This period of COVID-19 pandemic we went through – and which still troubles us – has completely changed the way we take care of our sick relatives and friends in need. In those cases where precautionary measures such as a quarantine, for example, make it impossible for us to attend to our patient in person, remote monitoring of them becomes essential. But how can we manage to check our dear one’s vital signs, in our daily life, and to provide assistance and also moral support if we can’t be there with them in person? Jacob Moshinsky, founder of MoviWear gives us the right answer to this question: his company’s purpose, in fact, is to construct a healthcare aimed new-generation digital platform which provides users with a 24/7 virtual monitoring through several wearable devices interrelated and connected to cloud-based APP platforms. MoviWear Safety Alert Pendant is one of this ecosystem main devices. While the patient wears it as a pendant, the gadget allows to keep contact with them thanks to an integrated SIM module providing 24/7 availability, location history of our dear one, reminders for taking medications, SOS and fall alerts.
The Birth of the Project
The MoviWearMED platform was launched at the beginning of 2021 during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It offers several devices with the purpose of covering a broad spectrum ranging from vitals monitoring to patient geolocation and to their availability via voice phone calls. Its creator, Jacob Moshinsky, is an expert SaaS developer (Software as a Service) and his enterprising project of remote patient monitoring originates from an unfortunate fatal accident occurred to his elderly granduncle. According to Jacob, if his loved one had a way of properly communicating his dangerous conditions due to a fall, he could have received prompt assistance, thus having his life preserved. In Jacob’s view MoviWear Safety Alert Pendant is a means to call for help. The device offers basic functionality and usability features suitable for anyone, from elderly people to hospitalized patients, to medical staff or caregivers to family members.
Characteristics and features
In reviewing this product, we intentionally choose not to dwell on the trivial analysis of its hardware’s single components: in a crucial field, such as remote healthcare, what matter aren’t screen inches nor gigabytes of storage or batteries milliamperes. What we are going to talk about, instead, is the amount of information we can obtain, check and examine by means of this device’s perfectly targeted software interface. The MovieWear Safety Alert Pendant development stems from an open source platform, IoT Infinity Box, which is based on an Android system. For further details about its components, please check the producer website: as for us, we rather focus on its functions and on the results one can obtain from a device belonging to such an ecosystem.
This accessory may be worn as a pendant or placed next to the person who’s being remotely monitored.
Inside of it, a non-removable SIM card provides an LTE connection which is always active, thus allowing voice phone calls, data transmission and additional real-time functionalities 24/7. MoviWear has its own authorised telecommunication provider which allows the data stream and guarantees reception in more than 120 countries all over the world (the country must be selected and set up at the time of purchase). To take advantage of the phone call service, the user must subscribe to a monthly plan (25 $ per month) which enables in addition to unlimited internet traffic on the SIM card, also unlimited incoming voice calls and up to 40 outgoing calls per month.
MovieWear Safety Alert Pendant has no wired inputs or outputs and it comes with its own magnetic charger. The battery life depends on daily use and it is meant to cover the daytime, from morning to evening, i.e. when the patient is intended to wear it and move around in their house. If the user prefers a continuous monitoring overnight, they shall place the pendant on its magnetic charger before going to sleep, thus keeping it active and recharging it at the same time. The charging time takes about an hour.
The pendant’s most important sensor is a GPS antenna which geolocates our loved one in real time and monitors their current and previous movements. Safe zones or geographical barriers can be set up thanks to the integration with the NurtureWatch app (see next paragraph): the device will then notify if the patient is walking away from a certain location like their home, for example.
The GPS together with a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a motion sensor allows to detect even sudden movements with a special attention to falls. Thanks to an algorithm using several motion sensors, users can select the ideal sensitivity level of the automatic alert: this parameter is set up directly by the provider according to the user’s request.
Use and App(lication)
The main function of MovieWear Safety Alert Pendant is an automatic SOS alert – also available in manual mode by pressing the single button of the device for about 5 seconds (it’s the blue one right at the centre). Once the SOS sent, the pendant will vibrate and a voice message coming from the device will call for “SOS – ALARM !”. Several safety protocols will then automatically follow: all the NurtureWatch users connected to the app (family members, doctors, caregivers…) will receive distress alerts and the patient location will be immediately notified. Then a bi-directional call to a previously selected #1 phone number will start: if #1 doesn’t answer, the device will start calling #2 to which #3 will follow, in case the previous call fails. All communications along with the SOS alert to family members or doctors take place by means of the dedicated app on the users own devices (like their personal mobiles, for example).
