A Saskatoon-based company has released a personal safety alert that they believe is an improvement on anything on the market.
ORA is designed to look like jewelry, and according to the company, it does more than most other devices in the market.
“The issue with personal alert devices is that people just don’t wear them – they’re ugly, they look like garage door openers,” Serese Selanders, founder and CEO of Kasiel Solutions, told Global News.
“That was one of the first things we wanted to solve, was make it beautiful.”
But she believes ORA does much more.
It’s designed to work with cell phone networks, for one thing.
“It works wherever there is cell phone coverage. Traditional devices limit you to your home and yard – this will work everywhere, even if you’re heading down to Arizona for the winter,” she said.
Another unique feature is that ORA allows the user to decide who they would like contacted in an emergency.
You can arrange as many contacts as you want. If none of them can be reached, emergency services are automatically contacted.
ORA also allows loved ones to check in on the user, using an app that will be available for free on Google Play and the Apple Store.
The device showed its worth earlier this year, when one of the seniors involved in the pilot program had a real life emergency.
“She was wearing her device as part of our pilot, and she fell very, very ill,” Selanders said.
“In the night she knocked her phone off, couldn’t get to it, and she was wearing (her) ORA.”
The woman pressed her ORA link, and instantly her son and daughter were sent notifications.
“As her doctor, and as she said, Ora saved her life.”
Selanders said device costs between $119 and $219, and $39 a month after that.
She was motivated to look into a better alert device after her own experience looking after her father.
“I went from being the daughter to being caregiver, and when I went looking for a solution, there was really nothing, just these traditional devices and I just felt there had to be a better way,” she said.
What she really likes about ORA is the way it can improve someone’s life.
“Seniors like to get out and about, they look good, they want to be part of the community and that’s exactly what this is all about,” she said.