Connected Health and Safety: The Wearable Smartwatch as a Lifeline

06 Apr Connected Health and Safety: The Wearable Smartwatch as a Lifeline

In an emergency, few people are going to think about grabbing their cell phone and opening an app to get help.

For a wearable device to really be a lifeline, it needs to autonomously text or call family, friends, doctors or emergency services with real-time location and health data providing potentially life-saving information in an emergency.  We know that continuously monitoring your vital signs can recognize an abnormal heartbeat, temperature, seizure or fall.

It has been proven that connected health delivers clear benefits. Doctors can remotely monitor a patient’s health status outside of office hours with bio-sensing wearables.  In fact, this is proving to be very helpful in supporting older adults that want to age in place.

With the advancements in sensors and software and the innovations in wearables, your smartwatch can become more than a monitoring device — it can be your lifeline.

Think of a wearable smartphone as a medical assistant capable of continuously monitoring a wearer’s health and in case of an emergency autonomously contacting a medical professional or emergency responder with real-time medical and location data and instructions without user input. A wearable with advanced sensors is extremely valuable when it can provide wearer verification, safety and security.

In 2015, 39.5 million U.S. adults 18 and over used wearable devices, including smartwatches and fitness trackers — an increase of 57.7 percent over 2014, according to eMarketer.

Sadly, today’s wearable market is filled with accessories, including health and fitness monitors that are dependent on handheld smartphones for most functionality including networking, applications, and interfacing.  It is time to eliminate the need for handheld phones to get the most out of a wearable.

“There is demand for a more sophisticated class of activity tracker that supports GPS and heart rate monitoring while also being a little more rugged and waterproof. And while we see the simpler fitness trackers potentially hitting a wall, these advanced devices will continue to drive adoption,” said Eddie Hold, vice president, Connected Intelligence.

eyeCam’s focus is to deliver products and services with the appropriate set of features that uniquely address how humans interface with mobile technology. For example, eyeHand’s sensor hub and 3D interface projected onto the hand frees users entirely from handheld phones. Your hand and fingers become your display, touchscreen, gesture interface, and command center.