crucial health and safety information without compromising dignity or independence.

• HomeSite transforms televisions into comprehensive health hubs for aging in place
• The system features a privacy camera with a physical shutter that only opens with permission
• Environmental sensors track movement patterns, temperature, and light throughout the home
• Remote health monitoring includes blood pressure, weight, and other vital signs
• Family members can connect through video calls and photo/video sharing to combat isolation
• The technology detects potential health issues early by monitoring behavioral patterns
• Smart features include fall detection and the ability to remotely unlock doors for emergency responders
• The system stores health data in a HIPAA-compliant cloud accessible to authorized caregivers
• HomeSite is developing specialized features for aging in place with pets
• Installation is simple with just an HDMI connection and power cord

If you're interested in learning more about HomeSite for yourself or a loved one, visit ventiva.com/homesite or contact them directly to be connected with a local home care provider who can help with setup and ongoing support.


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Speaker 1:

you. I think it's amazing. I can't wait to get into this. I've been looking at your site and the videos, so all right. So welcome everyone. I'm Esther Kane with AgingInPlaceDirectorycom and SeniorSafetyAdvicecom and I am so excited to be geeking out with from home site. Yes, jim Conti, is it Conti?

Speaker 2:

Yes, conti, it's a good. Sicilian name.

Speaker 1:

Yes, well, I am 100% Sicilian. Yes, mom, and dad, born and raised there. Yeah, so I get it. So what I am interested in? When I was looking at your LinkedIn, do people ask you what does Internet of Things mean? What is the IoT? What is that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's a huge moment. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

How do you explain it and how did you get into that?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've always been into disruptive technologies, back to when paging was the way we communicated, so that'll date me just a tad.

Speaker 2:

Right, if you had a pager right, that was, that was technology back then with my eight track player and other devices of our time and have moved through the continuum of technology into what was, you know, cellular phones that were the size of a suitcase and cost, you know, a hundred bucks a month per call not a month per call. And I was with a cellular one franchise. That was the first national. Yeah, Again, taking that technology back and you start to see how technology impacts people's lives and that the beginning of this IOT, these connected devices, this internet of things that are now connected to the internet, that give us data feeds, that give us information, that and we don't have to be physically in the building anymore to make changes adjust your thermostat, unlock doors you know these are conveniences that this technology, this platform, now provides us. And it has segued into multifamily. Right Now, all apartments are equipped. Homes are coming with, you know, thermostats and various smart locks and other devices that provide conveniences. All appliances are connected to the Internet now. So it's getting to the point?

Speaker 2:

where do when they see blood pressure uploaded to the cloud? What do they do when they see fall detection? Right? There's a lot of cool things that now go from technology as a concept to real, to real world application, but who deciphers that information really depends on who the receiver is and what their, their, their, their, their need is, or their, their support functions. Who the receiver is and what their, their, their, their, their need is, or their, their support functions.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I mean I like to, I like I look at it from a safety perspective, all of those things truly are convenient.

Speaker 1:

I mean they do make your life so much easier but, from a safety perspective, for not only older adults but anyone who's disabled or, you know, or just even the caregivers who are having to do 32 million things at the same time. It seems like you know, it's a safety issue for them as well. Yeah, I think, I think it's amazing. And home site you know, when we were talking about this earlier. I love the idea that you said. You know basically a lot of older adults, especially for older adults, learning how to use an app, learning how to get into an app and learning how to. I mean, you know, my sister's in her mid 70s and she struggles sometimes with trying to figure out now where is that thing?

Speaker 2:

and then how do I do it?

Speaker 1:

and why did it change? And whatever, because every time there's an update there's a change somewhere. But I love what you said about the fact that you're integrating this technology on something we all know and have known for a long time the television.

Speaker 2:

So tell me how that all came about out Well, technology for the sake of technology is I mean you can build anything you want in the lab and people have.

Speaker 2:

Great technologies have come to bear, but they were just too complicated for adoption, and especially now, with folks that are now in that aging generation that do not have smartphones. Still, there are still companies out there that are still providing flip phones and they still do not have or have not adopted a smartphone, and that's okay, right. We believe technology should be as invisible as it can be, but yet be as readily available as it can be. So when you're, when you look at that marketplace, what was the single common denominator was that folks that are aging in place are watching TV and have multiple TVs Maybe. They're watching six, eight hours a day and they're getting all their information from the news feeds and all their information is coming from that the television, and people are providing content now through the TV, so you can get anything you want through YouTube. You can get anything you want from a Hulu subscription, so why not bring healthcare through the very vehicle that folks are sitting on their couch or their chair and they're watching?

