Samsung SmartThings wants to help you care for the elderly in your family

Summary

• Family Care by Samsung SmartThings helps caregivers monitor loved ones’ health routines for missed meds or appointments.
• AI-powered routine learning alerts caregivers to abnormal behavior, like not using their phone at the usual time.
• Stay informed about loved ones’ activities and emergencies without invading privacy through SmartThings.

Respecting an elderly family member or loved one’s independence while monitoring their safety is an important aspect of being a caregiver. Whether you’re worrying about a parent, sibling, or other relative, it can be a challenge to find tools that strike a balance between respecting privacy and staying informed.

A new tool by Samsung SmartThings, called Family Care, aims to do just that. Its goal is to help elderly folks and their caregivers stay on top of medications, easily schedule appointments, and catch emergencies as soon as they happen.

Family Care keeps tabs on important routines

So you don’t have to worry about missed meds or doctor visits

If you’ve ever stressed about your elderly parents or grandparents missing the window to take a crucial medication, the new Family Care feature helps with that. Using the SmartThings app, caretakers can schedule reminders for important healthcare routines for their loved ones.

This could include taking a prescription at a certain time, recording blood pressure, or simply checking in with a home health assistant or with you, the caregiver.

Need a quick tool to schedule doctor’s appointments? Family Care covers that, too. Through a Galaxy phone or Samsung TV, you can add check-ups, follow-ups, and other important commitments to your loved one’s calendar.

AI-powered routine learning picks up on warning signs

Get a heads-up if your care recipient isn’t following their routines

Let’s say, for example, your 80-year-old parent is awake and on their phone by 7 a.m. every morning. If the Family Care program establishes this routine through their Galaxy device, but notices a few hours after 7 a.m. that your parent still has not been active on their phone, it’ll ping you with an alert about the abnormality so you can call or stop in, if deemed necessary.

Privacy may understandably be a concern. This feature only tells you if your loved one’s phone is actively being used, not what it’s being used
for.

Assuming your care recipient’s home has the compatible Samsung smart appliances installed, you can stay in tune with activity all throughout their home, without invading their privacy. You can, for instance, be alerted when a smart oven is left on, or when an air purifier picks up on elevated carbon monoxide levels.

Get a heads up if your elderly family member leaves home at a strange time

Or doesn’t return home after an outing

Family Care allows you to give your elderly loved one the ability to run their own errands, while keeping you alert to potential emergencies if they don’t return home. As long as the family member is carrying a Galaxy smartphone, you can receive notifications when they’ve left their home address, or when they arrive at important places like the hospital. On the other hand, this is useful to know if your elderly loved one leaves the house at an abnormal time, like in the middle of the night.

Samsung SmartThings Family Care is free to use. It officially launches to US-based users on August 16, according to a Samsung press release.