We had the privileged to attend the LeadingAge Maine & New Hampshire show in Portsmouth with Eric LaRoche from ESL Distributing. Many of our customers use upBed with the Phillips CarePoint nurse call system, which Eric provides. You can see the upBed "leg" setup to demo in the booth (bottom right).

​The conference, which consists of mostly not-for-profit communities in Maine and New Hampshire, was an eye opener in terms of the changes coming to the long term care industry. It will be fascinating to see the new products and services that bridge the gap between the baby boomers desire to age in place and the community based care model that exists today. It's a reminder that change is constant, and with it comes opportunity!

We're excited to formerly announce our partnership with RCare.

https://www.prweb.com/releases/rcare_announces_integration_with_upbed_maker_of_wearable_bed_exit_solution_for_fall_prevention/prweb16226463.htm

​We've been working with RCare, maker of wireless nurse call solutions, at Lakewood Continuing Care in Waterville, Maine. upBed detects bed exits for their highest fall risk residents and then notifies  staff through the RCare nurse call system. RCare sends a notification to staff pagers, the nurse station, and blinks the dome light above the residents room. Staff can then assist the resident before there is a fall. In partnership with RCare we've been able to reduce falls among their highest fall risk residents.

Lakewood is part of Northern Light, and 105 bed community with Dementia, Long Term Care, and Skilled Units. 

We're excited to continue forward with this partnership and reduce falls in more communities. If you are interested in trying out upBed, please reach out.

The baby boomer generation holds 80% of the wealth, and they demand products and services that meet and exceed their evolving needs.

Join us as our own Pat Pinto, Maine's AARP President and Portland's own Aging 2.0 ambassador, kicks off the discussion around opportunities and technology in aging, followed by early innovator and entrepreneur Leda Rosenthal, founder of https://www.alzyouneed.com/. Our own Aron Semle will follow-up with our story around how we entered the aging market.

Aging 2.0 is an international organization focused on accelerating innovation to address the biggest challenges and opportunities in aging. We're proud to be a part of the Aging 2.0 in Portland, Maine, and we're convinced that Maine, with the highest median age in the nation and a rural population, is the perfect incubator for companies focused in this space. If you can get your solution to work in Maine, it will work anywhere.

We firmly believe that the next $1B company in Maine will be focused on aging, and it could all start with your idea.

​Join us! Opportunity awaits.

We speak with many communities that are "alarm free".  They are either in the process of or have already phased out tag and bed pad alarms, and for good reason. They didn't work.

First they didn't alert soon enough. By the time staff heard the alarm they knew the resident was on the floor. The purpose of these alarms was to prevent falls not alert you when they happen, so in this way they were pretty poor.

Second they were loud. The audible alarm scared residents, disturbed sleep, and made residents afraid to get up. Studies have shown alarms caused more falls than they prevented. Another strike for a solution meant to prevent falls.

Lastly, staff were stuck staring down a hallway not knowing what room the alarm was coming from. They heard so many alarms and they were so useless, they eventually started ignoring them. Strike three.

So alarms just didn't work, and because of this "alarm free" became a thing. Many communities found that after removing alarms falls decreased. Staff became more proactive instead of reactive to resident's needs, and life got better. This was good news.

But then something started to happen.  We don't have hard data to prove this (we're looking for it!), but we've heard anecdotally from many alarm free communities that after some time falls started to increase. It's not completely clear why this happens, but some think it's the result of an aging and more fragile population, others think it's negligence, others think there is just a subset of residents (frequent fallers) that need a solution.

What is your experience? Have you seen this trend? What do you think causes it?

When we speak with customers about how they use upBed and with who it's most effective, we get a similar response. "Frequent Fallers".

Many of our customers are alarm free, having done away with traditional bed and tag alarms. Most agree that these solutions alarmed too late and the audible alarms scared residents.

With the alarms removed, many noticed that falls initially decreased. But then they started to rise again. They needed another solution, so they started down the usual path...

• Increased the frequency of rounding
• Set toileting schedules before and after meals
• Limit water intake before bed
• Signage on the residents door indicating high fall risk
• Floor mats or mattress near the bed
• Medication reviews
• OT/PT re-evaluations/referrals

The problem is these solutions don't help the "frequent fallers". Often the residents in this group have dementia, meaning no matter how much education and therapy they get, they will continue to fall because they forget they need help.

This is where upBed can really shine. upBed provides staff with advanced warning when the resident is getting up. This way the resident doesn't need to remember to ask for help, and staff can assist the resident before there is a fall. The resident also doesn't hear anything, or even know that upBed is being used.

In addition to a full fall assessment and fall prevention care plan, upBed serves a critical role in reducing falls for frequent fallers.

We're proud to represent the Maine startup scene in a recent WCSH 6 segment. Here is the link to watch the video.

https://www.newscentermaine.com/video/news/local/startmeup-upbed/97-8307105

Thank you WCSH 6 for the opportunity, and many thanks to all the local support! 

We spent the week in Philadelphia at the annual LeadingAge conference. This show is huge, attracting 8000 people. This is our first time outside of Maine and New Hampshire, and what an awesome experience. 

We had a warm welcome and a great time in the Startup Garage with our fellow peers, enabling change in the senior care space. Thank you LeadingAge for a great opportunity, and for everyone who stopped  by our table to provide feedback on our ideas and plans.

Here is a show of my co-founder trying to remove his bag from our "before" picture, and another of the boot in action.

So we may not have won startup of the year, but what am amazing event! We met 100 other startups founded by inspiring people with great vision and grit. We fine tuned and improved our pitch, and made great connections and friendships.

This is us, between memorywell (http://www.memorywell.com/), an amazing platform that allows elderly with dementia to tell their unique story, and Lazarus 3D (https://www.laz3d.com/) 3D printed body parts for practicing surgery made from MRI scans.

I mean, that's pretty awesome.

On October 15th we're in Boston competing for the national Startup of the Year competition. We were selected as one of the top 100 semifinalists, and the only startup competing from Maine. We need your vote to help us win!

To vote follow the link (http://vator.tv/company/upbyte?competition=2568). You can sign in using facebook or linkedin and cast a vote for upByte!

We're proud to represent Maine. We have the highest median age of any other state, which puts us in a unique position to innovate and provide better care and independence for our elderly.

We were recently included in a "top 10 startups to watch" compiled by Mainebiz. It's great to be a part of the startup scene in Portland, Maine, and to be included with other great people and ideas. You can read the full article here. Thank you Mainebiz!

www.mainebiz.biz/article/20180903/CURRENTEDITION/308299996/10-maine-startups-to-keep-an-eye-on

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