Helium & CareBand Make COVID-19 Contact Tracing Affordable
Today we’re thrilled to announce our new partnership with CareBand, an innovative wearables company dedicated to keeping people safe and healthy at an affordable cost using The People’s Network.
CareBand started as a solution to help people with dementia and Alzheimer’s stay safe and improve their quality of life. Their wearable technology tracks indoor and outdoor location, recognizes activity, and notifies caregivers of early changes in condition.
With the onset of COVID-19 and the growing demand for contact tracing solutions, CareBand realized that their technology could easily be reconfigured and scaled at an affordable cost to address the current environment using The People’s Network, the fastest-growing wireless network for IoT in the US.
CareBand recently expanded their wearable solutions to address health management and pandemic response for the general population — enabling governments, public health organizations, universities, and corporations to get back to work and school, while adjusting to the “new normal”.
The People’s Network Enables SafeTrack Wearables
CareBand developed SafeTrack to enable contact tracing, proximity monitoring, geofencing, among other applications thanks to LoRaWAN connectivity provided by The People’s Network. With SafeTrack, companies and organizations are able to be notified of potential COVID-19 exposure through a combination of their wearable solution and automated notifications to those at risk.
Key SafeTrack features include:
- Contact Tracing to log device interaction details.
- Proximity Monitoring to notify when two or more devices are in close proximity, with a vibration to warn that they should be farther away.
- Geofencing/Zone Monitoring to monitor locations (answering the “where did these interactions take place” question) and send notifications when entering or exiting a certain area.
Paired with Organizational Risk Management Dashboard that:
- Creates and tracks cases
- Sends notifications
- Follows up with symptom checks
And an Employee Mobile App that:
- Enables access to risk level based on interactions
- Analyzes past interactions
- Provides resources for getting tested and when to call a provider
Using the power of The People’s Network, SafeTrack automatically and passively sends data to the internet via LoRaWAN. Once that data is securely transmitted over The People’s Network, the encrypted data is securely shifted to the SafeTrack cloud and pushed to the website, mobile app, or to APIs.
Patrons Team Up to Help Drive Usage
The growth of The People’s Network is made possible by a new blockchain-based incentive model, which has enabled anyone to become a network operator and given rise to Helium Patrons. Helium Patrons, or individuals who have deployed 15+ Hotspots, have been instrumental in this particular use case, teaming up with CareBand to not only provide coverage, but moreover, to drive the usage of Data Credits. The symbiotic relationship between Helium Patrons and companies solving real-world problems such as CareBand is incredibly unique and has been instrumental in supporting this important use case.
Partnerships and solutions such as these can have a vast and important impact on millions of people, by minimizing the risks associated with COVID-19 and helping to save lives. We’re incredibly excited about the potential this partnership brings — benefiting society, as well as the entire ecosystem of The People’s Network.
You can read the full press release here and catch a recording of The Uplink to learn about how Helium and CareBand are working together. We’ll have more news to share from our partners soon, so keep an eye out for upcoming announcements over the next few weeks!
