Benefits show/hide

• Who is the typical customer for CloseBy Network?
  • CloseBy Network is a system that is typically purchased by Care Givers for care of a loved one within their own home. Care Givers are usually close family members, but can include neighbors, friends, clergy and even home health care professionals. Anyone responsible for the care and welfare of an elderly or disabled person wherever they live is a potential CloseBy Network customer.
  • The CloseBy Network system can also be deployed into assisted living and independent living facilities.
  • Digital Home Convergence Designs can also work closely with Home Health professionals — providing them with additional services they can offer to their clients.
• What are the benefits of CloseBy Network to the Care Givers?
  The key benefits of CloseBy Network are lifestyle balance and peace of mind. Typically Care Givers are trying to balance a life of work, household responsibilities, immediate family demands, civic and religious responsibilities, and recreation with taking care of their aging loved ones. CloseBy Network provides Care Givers with the means to balance their own hectic lives and care for their loved ones. CloseBy Network also gives Care Givers the peace of mind knowing their loved ones have someone close by if assistance is needed.
• What are the benefits to the Care Recipient?
  Many! Everyone wants to be comfortable in their own surroundings, living life without being a burden or bother to others. The elderly are no exception. CloseBy Network allows the elderly to “age in place,” continuing to live safely, independently and comfortably in their own homes. CloseBy Network doesn’t require them to change their lifestyle or learn some “new fangled technology.” Plus, it saves the emotional upheaval of a move to an assisted living facility, or into a family member’s home. Without any disruption to their routines, loved ones will be comforted knowing that help is close by.
• Do loved ones need to learn anything new?
  No. CloseBy Network is unobtrusive and almost invisible to loved ones. Caregivers on the network just need to have access to email, the internet, or have text messaging on their cell phones.
• How does the CloseBy Network work?
  Families choose how to create their care network by deciding what to monitor and who to include. They’ll also need to determine how caregivers will receive notifications (text message, email or by a secure internet site). Once their care network is up and running, those people allowed access will receive alerts about their loved one’s activity, and be able to check reports on the Internet. Changes in normal patterns may indicate a problem and prompt a call or visit.
• What information can Care Givers expect to receive?
  Members of the care network can choose what to monitor and how to receive reports. Depending on where the sensors are placed, family members and trusted friends can be notified when their loved one leaves and returns, gets out of bed, opens the refrigerator or medicine cabinet, and if he is moving normally about the house. They can also receive an alert if there is no activity within a specified time, or if their loved one pushes the “Contact Me” button for help.
• What if they don’t want everyone in the care network to have all the information?
  They choose who receives which information. For example, they may decide to have only a neighbor receive an alert if their loved one has opened the back door. Or skip the alerts to family members living out of state, but give them access to information through the Internet or email reports.
• What if someone goes on vacation and doesn’t want to receive alerts
  Notifications can be set to go to another caregiver while someone is gone, and then changed back when he/she returns.

Key Features show/hide

• Easy to Use and Unobtrusive
  Many systems on the market require the elderly to interact with new technology. CloseBy Network was developed so the elderly person doesn’t need to change his behavior or learn a new system to realize the benefits of remote monitoring. Family members are aware of what’s happening with their loved ones, while not having it interfere with their daily routine.
• Flexible and Expandable
  Since CloseBy Network is built on the Control4 system, it is expandable and customizable to individual residences and situations. The system makes it easy to add additional features, such as automated climate control, lighting and garage doors to customize and make their loved one’s home safer.
• Monitored Only by Trusted Caregivers
  Through grouping, trusted caregivers control who is in the Care Network, who sees information, what each one sees, and how they receive the information. Only invited members of a Care Network have access to their loved one’s information. They can even choose to make the information unavailable to their dealer and CloseBy Network support personnel. For example, the primary caregiver may have access to all system information, but a helping neighbor would only receive an email or text notification if an exterior door were left open.
• Reduced Cost of Care
  For less than the cost of one month in an assisted living facility, CloseBy Network can be installed and monitoring a loved one’s in-home activities with messages sent by e-mail or phone texts, or accessed via the internet. This gives families peace of mind knowing their loved one is being cared for, while preserving their loved one’s financial assets for a “rainy day.”

