News Archive 2018
Merry Christmas!
Gerry Hodgson, December 2018
It wouldn't be Christmas without the obligatory cheesy Cascade picture!
We've had another incredible year and everyone in the team has worked very hard to deliver exceptional products and services to our clients. It was great to take a day out of the office with the UK team to reflect on the last 12 months, take a look at what's ahead for 2019 and enjoy a fabulous meal and a few glasses of champagne together.
This year we were very pleased to be able to support WWF and Age UK with a Christmas donation.
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Here's to 2019 and I wish our clients, suppliers and everyone who uses our software a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Back row l-r: Matt, Will, Gerry and Sharon. Middle l-r: Clare, Enfys, Beena, Chas and Nigel. Selfie-master in front: Paul.
(Unfortunately, Krish wasn't able to join us)
Exciting times ahead
Gerry Hodgson, November 2018
This month is a busy one for news. We are delighted to announce that we have won an important tender with Hertfordshire County Council. We will be installing Connected Care into a number of homes in the area and providing monitoring and data analysis to help older people manage their medication and stay independent at home for longer.
Much of the telecare technology currently used in Hertfordshire is reactive and relies on the user summoning help in an emergency. The Connected Care system will provide ongoing, discreet monitoring to enable carers to intervene before a crisis occurs. As well as installing the sensors and medication system, we will be working alongside HCC to demonstrate the benefits of this new approach to social workers, care practitioners and family carers.
In other news, we also became a Select Partner with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Our upgraded membership gives us enhanced access to technical training and content, increased business support and some fantastic opportunities to showcase Connected Care and our data analytics in co-branded campaigns and webinars.
We are delighted to have qualified to become an Amazon Partner and provide even better support to our customers across all the different sectors we work with and I'd like to thank Matt and the development team for undergoing the required certification to make this possible.
Connected Care and Amazon Alexa to the rescue
Gerry Hodgson, October 2018
Our Cascade Connected Care system and the Amazon Echo Alexa voice service came to the rescue recently when my dad needed help.
My dad, who is 93 and lives alone, knelt down on the wet bathroom floor to investigate a leaky basin but found he was unable to get back up on his feet. Having tried and tried, he became completely exhausted and faced the prospect of being there for some time, then he had a bright idea…
“Alexa, can you hear me?!” he shouted to the Amazon Echo down the hall in the sitting room. Alexa responded, “Yes I can hear you.” What an incredible relief! “Alexa, call Gerry Hodgson and tell him I need help”.
At the time I was eighty miles away in our office demonstrating our Connected Care system and had received a text alert to let me know that Dad hadn’t taken his pills that morning. I could see from the dashboard that he was in the bathroom so didn't want to bother him although I was becoming increasingly anxious over the length of time he was taking in the bathroom. It was then that I received the call from Alexa.
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“Your Dad is calling you, would you like to answer?” Accepting the call, I could hear Dad in the background saying “I’m in some difficulty. Can you call your sister and ask her to come and help me? No, I don’t need an ambulance.”
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My sister lives just around the corner so it didn’t take her long to arrive. In the demonstration we could see the front door opening on the dashboard and within a few seconds of that, the hallway motion sensor showed movement - then the kettle was on, fridge opened for a cup of tea – and I knew that all was well again.
It was amazing that Dad had the presence of mind to call out to Alexa but even if he hadn’t been able to do that, we could see from the Connected Care dashboard that something wasn’t right and an alert would have been triggered.
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It’s our mission to help older and vulnerable people stay safe and secure in their own homes. To find out how Cascade Connected Care (with or without Alexa) could help your family or people you care for, then just give us a call.
Physical inactivity “reduces lifespan by as much as five years”
ukactive, September 2018
Older people are having ‘their lives cut tragically short’ through a physical inactivity epidemic which threatens to bring a major social care crisis, according to a new report.
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Advice to older people to ‘take it easy’ and ‘put your feet up’ could be dangerous to their long-term health, says Steven Ward CEO of ukactive, the not-for-profit health body behind the Reimagining Ageing report. With figures showing that physical inactivity reduces lifespan by as much as five years, the report calls for a complete re-evaluation of the way older people live. Analysis from ukactive, DataHub and Sheffield Hallam University also shows a potential saving of £7.6bn to the NHS and healthcare system if older people are supported to become more physically active.
