Hi,
 

I hope you are well. I thought you might be interested to know that SeNCit, the new multi-functional gadget, has just been named as a finalist in the UK's Ideal Home Show's Ideal Inventor of the Year competition. The winner will be announced on 20 March by Suzi Perry at the Home of the Future at the exhibition at Earl's Court, London.

Its prime function is to keep tabs on elderly, infirm relatives, or vulnerable friends and relatives (disabled, post-operation, Alzheimer's sufferers) . However it has a host of other really handy functions too, including home security - and is really affordable. It's particularly useful for people in the 'sandwich generation': those who have both elderly parents and also still have young children or teens living at home.

It's currently available fromwww.sendtech.co.uk/SeN-Cit and costs £198.

Let me know of you'd like any more info.
Sophie
Loudbird PR

Press release

 

8/3/2012

The new gadget that texts you if mum is sick, or your house broken into, is a finalist at Ideal Home Show

 
A new gadget on the market that texts you when an elderly or vulnerable relative might need help in their home, but is also being used by holidaymakers and travellers as a home security device, has been selected as a finalist in the Ideal Home Show's Ideal Home of the Future competition.

 
The device, SeNCit, consists of a monitor that you pop on the wall in the home of the relative you are worried about, and, if the device does not detect movement within a certain period of time, it will send you a text to say ‘No movement detected at Mum's this morning'.

 
However, you can also program the device to text you if the front door opens when it shouldn't (which can happen when those with dementia have night-time wandering issues) and also if the temperature falls below a certain level, which can be dangerous for the elderly. And it is this functionality that people are finding is very useful as an affordable home security gadget because, if someone enters a home through a door, you will receive a text to say that the door has been opened.

 
Invented by Helen and Mark Bates, who have run a successful business technology company together for ten years, this gadget's multi-functionality means that some older people, or those with mild dementia, can stay in their own homes for longer, delaying the move into a care home by months or even years, and saving the family thousands of pounds, and a lot of worry.

 
The gadget is multi-functional, and can be used for:

• alerting you when an elderly relative's welfare is compromised, because they haven't moved for a while

• a home security device

• a way of ensuring that paid carers are arriving and leaving at an elderly person's house when they are supposed to / say they have

• a way of snooping on lazy teens to see if they have gone to college!

 
SeNCit has just been selected as a finalist in this year's Ideal Home Show's Ideal Inventor of the Year competition. The winner will be announced on March 20^thby Suzi Perry at the Home of the Future at the show.
 

Helen Bates says: "We are delighted to make it to the final, so more people can hear about the different functions of this gadget.

"We are finding that more and more of our customers who are from the so-called ‘Sandwich' generation, and have elderly relatives and also teenage children, have been so impressed with the SeNCit functionality that they have bought two devices: one to make sure their elderly mum or dad is moving around okay, to check the carer is staying the right amount of time, and to check on their home security, and the other to check that their lazy teenagers have gone to college!

 
"They are secretly installing a SeNCit device in their own homes too, and setting different parameters so that when they have gone to work, if they receive a text to say there has been no movement in the house they know their son or daughter is still in bed!! They are also setting the front door opening parameters so that they receive a text telling them exactly when their son or daughter left to go to college. Most of the teenagers have no idea how their parents know when they get up and leave the house!"

 
Social care of the elderly has become something of a hot potato in recent months and, with a report out this week showing that care standards for the elderly are still falling in care homes and hospitals, the SeNCit gadget could be the answer to a lot of people's prayers - or at least an interim solution.

Local authorities are starting to take notice of this cost-effective system, as their own care budgets are squeezed. Both Dundee City Council and Herefordshire County Council have started installing SeNCit in the houses of its vulnerable residents.

 
Helen says: "Many people are simply not ready to go into care homes, but need some sort of monitoring, as they are vulnerable on their own. Everyone wins using SeNCit: they feel independent, and the relatives have peace of mind."

SeNCit is available from www.sendtech.co.uk/SeN-Cit and costs £198 including VAT.
 

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors:

Press contact: Sophie Banks, Loudbird PR and Communications

sophie@loudbird.co.uk

07815 147073

 

About SeNCit

How it works:

SeNCit contains a SIM card that can store up to five mobile or landline numbers and the PIR technology that can detect body heat up to 10 metres. Mounted on a wall in a room in the house that the resident has to regularly pass through, often the hall, the alarm will be programmed to detect movement at three key times throughout the day, for example, morning, lunchtime and evening.

 
What makes SeNCit unique:

• The elderly/vulnerable individual does not have to raise the alarm or remember to wear a device;

• It's multi-functional, compact and discreet, meaning the elderly/vulnerable individual feels safe but not stigmatised;

• Its running costs can be as low as a few pence a month, so with many councils forced to make cutbacks in their social-care budgets, SeNCit is a cost-effective way of keeping an eye on the most vulnerable members of society;

• It offers ultimate peace of mind for concerned relatives/friends and will, hopefully, help them to avoid late-night dashes to check on their elderly/vulnerable relative or friend

• It will alert the relative or friend if there is a mains power cut, and then again if the back-up battery is running low.

• The service operates on pay as you go or contract, with text costing between 4p and 10p depending on the mobile phone service provider.

 
As well as detecting lack of movement, SeNCit and SeNCit+ which includes a wireless door sensor also hasa number of other functions, including:

• A thermometer that will detect if the house temperature has dropped below 18C;

• The wireless door sensor device will alert relatives/friends of the vulnerable/elderly individual has wandered out of the house by sending a text message if they open the door;

• The door sensor device can also alert relatives/friends of the vulnerable/elderly individual if a carer has not visited when they were expected to;

• If there is a power cut, SeNCit will send a text message;

• SeNCit can also act as a home-security device and be programmed to alert individuals to movement in a house when a house is unattended.

• Also, if a relative is showing alarming habits - e.g. getting up to go to the toilet more in the night could mean a water infection, which could be serious.

Case studies of users of SeNCit - full details available.