Speaker 2:

Now, how do I tell you? These things are happening and they've made the technology now so that it sits, connects to your TV and does everything you would need it to do with minimal engagement for the folks that are using it. So it's not complicated, it's not 12 step process. I don't need to go find my iPad in order to do my thing or talk to my grandson. It's oh, I'm already here and then, oh, I'm not going to make a call, oh, it's in the same place. They get that. And then we're building that ecosystem out around the TV concept. So now that you can get your news feeds, but you also get your health updates, you get your wellness checks, you get everything you might need as an aging in place care receiver from the same place that you're very comfortable with using and most people are comfortable with, you know, a remote or things of that nature, right yeah.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And are those health monitoring? Is that connected to the physician, to the hospital? Is that? How is that? Or is it just for the patient? It really depends. How is that? Or is it just for?

Speaker 2:

the patient. It really depends. And it really depends because you can have multiple connections to this health hub that is now in your home. So if you start off at the most basic on the health continuum right, you still have folks like we're still ambulatory, we're still driving, we're still out there, but our kids may be all over the world. So how do we communicate with our loved ones? How do we connect, stay connected to those folks through a vehicle?

Speaker 2:

We all understand and that's where we start out in the beginning is that the families would have the ability to access home site and maybe they have access to scales or blood pressure cuff information so they make sure that mom and dad's blood pressure is okay and their temperature is okay and they're moving. We have little sensors in the home that are non-intrusive. Did they get up at eight o'clock? Dad always gets up at eight. So if I see movement at eight, we know dad's up and running. If we don't see movement at eight, well, maybe we ought to give dad a call. Right? That's an indicator that maybe something's not right.

Speaker 2:

And that's trying to do it without that feeling of monitoring. Nobody wants a camera looking at them 24-7. Nobody wants to know somebody is monitoring me and we've tried to make it as less intrusive as we possibly can but at the same time knowing we're creating that safe and secure environment that our loved ones need. And a lot of them go unwillingly into that because we're giving up that independence or feeling of giving up that independence. But in exchange sometimes there's that loneliness or detachment because we are living, you know, at home and our kids are out, you know, in the world and they're not here every day. So there's that little balance between technology, management, monitoring, care, right, we're kind of walking that line, but we want to make sure they feel safe and secure, you know, while they are able to be safe at home.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love it and I think you're, I think you're, you know you're spot on with that. I mean, you still have that safety monitoring, but at the same time you're not being watched. You know you're not having big daddy over you or or whatever family, but both both parties have the home site equipment. Explain what it is. I mean, I saw what it was on the website Sure Piece of equipment that sits above the TV. So explain that yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Well it is. It's a small little box and it comes from our genesis is Vantiva, formerly as Technicolor. So we used to provide all the set top boxes back in the days of having an internet box in your home as, again, top boxes back in the days of having an internet box in your home as, again, evolution of technology. And now we've morphed that into now something that has a privacy camera built into it so that it is not always open. The shutter is not always open. There's not a camera watching you 24 by 7. And the only people that can actually start a session are people with authorization to do so. People that can actually start a session are people with authorization to do so. Caregivers, family members, Joe Smith off the street cannot hack into your hub, cannot dial your number and spam you. That camera lens cannot open without your permission and you have the ability to reject a call in order to ensure that feeling of privacy. And if I want that to open during my wellness checks, then I'm the one that authorizes that to happen.

Speaker 2:

And then when it's over, it closes and it goes right back to my TV program that I was watching. So there's no, I got to go through a whole process here to get back to watching TV. But what's really important is that that health hub is so much more than this camera piece. Video calling and the ability for those types of interactions is not new. You can FaceTime and people can go out and get a camera from Best Buy or Amazon, but that camera is always on and it's sitting in your living room looking at you and we don't know what's being recorded in the cloud and things like that them looking at you and we don't know what's being recorded in the cloud and things like that.

