Customizing PERS to specific health needs

HOBOKEN, N.J.—Essence USA, a manufacturer and developer of security systems and monitoring and health care solutions that is based here, has launched its third-generation PERS product—the EverGuard-Care, a wireless home health monitoring system.

The system, now shipping, is designed to be easily customizable for specific health monitoring needs, Yaniv Amir, president of Essence USA, told Security Systems News. A chief advantage of the product is its installation flexibility—no small feat when it comes to PERS, a product category whose clientele is typically elderly and often more prone to misplacing pendants, Amir said.

Essence USA devised two ways to reconfigure the product without incurring man-hour costs or creating inconveniences for the customer. “The monitoring center can do it completely remotely, or the customer can do it through our pairing process, where you just press the new pendant and they're paired,” Amir said. “You don't need to select zones or press any numbers; it's all automated.”

Amir believes the savings derived from these features could be a major point of attraction for monitoring companies. “The total cost of ownership becomes much more appealing to distributors, monitoring centers and to service providers in general,” he said.

Also potentially appealing are the additional features that service providers can tack on as additional sources of RMR at no extra cost to them, such as an automated sensor that monitors extreme temperature variations in individuals, which is included in the device, Amir said.

Dealers of the EverGuard-Care can also purchase an algorithm-powered system that locks into routine day-to-day activities and detects possible deviations from the normal behavior. The system then automatically notifies caregivers or relatives of the changes via mobile apps or Web-enabled devices. For this service, RMR goes to both the dealer and Essence, Amir said.

Amir expects the pendant range—a radius of 1,200 feet around the system—to be a draw for dealers and customers as well.

Amir hopes the strategy of embedding certain sophisticated capabilities in the device itself will give resellers the chance to make their PERS divisions more viable in an aggressive, growing market. “Once they have the option to not spend more money on hardware, [dealers] can reduce prices, making them more competitive and more appealing to the customer,” he said.