FallCall Solutions, LLC : Maximizing Elder Independence and Caregiver Peace of Mind

“We were the first to bring a medical alert  app to Apple Watch and iPhone specifically designed for Elders and Caregivers that fully integrated into a 24/7 emergency monitoring service.”

Every year, 28000+ people over the age of 65 will die from a fall in the United States. The fear that loved ones will get hurt is common among their Caregivers, be they family members or friends. Several different devices have been created specifically to help with this problem. It’s crucial to understand and utilize the advances in technology that benefit aging individuals.

FallCall Solutions, LLC is one such company founded by physicians who are committed to improving the standards of Elder care and safety through technology. FallCall was established to change communication between Caregivers and Elders by simplifying the way we interact with the newest technologies. The company aims to maximize Elder independence and Caregiver peace of mind.

FallCall was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Trumbull, Connecticut.

In Conversation with FallCall Solutions Leadership: Dr. Shea C. Gregg (Founder) and Dr. Kristin L. Gregg (Co-founder)

Why was the company set up?

FallCall Solutions was founded based on a frustrating observation that we were experiencing daily in the trauma bay of a busy inner-city emergency department: more patients over the age of 65 were falling and presenting hours later because they were unable to call for help due to their injuries and the fact that they were too embarrassed to wear their traditional medical alert buttons. In 2015, the smartwatch revolution was growing and we believed that these devices would be the future of personal emergency response systems. They were stylish, possessed incredible communication capabilities and were non-stigmatizing. This belief drove the creation of our company and the creation of our two apps:

ElderCheck Now: A simple Elder/Caregiver app that streamlines wellness communication in non-emergent situations.

FallCall Lite: A complete personal emergency response system (PERS) for Apple Watch, iPhone and Android devices that connects Elders, Caregivers and a fully integrated 24/7 emergency dispatch center.

What challenges did you face in your initial years?

We had ambitious goals for a technology that was advanced, yet in its infancy as far as third-party developer knowledge base was concerned. Additionally, we wanted to design simplified apps for both the Elder and the Caregiver populations that would be inclusive and extremely reliable. It took almost a year to design and build ElderCheck Now on the new Apple Watch operating system. It took over 2.5 years to design, build and test FallCall, our complete PERS app.

How successful was your first project roll out?

Early on, we over-estimated technology use among the Elder population for both wearables and mobile devices. Unfortunately, we observed lower than expected rates of downloads and app use. Additionally, marketing channels required significant trial and error experiences. Persistence and the belief that we were building something helpful and special on technology that would eventually be nearly indispensable kept us going. Moreover, social media matured as far as assisting us in our ability to reach our users.

“Earning trust and respect of consumers all around the world is through consistent focus on delivering high quality in all of our actions.” How do you interpret this statement?

Trust and respect are core to our values. As a physicians, we had to earn the trust of our patients in need of emergent treatment for over a combined 17 years at the time we founded the company. We wanted to use the lessons learned in the clinical setting, be sensitive to the needs of our future end-users that we were seeing every day and employ empathetic design in such a way that would result in an innovative product that would be an evolution in PERS. The result is what is being downloaded daily.

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest assets to your organization, what would they be and why?

• Physician/Developer collaboration-Empathic design will always remain central to our user’s experience
• The advanced knowledge base that has been acquired to develop on the Apple Watch platform
• The ongoing relationship we have with our users with direct access to company leadership
• The ability to integrate into just about any other monitoring solution, emergency communication system or third-party apps
• The highly competitive price of our 24/7 emergency monitoring subscription

What makes your company stand out from the competition?

We were the first to bring a PERS app to Apple Watch and iPhone specifically designed for Elders and Caregivers that fully integrated into a 24/7 emergency monitoring service. Based on the feedback of our users, we continue to be the premier app with endless expansion possibilities for Apple Watch/iPhone and now Android devices.

The Brains Behind the Success of FallCall Solutions, LLC

Dr. Shea C. Gregg is the Founder and President of FallCall Solutions, LLC and a practicing board-certified General Surgeon with additional certification in Surgical Critical Care. As the Section Chief/Medical Director of an American College of Surgeons-Verified Level II Trauma Center, he cares for injured Elder patients on a daily basis.

Dr. Kristin L. Gregg is the Co-founder of FallCall Solutions and is a practicing board-certified emergency medicine physician at a busy inner-city hospital. She completed a fellowship in emergency ultrasound and is co-director if the quality assurance program. She cares for sick and injured Elder patients on a daily basis.

“Our main focus is on building software based solely on the needs of the consumer rather than the trying to create and introduce new ecosystems into customers’ lives.”