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The report includes recommendations to embed physical activity promotion into the healthcare system and harness new innovative technology to make exercise the natural choice for older people. Muir Gray, Chief Knowledge Officer of the NHS, said: “Physical activity is vital to ensure older populations can lead long, healthy and independent lives, even in their twilight years.”
To see the full report, click here.
Ollie, Gerry and Albert with Louise Mitchinson,
Home Instead, Rugby
Connecting three generations
Gerry Hodgson, June 2018
Three generations of the Hodgson family are featured on the Home Instead website.
Home Instead Senior Care in Rugby uses our Connected Care system to support clients (including my Dad) with companionship and high quality care. It enables carers to keep clients safe and well between visits and coordinate support with families.
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The system alerts carers if there are any changes to the client’s routine, such as not going out during the day, reduced bathroom, fridge and kettle use or being up in the night. The information is used to create an overall wellbeing profile which means that the care team and the family can have an appropriate conversation about what might be happening and ensure they are providing the best possible care and support.
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To find out more about how Cascade Connected Care can help you support your clients, please get in touch with us.
Intel Stockholm demo goes live
Gerry Hodgson, May 2018
We've been working with Intel in Sweden over the last few weeks to prepare a demo site in their Stockholm lab.
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Intel has created the Intel® Health Application Platform—an innovative application software platform designed to enable healthcare solution providers like Cascade3d to securely deliver
distributed services to any cloud. The new solution is robust, reliable, easy to use and utilitises the very latest technology.
We are thrilled to have been chosen by Intel to demonstrate the functionality of their new platform. You can find out more about the Intel® Health Application Platform here.
Preventing falls
Gerry Hodgson, Mar 2018
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Every year there are around 255,000 emergency hospital admissions in England for patients aged 65+ due to falls. Hip fractures caused by falls are estimated to cost the NHS more than £2.3bn a year and, following a hip fracture, 50% of older people can no longer live independently. It’s a growing issue - it is estimated that half of people aged 80+ fall at least once a year.*
Falls are not an inevitable part of ageing, there are many measures such as exercise and mobility programmes that can help but, often, the small clues that could help families and carers to prevent a fall are missed. The Cascade3d Connected Care platform builds up an individual profile of behaviour and movement so that it’s easy to spot when things aren’t right.
Take a look at our case study to find out more.
*Figures taken from the 2017 AHSN North East and North Cumbria report.
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Spring clean your data
Will Jones, Feb 2018
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If you haven’t yet taken steps to comply with GDPR, don’t worry, we’re here to help. Our GDPR Data Refresh service identifies, cleans and removes inaccurate and out of date information quickly and efficiently enabling you to stay compliant with the new regulations.
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Cascade3d has been auditing and cleaning data for over 15 years and we’ve helped hundreds of leisure, sport, fitness and healthcare organisations across the UK to manage and process their customer data.
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You only have until 25th May 2018 to make sure you are compliant so, to book your data refresh, please give me a call on 07808 789155 or email: willjones@cascade3d.com
VAT windfall for councils?
Will Jones, Jan 2018
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Talking to our customers in the local authority leisure market, it seems some are not aware of a 2017 ruling by the European Court of Justice which makes it unlawful for councils to be required to charge VAT on sport and leisure services. The ruling should level the playing field between councils which outsource services to leisure trusts and those who run services in-house. Please seek professional advice before cracking open the champagne, but it may be possible to reclaim historical VAT overpayments.
Shruthi on Stage
Gerry Hodgson, Jan 2018
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We're so proud of Shruthi Muniyappa, one of our key partners in India, who was on stage earlier this month at the Rashtra Katha Shibir in Gujarat. This is an annual event and brings together over 10,000 school and college children from across the country together in one place for 8 days. The programme is designed to develop community spirit, give career direction and inspire the children to achieve their dreams.
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Shruthi joined high profile speakers including Heads of State, Heads of the Indian Forces, prominent representatives from administrative services and industry leaders. She spoke about using investment to build a stronger economy.