Speaker 2:

This health hub is literally the center of everything that we're doing now at Homesite to bring an ecosystem, a very comprehensive TV-based ecosystem of care that includes various sensors, various features like transportation or grocery delivery, additional content like music you know music and faith-based type applications or exercise, and then additional features.

Speaker 2:

So how do we continue to communicate with family, pictures of the grandkids, videos, sharing all of that type of content for that feeling of connected? So that health hub that you're talking about is the beginning of this ecosystem build-out, because we'll now be able to do fall detection, leak detection, smart lock thermostats all through a central hub. That gives you that ability to have one interface but yet provide varying degrees of technology that are needed based on the application. So as we move through our health continuum, we're still good. But if we end up with dementia or Alzheimer's, I can do a cooking sensor to make sure I didn't leave a pot on the stove by accident and create an event that's not good. Or I started my bathtub and I forgot and I have a leak now, or a flood in my house. Again, we want to ensure that it's safe but at the same time, you know, not overbearing from a technology perspective.

Speaker 1:

Are you the fall detection? Does it send out an alert? Is the person who fell able to use their voice to turn it on to call someone? How does that work?

Speaker 2:

And some of the things I'm sharing with you are forward-looking of things we are integrating. So things we have today are, like you know, motion sensors, ambient temperature, light detection, some basic feature of basic sensors. We are working with our partners and our caregiver partners to prioritize what things do we really want to add to our ecosystem. For example, you know, never thought of it, but falls have a precursor and it might be UTIs. And then now it's how many times at night I know it's not the most pleasant conversation, but how many times at night is our loved one going to the bathroom and flushing the toilet? Now you might not think anything of it, but as that, if that frequency suddenly kicks up, you may have something that we can preempt, using technology right To help us see what's going on, because I didn't realize that UTIs could be a precursor to a fall.

Speaker 2:

So, before we get to a fall. We want to be able to mitigate the situation around that. And then, if a fall is detected and we are integrating with some partners for fall detection, what do we do now? Do we open the lens to show the room, to make sure, is our loved one on the? Okay, are they on the floor? They can't answer the door, so okay, we'll unlock the front door so first responders can come in without breaking the door down because they're not able to answer the door.

Speaker 2:

So, you can see the vision of where we're going is preemptive, but at the same time, be able to provide feedback to the caregivers, to the family and then, of course, others that might be involved doctors and nurses and things that are providing that care without again being over-intrusive into someone's life.

Speaker 1:

I love that storyboard. I mean, I can see it almost like a comic book. You know A and then B and then C and then so on, and then you can go so many different ways. I think it's an amazing technology. I think you guys are doing great. What do you think is the most important feature of the home site as it is today?

Speaker 2:

By far. It's the connection to family. I think that if you look at family as the original, initial caregivers for all of us, right, no matter what our age, we're all the caregivers in our family and I think the technology allows us to stay connected when we're not in the same location. Families are all over the world today, right, we're not like it used to be. We all grew up in the same town and you know mom and dad and you know their eight generations are all in the same town.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes on the same street.

Speaker 2:

Well and you could only hope you're even in the same state in some cases. And you know to go see your family is a, it's a. You know you got to take PTO and fly and bring the kids and as you have kids, your life's take over and you're not as available to go visit as much and as we age we're not as available to go fly to see our grandkids. So, using technology to create that connection back, to keep that family connected, so I can share pictures of my grandkids on home side, I can share videos of our vacation. They feel connected that way and I will share with you a very moving story if you don't mind.

Speaker 1:

No, tell me.

Speaker 2:

It's one thing where you start to see we talk about technology as a technology right, it's very cold and displaced. But when you start to see it actually impact people's lives. And we had a story where a woman was, she was in hospice and she was passing and on home site she had her family and they were all over the world. They could not be there in time, they couldn't fly, and they were in her living room and they were all telling stories, singing songs and together when she passed.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And you start thinking, my goodness, it's not a box on top of your TV, it's a connector of families at a time when connection to family is the most single, most important thing you could ask for. And that's why we want to keep a safe, secure environment for our loved ones, so that we have that connection to family and we can share. You know the things with family and I think that if you ask me what our number one thing is, and that's our connection there.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Do you get any pushback? Are there any issues? When you present this to families, any worries that they have about using it? I mean, is it difficult to install? Is the price affordable? Do you get any pushback at all?