How does it work show/hide

• How Secure is the CloseBy Network system?
  The CloseBy Network is a secure system. Monitoring data is sent from the home to the Secure Data Server via a secure VPN link. When users log onto the system to view reports or for real-time monitoring, that connection is through a secure SSL browser connection—the same kind of security used in online banking transactions.
• How much does it cost and is there a monthly monitoring fee?
  The price is typically is less than one month in an assisted living facility. It includes the first six (6) months of Monitoring Access. Beginning in month seven (7), a monthly Remote Monitoring Access fee of $39.95 is charged.
• What do I get for my monthly monitoring access fee?
  The monthly fee covers real-time, 24-hour monitoring, as well as alerts and reports. This fee covers a very unique service. CloseBy Network is the only solution that allows you to segment information, data and recipients for sharing with your Care Network. This allows you to have certain information only go to certain people. Other systems allow you to share information, but it is all or nothing. Furthermore, the system is architected to receive data from many different systems and through many technologies. CloseBy Network offers you a solution to consolidate your care giving responsibilities into one platform that can be shared with those people you invite into your network.
• Does the system incorporate video monitoring?
  Yes, a video monitoring option can be added to the standard CloseBy Package. The video option is expected to be available in the 2nd quarter of 2010.
• What is included in the CloseBy Network package?
  The CloseBy Network system comes preconfigured with the following items, which is the recommended installation:

  • (1) Control4 HC200 Controller
  • (1) CloseBy Network Driver
  • (4) Micro Door/Window Sensors
  • (1) "Contact Me" Button
  • (3) Card Access Wireless Motion Sensors
  • (1) Chair Occupancy Sensor
  • (1) Bed Occupancy Sensor
  • (1) Multi-Purpose Contact/Temperature Sensor
  • (1) Card Access Sensor Bridge
  • CloseBy Network Web Application
  • (6) Months Monitoring Access for North America.
  • Additional features such as video can be added by your CloseBy Dealer.
• Do changes to the system require a visit from Digital Home Convergence Designs?
  Digital Home Convergence Designs performs the initial system installation. After the initial setup, each Care Network Member then easily sets up and/or modifies his own contact information, personalized alerts and reports. Care Network Members can modify information, add/delete people to the Care Network and add/change alerts without contacting a dealer. It is necessary to go back to your dealer to add products/features to the network.
• What is the Warranty for CloseBy Network?
  CloseBy Network includes a one (1) year repair-or-replace warranty on the hardware. As CloseBy Network uses the Care Giver and Care Recipient’s broadband connection from an internet service provider (ISP), we can not guarantee the broadband connection’s reliability. CloseBy Network does guarantee 99+ % access reliability to the Secure Data Server and the stored data. more » 
• Does this system require the care recipient to have broadband access in their home?
  Yes, CloseBy Network requires a constant broadband connection to the internet. Cable modem or DSL modem connections are the most common broadband connection types. If these are not available in your area, a cellular data modem will provide a sufficient broadband connection for CloseBy Network to operate.
• Does the system interact with emergency response call centers?
  No, the CloseBy Network system is intended to be monitored by the elderly Care Recipient’s loved ones. It is possible for Care Givers to set up an emergency call center as a member of the Care Network team and contract them to manage alert information. Demand for “call center service” will determine whether future support is offered directly from CloseBy Network.
• How long do you store the data in the CloseBy System?
  The clients have online access to data for the past 30 days. They are able to access data for an entire year by downloading the information to their computer.
• How do I know if the battery is running low on any of the hardware?
  In every report the consumer receives, there will be a list of all hardware and the battery level for each device. We recommend dealers set up a notification for themselves to receive an alert when battery levels hit 30%.
• What happens when my system loses communication through broadband?
  Because the system is wireless, it will continue to gather data even if the Internet goes down. The data will be uploaded to the system when the Internet comes back up and will be available for viewing. However, immediate alerts will not work if the system loses broadband communication. A notification should be set up to send an alert when communication is lost from the individual systems, and then another alert when the communications comes back up.
• Is CloseBy Network compliant with HIPPA?
  Because CloseBy Network gathers and provides data relating only to activity in and/or the status of a given location, CloseBy Network is not a health care provider or a health care clearinghouse covered by HIPPA. Having said that, however, the CloseBy Network system is structured generally to comply with HIPPA standards by, among other things, ensuring that: (i) only designated individuals may determine who has access to activity/status data; and (ii) only those individuals who are authorized to access the data may do so.