Do you love someone – perhaps an elderly person – who you fear may experience a bad fall at some point and become injured?
Shea C. Gregg, M.D. knows all about it. Five years ago, the Trumbull-based trauma surgeon created FallCall Detect,https://www.wagmag.com/care-on-call/ a personal emergency response system (PERS) app that is accessed on a user’s mobile device. For many years now, that device has been the Apple Watch or the Apple iPhone. The idea behind his creation of the FallCall app is that if your loved one falls down, you will be alerted by the watch or phone and can successfully deal with it.
Gregg created the app with his team, because he had discovered that so many people who wind up falling actually owned an emergency alert device – but simply didn’t want to wear it. It sat in the drawer.
While wearing the Apple Watch or carrying around your iPhone is a great alternative to sporting an unattractive plastic call button device around your neck, Gregg has been seeking even more innovative ways for people to use his safety-solution FallCall technology.
Enter Mara Perlmutter, who simultaneously was seeking a safety solution for her own mother. Over the last 10 years, the Westchester resident has built designer jewelry divisions for large, family-owned businesses through brand licensing of Christian Siriano, Isaac Mizrahi and Laundry by Shelli Segal, among others. Four years ago, her fashionista mother became housebound, and so Perlmutter bought several emergency-alert pendants for her to wear. Her mother hated all of the plastic white options and asked her daughter, “Mara, you’ve been in the jewelry business for more than 25 years. Can’t you make me something beautiful to wear in case of an emergency?”
Perlmutter decided to create her own solution – Trelawear jewelry – with “Trela” being the word “alert” spelled backwards. Trelawear offers two styles of 100%-brass pendants that can be worn with pearls, necklaces and beads and can even be attached to a favorite belt or handbag. The million-dollar idea here? The pendants are Bluetooth-enabled.
Having learned about FallCall Solutions, Perlmutter was delighted to partner with Gregg: “We found the right partner with FallCall Solutions, who could provide a compatible Bluetooth app platform. They similarly believe in the importance of destigmatizing the wearing of a PERS device, appreciating that women of all ages want to look and feel beautiful while also feeling safe.”
How to use it? You download the FallCall app to an Apple iPhone or Watch, then remotely pair the Bluetooth-capable Trelawear pendant with the app. (You will have to purchase a care group or a central monitoring subscription through iTunes. Prices start at $9.99 per month.)
Trelawear pendants feature the Sally, which is cushion-cut, and the Bella, which is a round shape. They come in 18 different styles and retail for $175 each. Says Gregg: “Trelawear is a brilliant solution for those aging in place that resides on the forefront of safety technology.”
Perlmutter adds that it’s also a way for women to look and feel great while empowering themselves.
For more, visit trelawear.com. And follow me on Instagram @Debbikickham.
– Debbi K. Kickham