Speaker 2:

I would say questions more than pushback. I would say, you know, some folks want to understand. I think, as you and I have discussed, technology is foreign to some. Some kids or children of their loved ones are now looking into it and don't know what's available. Maybe they're not from the space they're researching. What technology can I use to help my aging parents? While you know, while I'm not in the same state, so sometimes it's pure education of what is available to them. If they were looking for just video calling or that type of connection, there are things on Amazon you can get that are very inexpensive if that's what you wanted.

Speaker 2:

But we've decided to move into this more complex, comprehensive solution over as you need things over time, and to add things over time and they start to go. Well, you know, I just want to talk to, you know, mom and dad on Sunday. Well, this is how you do it. Well, all of a sudden, now mom and dad might need in-home care. Well, now we might bring in a home care provider. You know, we might bring in one of our partners to help provide that. And now maybe they have dementia care or they need therapy, or they need physical therapy and then, of course, up to, unfortunately, hospice. Those are all connected in this and when you share that with them, that we have you from the beginning to the end, they feel very good that it's not a one-off solution, that I'm going to have to go do something else later. It's oh, I can start here and if I need other sensors, I can add them if I need to do this. But it's that education process that's probably the biggest challenge is because people are afraid.

Speaker 2:

they don't want a camera in their home, but they do, but they do. And they say I don't really want it on mom and dad feeling like they're being monitored, and that's why we love our little slide camera, because it takes that concern away.

Speaker 1:

Exactly why we love our little slide camera, because it takes that concern away exactly. I mean, I love that concept that it only turns on when you give it permission, only for the people that you have given it permission to. I mean, it's similar to um, but much more comprehensive than um amazon's uh, drop in skill exactly that only works with people that you put into that little community that is allowed to drop in.

Speaker 1:

But this is much more comprehensive than that. I mean that's almost, like you know, dinosaur era compared to what is going on here. I love the environmental sensors. When I saw that on your website, I thought that was a great solution because, you're right, People don't want to be seen on video all the time, but at the same time, it's nice to know that you're being monitored, especially if you are a fall risk type of you know if you have illnesses that cause you to fall, for whatever reason or you're at an age where you might fall and injure yourself.

Speaker 1:

How are those just? Uh, you can place them anywhere on the wall, uh, anywhere yeah, um, I have one right here.

Speaker 2:

Um, it's this little sensor. Looks just like this, very small.

Speaker 1:

It almost looks like a door sensor.

Speaker 2:

Yeah it's got a couple things in it. It's got infrared motion so it knows if you passed in front of it, like you would with any of the lights outside that come on when you go by them, it can do ambient temperature and light. So it knows. Hey, I got up at 2 o'clock but I also turned the bathroom light on because it would detect light. So you can kind of start putting together some of this data in terms of how somebody might be moving through the house. So you put one in the bedroom, one in the kitchen, one in the living room and it will track what's the motion in those various rooms during the course of the day. And again, if your dad's used to getting up at every morning at 6 am and you always see motion at 6 and in the morning, that you don't see motion at six and maybe slept in, but you also might want to give them a call just to make sure everything's okay.

Speaker 1:

Right, Are these all recorded? I mean, if the person got up, didn't get up at eight or six or whatever and I didn't check, you know, if my mother didn't get up at that time or she did and I checked it at 10 AM, would I see that recording or it has to be live.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, all this information is collected and stored in the Homesite Cloud, which is HIPAA compliant, by the way, which is very important. That data is not shared. We do not record any of the calls. The video calling is not recorded. We do have a time date stamp, but there's no collection of the call. We do have a time date stamp, but there's no collection of the call.

Speaker 2:

The information that is tracked on the motion sensors is uploaded through the hub from the sensor to the hub up to our cloud and is captured in our portal that caregivers or family members can see from 6 am till whenever at night.

Speaker 2:

You can see the motion over the course of the day, so it's all stored and then you can see it over time. For example, if you're tracking somebody's blood pressure because we can do a blood pressure cuff remote blood pressure test you see their blood pressure over time, so we're tracking it to ensure blood pressure is getting better. If it's not, hey, we're seeing the trending wrong direction and we can do a bunch of different devices like pulse ox, like blood sugar temperature, thermometers, you know, like pulse ox, like you know, blood blood sugar temperature, you know, thermometers, blood pressure, weight and all commercially available devices that you can get off. You know any retail store or commercial device, so not like it's. You know some sort of proprietary scale. You can get a Bluetooth scale that we have a connected list that we share with our home care providers and they can buy them commercially.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I saw even room temperature which. I think is so important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this little sensor will give you that. Yeah, this little sensor will give you room temp.

