Hello. I See You.

Scott Smith
Southwest Times Record

AttentiveCare technology is chopping some of the miles in numerous long-distant relationships for families.

Developed by former Lavaca resident and Fort Smith High School graduate Ken Nixon in 2001, the technology allows caregivers and receivers to communicate via video conferencing. Computer screens, speakers and small Windows video cameras comprise the backbone of the system.

Raymond Rippy, a 96-year-old resident at Butterfield Place, is one of the clients who takes pride in the AttentiveCare equipment. He frequently visits with his daughter, Kai Habilow of Beverly Hills, Calif., and granddaughter Meredith Coffman of Tampa, Fla.

"I think the visual part of it is what's really great," said Shelly Gilker, Rippy's niece. "Meredith is always worried that he'll forget her because she doesn't get to come and visit with him in person that much. This really helps. This is good for everybody."

Rippy, who was featured with the technology in a segment on NBC's "Today" show April 8, patiently waited for Coffman's call Friday morning. Wearing a gray suit and red tie, he sat in a chair, displaying perfect posture and eyeing his computer screen. Seconds later, the system's unique ring signaled Coffman's call through Rippy's speakers. Waving his left arm, Rippy hushed Gilker and certified nursing assistant Terra Tinder when Coffman first appeared on the computer screen.

"Hello," Rippy said while watching Coffman on the computer screen. "Hello. I see you."

Coffman calls Rippy a couple times a week, and Habilow will call every other day.

"You can tell when Meredith and Kai call Mr. Rippy; he gets so excited about it," Tinder said with a smile. "And he'll be talking about it for a long time after that. It is great."

Nixon, CEO of the Oklahoma City-based Caregiver Technologies Inc., said he and his family originally came up with the idea of AttentiveCare to keep his mother, Louise Nixon, at home after Alzheimer's started affecting her mind. Ken Nixon, who retired from IBM, and his brother, Wade, a networking specialist, created the prototype model by carefully piecing together off-the-shelf products.

"The technology developed out of our need to keep her independent and living on what we call the Nixon Brothers Farm in Lavaca," Ken Nixon said. "The technology allowed us to keep mom on the farm until she passed away two years ago from cancer. We were able to keep her there, living independently at home, up until the last several days of her life. She was able to stay connected to me, Wade and Vic, her boys."

The system kept Louise Nixon "connected to family" and provided much-needed social interaction, he said.

"Some days that system was the only social interaction she received; she was 86 when she passed away, so most of her friends had already passed away or couldn't visit with her," Ken Nixon said.

Nixon's mother looked forward to the video conferencing daily.

"I said, 'Mom, do you like it?'" Ken Nixon said. "She said she loved it, and I said, 'It's almost like I'm there.' She looked at me and then said, 'But you are here.' It was great, because mom was spending too much time in the recliner before the technology came along."

Ken Nixon received funding from the National Institute of Health to develop the system, which is now being used by about 40 caregivers and their families across the country; about half of those caregivers live 500 or miles from their care receivers.

"Our technology provides a cost-effective alternative," he said. "It's around $800 to get the system set up for the care receiver, and then another $100 a month, which $40 of that is for the broadband Internet connection."

One of the system's features allows the caregiver to provide the care receiver's desktop information to AttentiveCare officials simply by pushing a button, Ken Nixon said.

"We can reboot their system, and we can download logs for our software to see if there are errors," he said. "On the video conference, we can remotely adjust the sound volume and the sensitivity of the microphone, and the caregiver system gives us a heartbeat so we know that it's up and running. If there's ever a problem with the software, people can call us."

Nixon thinks the system allows long-distance caregivers to monitor and encourage any needed medicine intake for the care receiver.

"If we can get those people to adhere to medications and diets, we can affect their quality of life." he said. "We aren't going to cure anybody, but we can surely impact their remaining years. Our focus is on the family caregiver. They are the underpinning of long-term care here in the United States."

Nixon said he felt proud that Rippy and others are benefiting from the AttentiveCare technology.

"Mr. Rippy is so proud of his unit &mdash he's assumed ownership of it, for sure," he said before laughing. "I'm pretty sure that Mr. Rippy won't let you mess with it. It's so cute. It's great that the technology is there for him and for other families."

For information, visit www.caregivertech.com.

« back to media