As the aging population outpaces the number of caregivers, a local technology company is making sure seniors are never really alone.
Healthsense, based in Mendota Heights, bolstered its monitoring capability Tuesday when it acquired a Richmond, Va., company that delivers caregivers more sophisticated data about residents in senior living facilities.
"Healthsense was formed around the aging demographic that society is facing right now," co-founder Bryan Fuhr said in an interview Tuesday.
Noting that the 65-and-older set is projected to double in size in the next few decades, Fuhr said: "There's no more money or caregivers to provide care for that aging cohort. Technology and innovative services are what's needed to provide that group with care."
Fuhr said the newly acquired company, WellAware, offers monitoring tools that go beyond what Healthsense could do before. For instance, WellAware technology can keep tabs on the regularity of a sleeping senior's breathing.
"Our bed sensor [just] measures an individual getting in and out of bed," Fuhr said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the merger will add 5,000 new customers to Healthsense's base of 15,000 people in 24 states. The company works with about 70 senior housing providers in Minnesota.
Healthsense, founded in 2007, outfits senior housing providers with technology that collects data about the activities of its residents — door openings, trips to the bathroom and possible falls — and allows caregivers to review it online.