ADT releases mobile PERS

BOCA RATON, Fla.—ADT has added a wearable, mobile PERS device to its health product portfolio.

The On-The-Go Emergency Response System allows seniors, along with younger folks—hikers and runners, for example—to contact specially trained monitoring personnel in the event they take a tumble or a more life-threatening fall. What's new for ADT is that this GPS-enabled device worn as a necklace allows for communication and emergency response outside of the clients' home bases.

“It could be at the grocery store or the church parking lot. It has a simple button, it immediately puts you in touch with the monitoring center,” Don Boerema, ADT Health business leader, told Security Systems News.

If a client is unable to push the connect button, he or she still can get help, he said. The device's accelerometer, which can tell the difference between normal speed and falls, will alert the specialized monitoring unit, which will then contact the client via the PERS. If there's no response to “Are you OK?” Boerema said, the device will send emergency responders to the client's GPS location. It can also contact the client's personal emergency contacts.

“We have monitoring centers dedicated to seniors,” he said. Employees in those centers have had “senior sensitivity training, and they know how to interact with them,” he said.

ADT's new offering not only gives the aging population the ability to stay in their homes, but also allows them freedom of movement, Boerema said, adding that it also gives peace of mind to caregivers.

The standalone product does not require customers to employ other ADT services.

Reception to On-The-Go, released in February, has been positive, he said, helped along by its ad campaign featuring Ving Rhames.

Its multiple uses, such as for children with asthma, bicyclists, campers and hikers, “are now coming up,” he said, “but honestly our key target is seniors. They can now be outside their homes.”

“If you look at what [ADT] aspires to, lifelong relationships with our customers, this extends our customer relationships. This leverages everything we do,” Boerema said.