Speaker 1:

I love that. You know I lived in South Florida for many, many years and a lot of you know it gets extremely hot down there and a lot of older adults don't necessarily feel the temperature and you know, like they used to and they'll be sitting there, you know, in their condos or houses 95 degrees and not realize that they're getting dehydrated.

Speaker 2:

They have no idea that it's happening. And it also checks humidity because a lot of skin conditions, you know, are exacerbated by, you know, lack of moisture you know, in the air. Not that you're lacking moisture. In Florida, it's very humid. You want to make sure in the home you've got the right humidity as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but right, like North Dakota or South Dakota you know the winters are right.

Speaker 2:

I can, I can see that I can see that, and if you think of the most basic thing of the sensor as well as you start talking about things like dementia and Alzheimer's is they might accidentally set their thermostat too high, too low during the summer or winter. We had a poor woman who set her thermostat down really low and stayed in bed for two days because she was scared and too cold to get up and adjust her thermostat. So we preempted it. We saw it and gave her a call and then they sent a caregiver over to adjust the thermostat. Our real vision would be to be able to have that caregiver adjust it remotely so they could have gone in because you can do it in multifamily. Now that capability is on every smart home. I can adjust my thermostat from an app, so adding that to home site is certainly part of our vision to want to give the caregiver as much control over the environment as we can to ensure it's safe again, safe and secure being the bottom line.

Speaker 1:

That would be amazing. I mean, I have a story my mom-in-law was 98 or 99. She was still living independently in her condo in South Florida and she had been there I don't know 30, 40 years, Florida, and she had been there, I don't know 30, 40 years, and she still had the old thermostat you know that you do switch the tab.

Speaker 1:

You hear it click right. Well, that finally busted. So she had to get a new thermostat and they went ahead and installed a smart thermostat. And I called her one day and her voice sounded all muffled and I said what's wrong? Are you okay? She goes. Yes, I'm under the covers.

Speaker 1:

I said why are you under the covers? She says because I'm freezing. I said why are you freezing? Why don't you change the thermostat? She goes I don't know how, I can't figure out how to do it, because at 98, 99, whichever she was all she was used to this and she didn't know how to yep, just didn't know. So yeah, having that mon, having that I, I would have been able to see that, you know it was at whatever she had it at. Well, anything under 80 would have been cold for her.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, you know, if she had it at that, then I would know that's not right. She's normally not that way. But yeah, she, she was that she was in there. She said for almost the entire day this was in the evening and you can see this.

Speaker 2:

Real world examples where technology can help give caregivers tools to ensure right, even if they're not physically there, that they can help make that environment again safe and secure, whether that might be thermostats, smart locks, I mean being able to give somebody a smart lock. I mean it's now, you know, common practice to have a smart lock on your house. Now I can give my caregiver a code. Now I know when the caregiver came in. I give my dog walker a code. You know all those things now are cable, so I don't have to get out of bed if I'm bedridden. I don't have to get off the couch if I can't. If I'm in rehab and can't move, I don't have to physically go do that because I can do something remote.

Speaker 2:

And those are becoming table stakes in things like multifamily and apartments. Multifamily and apartments, people are demanding automation, blinds and all those things we're talking about. It just has not yet got into this senior living aging in place and we see Homesite being that again, that health hub of all, our ability to add these other services Over time. We don't have all that capabilities today, but the technology exists, so integration is just a matter of resource, time and demand at this point.

Speaker 1:

Very exciting. I mean, you must feel like you're just. You know, you can't wait to get to work. Well, I don't know if you feel that way, but you can't wait to get to work because, just because of the innovations that are coming up, you know, maybe the next time you have a meeting about what's coming next, it's like, oh my God, this is going to be so amazing.