An app and a webpage allow all interaction with MovieWear Safety Alert Pendant: once the device purchased and the contract signed, the users will be provided with login credentials to the portal. The dedicated software name is NurtureWatch App and it is shared by a corresponding device of the ecosystem: it’s a smartwatch featuring the same hardware as the Alert Pendant but with a wristband and an electronic display. Once logged in with their username and password, the user/patient will immediately access to the device data since, as previously said, the connection doesn’t occur between the smartphone and the sensor: the pendant, in fact, connects directly via LTE connection to the MoviWear server. In case the device is delivered directly to the patient, no first-time installation is necessary: the setup is already customized by the producer, so that the Alert Pendant is ready to use by the patient. NurtureWatch App is available on Android store and iOS, allowing thus full integration with whatever mobile phone or tablet.
Once the software launched, the user/caregiver is able to track their loved one / patient by checking their current location: for further protection, one can select a “security fence”. In the following screenshots you can see the pendant position. The area editor (the fence symbol) allows to outline a radial perimeter having at its center a chosen address, the patient current location, the location of the mobile currently in use or a given spot on the map. The accuracy of detection goes from 20 meters to 1 km, gradually increasing 50 meters at a time. One can then choose to receive an alert whether the patient is entering the selected area or leaving it and in case they have to keep away or remain in proximity of it. By doing so, the user creates a safe area alert (last screenshot on the right) which immediately notifies if the patient is leaving a 20m area surrounding the selected address 49, Corso Silvano Fedi, Pistoia, PT, Italy.
Here are the other settings: the selection of 3 emergency contacts (the phone symbol), a fall detection alert (SOS symbol or settings symbol) and the possibility of creating reminders on an editable page for taking medicines (clock symbol). By clicking the navigator symbol, an automatic integration with Google Maps / Waze will allow the user to set as a destination the exact location of the patient.
An auxiliary communication protocol via Bluetooth is specially assigned to the monitoring of vitals through external accessories (heart symbol). MovieWear Safety Alert Pendant can be assisted by other generic sensors analysing health parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen levels and also specific sensors like glucometers or ECG monitors.
The choice of a wireless solution based on an LTE connection for the whole ecosystem provides a greater ease of use. In addition, MoviWear provides another dedicated App and a related webpage that allows the user/caregiver to check all the devices and sensors at the same time: MoviWearMed is the interface that shows the registered data in real time and files them. All the information about the external sensors and this service will be detailed in the forthcoming article.
Closing remarks
Through technology, simplified processes and data handling MoviWear shows its commitment in making the difference in healthcare. By designing innovative wearable devices aimed to the elderly and patients in general, this company helps making integrated emergency response more effective by means of programmed automatic alerts especially meant for family members, doctors and caregivers. MovieWear Safety Alert Pendant collects and stores vital signs data in the cloud MoviWearMed: this solution seems strikingly successful at the present time with the increasing of remote medical assistance in order to avoid risks of exposure to COVID-19 and it’s crucial whenever we need to keep our loved ones safe but it’s impossible to do it in person. Jacob Moshinsky’s fresh approach to digital healthcare allowed me to remote monitoring my grampa left safe at home avoiding, thus, the risk of contagion of the recent pandemic. I was always in touch with him via voice calls knowing how he was doing and if the walk he was about to take (I received prompt notification of him leaving home – i.e. his selected safe area) was okay. This way the assistance was continuous and despite not being able to look after him in person, I and the medical staff could monitor his parameters together verifying his good form in real time.
Growing concerns about understaffed structures, lack of equipment, medical staff compelled to work in hospitals corridors or exposed to direct risks of contagion hit the headlines during the recent pandemic. The creation of a set of remote detectors now allows medical staff to prioritize an assistance based on remote vitals monitoring in real time and to provide 24/7 care from afar without risks. Caregivers are promptly notified whatever changes occur in their patient’s health (heart rate, blood pressure, temperature or oxygen levels). Doctors, nursing homes, remote healthcare platforms, PSW agencies implemented MovieWear services with the purpose of providing the best virtual healthcare assistance.
MoviWear systems prove to be helpful and effective providing flawless services. The only thing left to write is the link to their website: https://www.moviwear.com
