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In-Depth Article:
Alzheimer's Association Comfort Zone™, powered by Omnilink, provides location updates. Family members can monitor a person's location, while the individual with Alzheimer's can maintain their independence and enjoy the emotional security of familiar routines and surroundings.
How Comfort Zone works
Comfort Zone is easy use. There is no installation of software. You can manage location and alerts via a secure, password-protected Web site anywhere at anytime.
Comfort Zone is a Web application that includes a location-based mapping service, or LBS . This term refers to a wide range of services that provide information about a person's (or object's) location. If you've ever used a GPS device in your car for turn-by-turn driving directions or tracked a package online, you've used LBS.
Here's how LBS works with Comfort Zone:
A person with Alzheimer's wears or carries a locator device (such as a pager or wrist-worn device) or mounts one in his or her car.
As the person travels around town or the country, the device receives signals from satellites or nearby cell towers. The device can then approximate the person's location by measuring the distance between the device and the cell towers or satellite signals.
The device communicates with the Comfort Zone Web application.
Family members access information about the person's location by using the Internet or calling the monitoring center.
Families can also decide on the level of monitoring needed, such as verifying location from a computer; receiving alerts when the person has traveled in or out of a zone; or just emergency assistance if there is a wandering incident.
Why Comfort Zone?
While technology-assisted tracking has been available for some time, the options for people with Alzheimer's were limiting. People were forced to choose a system that might serve their needs at the time, but would become obsolete and insufficient as the person's disease progressed.
Comfort Zone is the only system designed specifically with Alzheimer's in mind. It combines the latest technology with endless flexibility, allowing you to change devices and plans as a person's disease progresses and your safety needs change. For example, if the person with Alzheimer's is still driving, a car-mounted tracking device may be appropriate; later on, a wrist-worn device may be a better choice.
Comfort Zone is different from other services because it provides:
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Easy use. It's as simple as turning on a computer, receiving a text message or calling the monitoring center. There is no installation of software. You can manage location and alerts via a secure, password-protected Web site anywhere at anytime.
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Flexibility and choice. Comfort Zone can be paired with a variety of devices and plans. You can change any of these elements and still keep your settings and alerts. You will never have to learn a new password or Web application.
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Monitoring center. A 24/7 call center is available to help you with location management services if you are unable to access the Internet.
Long-distance comfort. Comfort Zone allows multiple family members, no matter where they live in the country, to check on a person with Alzheimer's. You can even monitor a person's location and manage your alerts while you're away on vacation.
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Comprehensive service. You have access to all the resources of the Alzheimer's Association, including a free 24/7 Helpline that provides confidential counseling, referrals, safety and disease education, and local support.
Technical limitations
There is no location device or system that works 100% of the time. There are times when disruptions in satellite signals or network coverage impacts or delays location information. It is very important for families who use Comfort Zone to recognize it as one component of a comprehensive safety plan.
The Comfort Zone monthly plan determines how frequently the application communicates with the device to register a location. Comfort Zone users can choose between plans that verifiy location every 15 minutes or every 30 minutes. If the 15 minute plan is chosen, it means that when a person leaves a zone, it can take from 1-15 minutes for the family member to receive the alert depending on the time the last location information was received. For the 30 minute plan, it can take from 1-30 minutes to receive the alert.
Features and cost
Comfort Zone is a full service application, offering you an easy to use and secure Web monitoring site plus access to 24/7 live support and the resources of the Alzheimer's Association.
Comfort Zone plans start at $42.99 per month plus a $45 activation fee. A Comfort Zone plan is designed specifically to each device. For more information, click here to visit the Comfort Zone website.
Where's my Dad, Wife, Mother or Husband? Now you can tell, 24/7. The Wall Street Journal takes Google's new free geotracking software for a spin. Also, a look at the more precise TrueTrackerPro.
