As people age, they face various challenges, including a strong desire to maintain their independence, growing feelings of loneliness, and the reality that family members who wish to help are often busy with their own work and home responsibilities. ClearWellness aims to address these issues by using the smallest amount of technology possible to connect seniors with their families and support them in achieving their wellness goals.

Based in Roseville, California, ClearWellness is a subsidiary of ClearCaptions, a company that provides phone captioning services for individuals with hearing loss.

“ClearWellness emerged from years of serving seniors through ClearCaptions and helping them adopt technology that they might otherwise find difficult to use,” CEO Bob Rae told Home Health Care News. “We observed significant loneliness and a desire to remain independent at home. Our mission is to fill this gap, enhance seniors’ connections and independence and improve their care while also relieving some of the burdens on caregivers.”

The company offers wellness and lifestyle management services that pair seniors with certified health and wellness coaches who monitor them using minimal technology. These coaches are trained to recognize changes in sleep patterns, weight fluctuations and other health issues. They also provide companionship and emotional support.

Additionally, geriatric nurses oversee the process and guide the coaches’ interactions with seniors. This oversight helps identify any potential wellness needs and establishes actionable goals.

Because seniors often hesitate to embrace new technology due to its unfamiliarity, concerns about data security, and fear of complexity, convincing them to use a new service can be challenging.

To address this, ClearWellness limits its technological tools to three items: a smartwatch, a sleep mat and a digital scale.

“We focused on determining the minimal items needed to gather information for a wellness coach to monitor seniors and assess their progress toward goals,” Rae said. “We required tools to monitor activity, sleep, eating and hydration, which is why we selected a watch, sleep mat and scale. These devices provide 24/7 monitoring and valuable insights.”

By combining the collected data with care plans and regular phone calls with wellness coaches, the company can ensure that seniors receive the support they need while also coordinating care between the coach, caregiver and family members.

The ClearWellness smartphone app provides metrics such as heart rate, weight, body mass index, sleep quality, activity levels and fall detection. It allows family members and caregivers to stay connected to valuable data observed by health and wellness coaches.

“We have an app for caregivers and a portal for home care agencies,” Rae said. “When you open the app, the first thing you see is the latest report from the coach. The coach sends a weekly summary of their work with the family member and caregivers can access the app at any time to gain insights into their loved one’s wellbeing.”

While it is premature to fully assess the effectiveness, early results are promising, according to Rae. In one pilot study, hospitalizations were reduced by 25%, and falls recorded were 53% lower than the average for similar peer groups. Care agents also reported a noticeable improvement in mental wellbeing among participants.