A university student on Queensland's Sunshine Coast has come up with a simple device aimed at helping older people stay safe while keeping their independence. Kai Gould invented a clock that allows an elderly person to signal they are OK with the press of a button. The idea is pitched as an alternative to the pendant and necklace alarms commonly used to alert family or carers to a fall. For Gould, the goal was to find something that older people would actually use day to day.
The invention grew out of a personal situation in his own family. His grandfather had a fall, and the family wanted to make sure he was OK. They tried the usual options, buying him a necklace and then a watch, but he did not want to wear either of them. That reluctance, common among older people, left the family searching for another way to keep track of his wellbeing without forcing a device he would refuse to use.
The solution Gould landed on is built around a daily routine rather than a wearable. The clock sits on the bench and beeps at a set time, and all the person has to do is press the button. His grandfather presses it in the morning and presses it again at night, letting the family know he is OK. As Gould explained, that simple confirmation means he can sleep better at night, knowing his grandfather is fine.
A key part of the appeal, according to Gould, is that the clock is not intrusive. Where pendant and necklace alarms rely on the person agreeing to wear something, the clock simply sits on the bench and waits for the daily press of the button. He said many people had told him their mum or dad would not wear the necklace or the watch, which is exactly the problem his device tries to solve. By removing the need to wear anything, it sidesteps the main reason such alarms often go unused.
Developing the device was not a quick process. Gould said it took him about eight months to build, develop and test, drawing on his experience as a student at USC Sunshine Coast. The effort has clearly meant a lot to those around him. His grandfather loves it and is proud of him, his whole family is proud, and Gould said the support from the community had been amazing as people looked at the website, bought one or simply followed his journey.
Beyond the safety aspect, the clock appears to have changed the way the family interacts. Gould said his father had noticed that it improved social relationships with the grandfather. Before the device, the family was at the stage of calling him every day to check what he was doing, whether he was OK and whether he had taken his medication. That constant checking up was not a good kind of social conversation, and it left his grandfather feeling like he was losing his independence. Now, all he has to do is press the green button once a day.
Gould is now working to get the device into wider use. He has been pitching to pharmacies on the Gold Coast to see if they will stock it, and said many of them love the idea. He has also drawn interest from investors, with about ten people asking to invest in the company. However, he said that each time, they wanted to lift the price, which would make it unaffordable for everyday people. Gould said he is instead trying to keep the price down, keep production local to the Sunshine Coast, and make the device as cheap as possible.