Telecare vs Family Location App: What Each One Covers
They're often confused, and they're not alike: one is a service with people on the other end, the other is an app that keeps family close. Here's what each covers and how they fit together.
When an older person lives alone, two words come up at home: telecare and “an app to check on them.” Many people think they're the same thing, or that one replaces the other. They don't.
What telecare is
It's a social service. IMSERSO defines it as the service that provides “telephone terminals connected to a central alert-receiving center”: if the person has an incident, such as a fall, they just press the button on their terminal (a pendant or a wristband) so the center can contact them and help. Spain's Dependency Law describes it as an immediate response “to emergencies, or to situations of insecurity, loneliness and isolation.” It's provided by regional governments and town councils (sometimes free, sometimes with a co-payment) and also by private companies. There's a mobile version, with GPS, for people who go out.
The important part: there are people on the other end, trained and available 24 hours a day, who call, alert the family, or send an ambulance. They also call from time to time just to keep them company.
What a family location app is
An app on the person's phone and on their family's phones. They can see where the person is (if the person wants them to), receive an “I'm okay” or an SOS, and talk and video call each other. There's no call center and no operators: it alerts the family, not a service. If the family doesn't check their phone, nothing else happens. What is a family location app.
Side by side
- Who responds: telecare, a call center staffed by people; app, the family.
- Emergencies: telecare, sends help; app, alerts your people and leaves 112 one tap away (in Mi Estela, nobody calls on your behalf).
- Where it works: basic telecare, at home (mobile telecare also works outside); app, anywhere with a mobile signal.
- What you need: telecare, the terminal and sometimes a phone line; app, a smartphone and knowing how to use it (or a simple mode, like Mi Estela's Senior Mode).
- Cost: telecare, depends on region and income, free or with a co-payment; app, free for the essentials.
- Companionship: telecare, check-in calls; app, the family themselves (video calls, an “I'm okay”, photos).
How they fit together
For an older person who lives alone, the sensible choice is usually both: telecare for emergencies, and the app for day to day (so the children know they're okay without calling every hour, so they can tell the family when they're heading out, so they can see them if they wish). Mi Estela says so on its own senior screen: it doesn't replace telecare or emergency services. The SOS alerts the family and leaves 112 one tap away. And the gentle check-in (if they don't move during the hours they choose, it alerts whoever they choose) is a complement, not a replacement for the pendant button.
To apply for public telecare, the route is your town council's social services or your regional government's, or the dependency assessment if there is one. For the app, here's how we approach it for adult children of older parents.
Sources
- IMSERSO: Standardized Methodological Report, social services for older people (definition of the telecare service)
- Law 39/2006 on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Persons in Situations of Dependency (art. 22, telecare)
