Lavinia Fitzgerald had always taken care of herself and those around her, but that changed more than 30 years ago when she sustained a brain injury in an accident. Since then, her daughter,Colleen Henry, has been her primary caregiver. But with a father who is now aging, and her sister Peggy more than 75 miles away, the burdens of providing care and keeping an eye on both parents are more than Colleen can handle.

“I’m at the house every day to tend to Mama’s personal needs and prepare meals, and Peggy keeps the house clean. At his age, Daddy’s just not able to help as much and he’s away from home a lot. So we enrolled Mama in the Community Care Program last year, and they told us about using computer technology to help keep an eye on Mama. We thought we should give it a try,” said Colleen. “She’s not ready for a nursing home and assisted living is terribly expensive.”;

The family uses the Web-based telecare system offered by Rest Assured® (www.restassured-system.com), which combines wireless technology, a secure broadband Internet connection and state-of-the-art support and response center staffed with professional caregivers. By pooling all these resources, the system is the first of its kind to offer round-the-clock, in-home support that can be customized to the needs of any individual it serves. “Rest Assured keeps Mama safe when no one else is there, and we’re able to also ‘visit’ with her using the two-way audio and video that the system offers,” said Colleen. “They’ve done everything they said they would, except for telling me how our parents’ lives — and ours — would change..”

This has given them a new lease on life and they’ve developed real friendships with the telecaregivers. Mama and Daddy sit and talk to them like old friends. I’ve seen the relief on Daddy’s face because he knows someone is watching out for them at all times.”

BEST-CASE SCENARIO “We want Mama and Daddy to be able to live independently because that’s what they want. We just need to make sure they’re safe and that someone checks on them consistently,” said Colleen. “Rest Assured makes this possible because these people understand how to use technology to make help available, accessible and affordable.”