Quick help for falling elderly thanks to GPS alarm in new hipair bag from Cloud

Wolk+ protects elderly from broken hip in case of fall and automatically sends alarm and GPS location to contact person

Elderly people who have fallen get help faster thanks to Wolk’s new hip airbag with automatic alarm function and GPS. This allows the contact person linked to the Wolk app to receive an alarm when someone falls and at what location the user fell. Developed in collaboration with TU Delft’s Robotics Department, Wolk’s new hip airbag offers a solution for the more than 24,000 seniors in the Netherlands who break their hip each year and are unable to quickly call for help when they fall. Half of them are also unable to return home after a fracture. Thanks to Wolk’s updated technology, seniors are able to live safely independently at home for longer. 

Mendes Hogestyn, co-founder of Wolk: “We started talking to elderly people and their loved ones to really understand their concerns. This revealed that, in addition to the fear of a hip fracture, the worry “what if my mother falls, is no longer able to get up and can’t raise the alarm?” is very big. With this insight, we got to work on a hip airbag with an automatic alarm function. “The new feature of the Cloud+ should give those around seniors peace of mind and confidence, knowing that their loved ones are well protected and they will be alerted immediately in the event of a fall.

Freedom of Movement

In addition to the need for an alarm function, freedom of movement for seniors also proved to be an important issue. More than half of independent living elderly people are unsteady on their feet at times, which limits them in their daily activities and contributes to an increased risk of falling. Wolk’s hip protection should give elderly people the confidence to live more independently and freely. Engineers at TU Delft have developed the hip airbag’s fall detection system with a unique fall detection algorithm that allows the hip airbag to flawlessly distinguish between a fall and other movements. This allows the Wolk+now to be used on bicycles and e-bikes as well. Click here for a demonstration of the Wolk+.

Results Wolk hipairbag elderly care organization tanteLouise

Elderly care organization tanteLouise has been deploying fifty Wolk hip airbags since April 2018 to protect their most vulnerable clients at risk of falling.None of the clients wearing the hip airbag suffered a fracture. Jan-Kees van Wijnen, Director of Care at tanteLouise Foundation: “We are very happy with the result. The number of hip, pelvic and leg fractures has decreased by 46% in one year compared to the year before Wolk was deployed. That’s a really striking difference.”

Professor Gerard Jan Blauw, professor of internal (geriatric) medicine at Leiden University, has been following the developments for some time: “The results of Wolk are promising. Of the first 100 elderly people who fell on their hip with this airbag, no one broke a hip. Moreover, users wear the Wolk faithfully, which is a huge improvement over traditional hip protection.”