Speaker 2:

Well, I'll tell you what it really comes down to is that folks like yourself that see beyond, you know, hey, you look at home site and the first people say, oh yeah, it's a camera, and they just go off on that tangent and don't engage or don't fully understand the concepts that we're talking about today or don't fully understand the concepts that we're talking about today. I've had two or three examples of folks from the industry that have basically not responded to me over time and then all of a sudden responded and we do a discovery call and they went. I didn't know that technology could be this robust. I didn't know that we could build this roadmap for tomorrow. I didn't know the application for that, and that, I think, is our biggest, is our biggest factor right now to adoption is purely education, I think at this point, exactly exactly.

Speaker 1:

But you're not just. You didn't just create something and let it sit. You created something and you're continuously evolving it. You know you're looking to see what the audience needs, what the target audience needs, and you're working towards giving that to them, integrating it all. I love things that are one unit, that do multiple things.

Speaker 2:

That's the idea.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's the idea. I mean, that was the initial idea of Alexa devices. Yep you know that one unit does all these things and it's great, but it's, you know. When you compare that now to what is available, like on home site, it almost looks like a child's toy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and everybody has a health division. Amazon has a health division, adt has a health division. These are all folks that are providing services, that are now seeing this health market, and we aren't the holy grail. We are asking our partners to help us shape the future, shape the messaging, shape what and prioritize what's important to people today, because we don't have unlimited resources, right, and we also don't want it to be cost prohibitive. The other factor is you know you're building a product that looks amazing but people can't afford it.

Speaker 2:

You know that's great, but if it's not going to ever get adopted, what's the what's the point? So we ask our partners OK, what should we be building in your vision? What should that messaging be to your to you and your client? And then, how do we make it so that it's adopted and affordable for the applications we're trying to support? So it's a journey, you know, it's a journey on a roadmap and we just really have now started to go down this ecosystem, build out road, and it's very exciting to see the willingness to oh my gosh, I didn't know you could do that aha moment that we all will hope for from somebody that didn't realize you know they, oh, you were just a box or you were just. You know they call you a camera, which we've gotten away from using the word camera because nobody wants a camera in their house. Right and health hub is what we're now using.

Speaker 1:

Right, I love that and I think that's very smart, very smart to do that. Words do matter at the end of the day explanations, descriptions.

Speaker 1:

I love that you're reaching out to other industries, other companies, whatever, because I I think, especially in this niche, um aging in place or, you know, modifying homes for, you know, multi-generations or disabilities or any of that. I think that it it has to involve multiple disciplines, it has to involve multiple disciplines, it has to involve multiple specialties. No one party can do it all. So I love that you are able. You know that you are doing that. I think that's very, very smart. A lot of companies want to just be the one, but I think in this niche there isn't. And look, 10,000 plus people a day are going to be turned, are turning 65, until eventually, actually until 2030, you know, first the baby boomers will end, but then the generation after them starts turning and they're going to want technology because they're going to be used to the adoption of technology.

Speaker 1:

That's right, absolutely absolutely they will explode it. But the caregivers, the adult children of the baby boomers, want the technology for themselves because, as you said, most of them are living many miles away from mom and dad and they can't convince mom and dad to come, and you know be, closer and you know all the other emotional, all the other exactly. We've all tried to get our kids to move closer. Yes, we have, yeah, well, look jobs jobs dictate where you live these days at the end of the day, exactly, you know unless you know, you have the luxury of working at home.

Speaker 2:

Jobs dictate where you live, and that's just the way it is, and what's interesting of that takeaway is a vertical we had not yet really thought of was aging in place with pets. So, when you start looking at the primary caregiver in the absence of kids. Typically they have a cat, a dog, multiple cats or dogs and they are the caregiver right Substitute at the time.

Speaker 2:

They're the companion, they're the ones that they care for. So we're now talking to folks that do that as part of their business. How do I incorporate aging in place with a pet into home site? So now imagine you're doing it with the aging in place adult, with a caregiver. Now the vet's on the call. Now you've got a vet talking to you on the call about your dog, and do I need to bring them in? And if you do, okay, well, we're looking at adding things like a ride transportation app through the TV. Call your for a car to take your you and your dog to your vet. So aging in place with pets was a novel thing. Now, getting got dog food delivered, getting groceries delivered, getting medication delivered all through the TV. I can order it, it comes, it gets delivered through you know, and and arrives at my home, it's, it's, it's these. These things that we're we're experiencing are just aging a pet was something I never thought of and you think it's a huge opportunity for folks to take care of their pets.

