With new AI technology, Northside assisted living home can track senior residents falling

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Joanna Dumdey walked into her private room, a camera sat fixed above her head. The new equipment inside the Via Elegante Tucson Foothills Assisted Living And Memory Care Community uses artificial intelligence to track if or when 84-year-old Dumdey and her neighbors ever fall.

Every year, the CDC says more than one in four older adults fall, and about 41 thousand older adults die as a result of a fall. Via Elegante managers said they decided to start using a brand called 'Safely You' — a camera scanning the floor for anything but feet and looks for falls.

The camera will automatically trigger a phone call to facility staff if a resident has fallen. Staff usually then respond within 45 seconds.

This day, Joanna's daughter, Elizabeth Dumdey-Bartelsen, helped her settle into her space. Dumdey-Bartelsen knows her mom, at this age, also lives with dementia.

She said her mother suffered a stroke that affected her left side in her late 40s. That episode, however, did not stop Dumdey from helping others living with a stroke learn how to navigate everyday life.

“She really kind of took on this role of empowerment,” Dumdey-Bartelsen said. “She also made all kinds of relationships with people that she wouldn’t normally have known.”

Prior to moving into Via Elegante, Dumdey had taken a fall that left her with a concussion. Elizabeth said Joanna falls every week, but she describes them as “stealth falls” — a person will fall slowly, but people like Dumdey can support herself and brace the fall using her core.

Knowing her mom is vulnerable, Dumdey-Bartelsen said she's grateful this AI camera will be a support tool. “We’re able to kind of understand the pieces of how she got from the bed or from the chair to the floor,” Dumdey-Bartelsen said.

Via Elegante executive director Ira Branson said the new cameras have helped the home staff see the bigger picture benefit. Branson also said they have seen a decrease of falls because of the technology and said it has also allowed them to show emergency services the fall.

“It’s helped us to be able to explain to the families exactly what is happening with their loved ones," Branson said.

While Dumdey-Bartelsen does gets a weekly phone call from the Via Elegante staff to inform them of her mom's updates, she said she also feels more reassured knowing workers rearranged rooms to prevent falls.

In Dumdey's case, the staff installed a chair cane, which is a handle attached to her chair that helps her get up from and sit down on the chair.

“Without that camera, we wouldn’t be able to kind of continuously expand on tools and implements that she could be using to make her life more independent,” she said. "(Mom) has the sense and confidence that she’s safe.”