How Support Elders is lending a helping hand to the geriatric population

How Support Elders is lending a helping hand to the geriatric population

Friday July 03, 2015,

5 min Read

Retired Lt. Col. Samaresh Nath Bhaduri is 87 years old and a resident of Kolkata. He came across ‘Support Elders’, a service for the elderly, and was hooked when he got to know that some of the teams involved with Support elders have ex-servicemen. He says, “It’s great for elderly people like me. They (member care associates) come meet me every Thursday every week and enquire about my welfare and other things. I have the assurance that there is always somebody in the background, looking after me all the time. In case of distress, I’m sure that I will get help immediately (via alarm system in the wearable device).” He adds that the GPS system, another addition to the wearable device is not only so family members can know his location, it’s also great that the emergency team can reach him anywhere, anytime.

Retired Lt. Col. Bhaduri with the watch and a team member from 'Support Elders'
Retired Lt. Col. Bhaduri with the watch and a team member from ‘Support Elders’

74 year old Debabrata Mookerjea heard of Support Elders from his group of friends. ”At home it (wearable device) is very near me. I wear it when I go out of the house for walks or any other place. Recently, I was coming from Bombay to Howrah station, I was offered that someone can come to pick me up, get me a taxi and get me home. I am assured of services. I’m very happy with the services. There has been no emergency yet to requisition any service as such, but I have an assurance in my own mind that if need be, I can get services quickly. “

Extensive research and studies clearly indicate that the elders’ own home is where they feel the most comfortable. There are times when the lack of timely help and intervention or delayed emergency medical assistance have resulted in fatal outcomes.

Support Elders is a social entrepreneurship initiative that provides medical emergency solutions, integrated care and at-home support for the geriatic population. Support Elders is co-founded by three people – Deepanwita Chattopadhyay who’s the Chairman, Apratim Chattopadhyay, the CEO, and Debina Chattopadhyay, the Director for Support Elders. Apratim says,

Having been away from my hometown for more than two decades, I realised how one’s parents’ well-being is a matter of constant concern and worry.


Primary Services

  • Medical Emergency Alert Services (MEAS): A smart, lightweight wristband with an alert button is provided to the member. In case of distress, the member pushes the button which triggers an alarm and automatically notifies the National Alarm Centre (NAC). NAC is a centre created by Support Elders team of ex-servicemen. The in-built location identifier and tracker notifies the NAC of the member’s precise location. An ambulance and a member of the staff is sent to the location. The member is then ferried to a pre-decided hospital and it is ensured that emergency medical aid is provided at the earliest. The device also has “fall” alarm and remote threshold based health monitoring which can trigger alerts in case of sudden fall or fluctuation in pulse rate or body temperature.
  • Care Management Services (CMS): This allows remote medical monitoring as well as monitoring of predefined virtual boundaries for Alzheimer’s patients; task reminders and notifications receiver; and a fall and movement sensor. In addition to the above, their Member Care Associates(MCA) visit the member once a week, and more if required, for health monitoring and helping him/her with day-to-day, out-of-home chores to help the member function independently in society. The MCAs visit each member once a week (and additionally on demand) to help him / her in day to day chores to help him / her function independently in society
  • Companion Services (CS): Loneliness being one of the key factors affecting this population, Support Elders aims to be in regular touch through one-to-one sessions. They ensure that the members continue to be mentally and physically active and stay connected. Professionally qualified caregivers with elderly care orientation are provided. Besides these, travel care is also provided.

Differentiating factors

With leading players like Portea in the care at home segment, Support Elders is trying to encapsulate a host of services for the elderly as their differentiator. Apratim tells us,

I know that though the elders never say it, somewhere they are also concerned about sudden medical crises. It is a need I wanted to address as I know the feeling of helplessness that plagues the parents and the children. That was the genesis of Support Elders. The vision of Support Elders is to be the leader in customer-directed, at-home support for the elderly. This is a new category by itself.

The National Alarm Centre(NAC) is available 24X7. According to Apratim, “This makes our members and their children feel reassured and ‘taken-care-of’.” The MEAS service is an extremely helpful feature. You can be anywhere in the world, and all you need do to find the coordinates of your loved ones is to log onto a web portal.

With teams being at the core of success, Apratim tells us, “Our biggest strength and asset is our team. All Member Care Associates (MCA), who ensure immediate attention and transportation of our members to the hospital in case of a medical emergency, are ex-servicemen. In fact, most of them are from Army Medical Corps and are hence adept in dealing with emergency medical situations. “

Support Elders team during a training session
Support Elders team during a training session

Perhaps the only minor issue is that of the battery having to be charged every 10-12 hours as pointed out by Lt. Col Bhaduri. The pricing also seems to be affordable with monthly subscriptions working out to about Rs. 1800 a month with more economical deals with the quarterly/bi-annual subscriptions. They’re doing very well at moment and Kolkata is right now their point of focus. Support Elders is looking for funding and they’re in talks with social venture capitals. They have aggressive plans to expand to 3-5 cities in the near future. The company aims to be the one-stop solution for all elderly needs and provide expert-verified, customised geriatric care solutions by leveraging technology and their team of trained, ex-army professionals.

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