Speaker 1:

It is not just that, but adaptive equipment for that. I mean, if you, if you have cats, you know you may not be able to get to the ground to clean that litter box or to put that dish of food down. So now, what do you do and how do you elevate that? You know? How do you? Where do you want to? How do you even pick up a litter box, if you've ever picked up one?

Speaker 2:

of those things. They're heavy, heavy yeah that's why we call christina and cindy? Because they have those tools right. They'll come running over, that's right. That's why we call christina and cindy because they have those tools right. They'll come running over, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 1:

But again, you're integrating with other specialties to say, okay, we have this issue, can we display it? Can we show how to use it? That's the other thing. How do you use some of these adaptive tools?

Speaker 2:

um, you know because we don't know they exist.

Speaker 1:

A lot of people don't even know they exist yeah, um, and it, you know me being in this state in this niche for so many decades. To me it's it's what do you mean? You don't know, of course it's there, but, um, yeah, but yeah, they don't. And yeah, I'm really really hoping to bring a lot of that awareness through, uh, through both of the websites that I have the podcast, the youtube videos, everything the questions I get from people on those youtube videos is I bet it.

Speaker 1:

It blows my mind sometimes and, um, yeah, I have to take a step back before I answer it, but it takes me a minute. But I love what HomeSite is doing. I am so excited to see how it develops. And did you want to talk about the price at all, or is that individual?

Speaker 2:

It's really set by you know who the deliverer of the care might be. So for families or for caregivers. We do have very affordable plans for to make it affordable and adoptable. So I don't want to speak out of school because a lot of folks relabel us or resell our technology as something else. So it would set a precedent. But suffice it to say it's affordable for the application that we're trying to address here.

Speaker 1:

It's affordable for the application that we're trying to address here. So for someone who wants to go ahead and purchase it, do they just go to the website ventivacom slash homesite or do they go someplace else? Well, we have a solution called Homesite for Families.

Speaker 2:

It's a product that we're recently launching, but typically we have been sending individuals that, hey, I'm interested, I live in Texas and my my in-laws on my parents live in Las Vegas.

Speaker 2:

We would turn them to the Las Vegas partner for home healthcare and have them go do the install, have them set it up, have them show how to use it, and then the folks in Texas would then be included.

Speaker 2:

You know, as part of that onboarding. So we've been going through our channel partners in order to provide that. So we're not on Amazon, we're not on any, you know, retail site, but working more towards getting with, like the Christina's and Cindy's of the world to provide it as a service that families can get involved with. So if any families were interested, they could just email us and we would let them know who the local home care provider would be that they could get it from. And that doesn't mean they need in-home care. It just means that somebody that would be able to get it set up, manage it and then be there when and if home in-home care is actually needed. So once you're attached to your home care provider, you can follow them through the whole continuum, you know, and that's kind of the idea them through the whole continuum, you know, and that's kind of the idea.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that, I. I love that I, I mean I figured it was local yeah, depending on where, but um but it's very easy to install.

Speaker 2:

It's a. It's a single hdmi and a power cord. It's not a. You don't need, uh, somebody with a technology background to come install it. Some tvs are a little older so maybe a little trickier, but typically the install is pretty relatively straightforward so it's like a roku steak or an amazon exactly. Yeah, you just plug one but one into your hdmi open port in the back. You connect power and you're up and running.

Speaker 1:

That's it right trying to keep it simple and invisible. That's the idea well, stay on a little bit after this, but I want to thank you so much for your time. Jim, I think this is amazing and, oh, I cannot wait for this toy.

Speaker 2:

I love gadgets. I can't wait. We're grateful for the support.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah. I mean anytime I find something that is totally worthwhile, I just want to run out and get it.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I'm I think we get you one right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh, yeah, no.

Speaker 2:

You can trial it, yeah.

Speaker 1:

On the 30th I'm having the the talk.

Speaker 2:

The training for it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

The training, so I.

Speaker 2:

Would love your feedback at that point too, just to see what you think.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

I ask for feedback all the time. Yeah, perfect, that's how we get better. We get better by feedback, so you? Know, good or bad.

Speaker 1:

Good or bad well, thank you, thank you, thank you.

People on this episode

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Esther C. Kane, CAPS, C.D.S.

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