by Bill Ferguson | Jul 17, 2019 | Blog
It’s an interesting story on how we came up with our logo. It’s all about the key to our product which is the motion sensor. The eyeball, which is the dot in the letter “i” represents the motion sensor, which is the EYE that makes our one of a kind device so unique and so valuable to families everywhere. It also tells you that; The iGuardStove connects to the Internet It’s also a very Innovative product Its great Insurance for your home and loved ones All the unique features make it very Intelligent It’s also Interactive for families living far apart It also gives loved ones their Independenceto stay in their home While it can stand for so many things the one thing you can count on is that the iGuardStove is keeping an EYE on what’s important to...
by Bill Ferguson | Jan 22, 2019 | Blog
Introducing the iGuard Micro Care Environment In recent years the focus has shifted from building more care facilities in order to safely house seniors over to bringing the care into the senior’s home. Aging in place in their homes has proven to be the best for everyone as it keeps peace in the family, keeps husbands and wives together and can add many years to a senior’s life. But more importantly it provides dignity to our aging family members. It’s the best and most cost-effective long-term strategy. In one U.S. state a study had shown that for every $1 the state government spent to keep a person at home they saved over $50 in other health care areas. Governments are now realizing that the apartments that seniors stay in must be different than the typical rental apartment. Simply calling it a Seniors Living project because it may be subsidized and it houses seniors doesn’t mean that the building has the proper level of care required for the aging in place. Buildings and suites need increased fire prevention, additional sensors for monitoring the health of seniors as well as functioning as a true seniors housing to the degree that it gives the families the comfort in knowing that their loved ones are safe. Yes, the sensors and upgrades to Internet infrastructure can be expensive but using the financial findings from that study it is still the most effective way to manage the aging population. We at iGuardFire recognized this fact and that is why we created the iGuardStove. We utilize a special package of sensors and use unique algorithms to provide...
by Bill Ferguson | Oct 29, 2017 | Blog
Jane Helgesen had a rough night recently, as nausea kept the 71-year-old retired nurse scurrying to the bathroom. A sensor under the bed recorded her comings and goings, sending alerts to her daughter, Britt, who lives nearby. Feeling better the next day, Helgesen used a doorbell camera to welcome guests, whose images are displayed on her rose-gold iPhone, which she also uses to unlock the front door and tweak the thermostat. The smart gadgets in Helgesen’s three-bedroom townhouse in the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury, Minn., aren’t new. What’s different is that Best Buy Co., better known for hawking TVs and computers than for selling geriatric-care products, is wiring it all together. The electronics retailer, which sells an entry-level package of gear for $389.96 (installation costs an extra $199), also provides a monitoring service for $29 a month. Helgesen’s home is a proving ground for this fledgling unit, called Assured Living, now open for business in Denver as well as the Twin Cities area. If the two test markets work out, Best Buy Chief Executive Officer Hubert Joly envisions rolling out a broader business of sensor-based senior services, sold through health-and-wellness departments in Best Buy’s more than 1,000 stores. He concedes it’s a bit of a stretch for the electronics retailer: “We’re not top of mind” in the geriatric-care market. For now, Best Buy is one of a number of consumer and tech companies jockeying for position in a race for a likely $50 billion market to remotely look after grandma. Joly calls it “white space waiting to be captured.” Google, Microsoft, and Samsung are all going after the smart-home market with remote monitoring...
by Bill Ferguson | Oct 5, 2017 | Blog
We at the iGuardFire company had recognized the importance for people to stay at home longer while remaining safe and Independent. This market is the now called Aging in Place. People can lose the ability to interact with a dishwasher but that’s no big deal. But when they can’t interact with their stove then it’s typically time for a care home. And as we know care homes are hard to find space in, they are expensive to families and can be very demoralizing on some elderly people who have been independent all their lives I ran into this with my parents many years ago. Our mother had got cancer and while undergoing treatments the medications she was given were affecting her memory and her low energy levels seriously affected her ability to use the stove. As she was declining at home, she was slowly using the stove less and less and as she slowly lost her relationship with her beloved stove the cooking duties fell into Dad’s lap. On top of Dad not being very experienced in managing cooking he could be easily distracted by mom’s sometimes sudden and immediate need for his assistance. The situation and pressure dad was under with mom‘s situation and now the cooking really started to concern us. My other 2 siblings and I, being in different provinces, would have loved to be able to take an active role in watching what was happening with Dads cooking and his interactions with the stove but it was physically impossible. This just nothing but increase the stress level for everyone. There needed to be a better...
by Bill Ferguson | Sep 6, 2017 | Blog
Over 30,000 Fires Prevented The iGuardStove automatically shuts off the kitchen stove after 5 minutes of absence from the cooking. To us at iGuardFire every time that the iGuardStove has to step in to Auto Shut Off the stove is a potential fire that was prevented. As of Sept. 5, 2017, our system recorded just over 30,000 Auto Shut Offs by all the Intelligent iGuardStove devices connected to the server. This doesn’t include the shut offs from our non-Internet devices which could push that number well over 50,000. This information can’t be got from anywhere other than iGuardFire’s server. We are the only people who track this information and it is extremely valuable. Other information This number could be debatable as to whether the cooking was caught right away all the way up to a full-blown home fire but the fact still remains that people are walking away from their cooking more than anyone could ever imagine. When knowing that the leading cause of a home fire is unattended or forgotten cooking it’s nice to know the iGuardStove is standing guard to step in to save the day. This is great Peace of Mind to know that your loved ones will be safe while being independent in their home. The iGuardStove has been installed in homes, rental suites, community housing common kitchens, Adult Living communities, apartment buildings university dorms and even the kitchens of fire stations! The iGuardStove is definitely making a difference in making the home a safer place for...
by Bill Ferguson | Jun 2, 2017 | Blog
We at iGuardFire are all about keeping people safe and independent in their homes. Our main priority has always been the prevention of stove fires caused by unattended cooking. Our product has been helping families all over North America gain the peace of mind that their loved ones will not damage their homes or worse yet get injured by a fire while living on their own. When our customers call us we hear many stories about how their fires started and the many pots that were destroyed but we also listen to their other frustrations. Beside the fire safety component our customers have told us many other horrific stories. The one that we heard the most was how their loved one had fallen and couldn’t get up and laid there for hours or even days before someone discovered them. After hearing this, it got our creative juices flowing and we started to think about ways that we could help eliminate that concern. We started to think outside the box and realized that our customers actually had a motion sensor in their kitchen and that gave us an idea. Outside of the stove shut off ability we thought to just focus on the motion aspect. So, we then coupled the motion sensor to our already existing data recording feature and our alerting system and bingo. We had a plan. All those ideas melding into one great idea and we are proud to announce now that we have just released our software update for a feature we call the Activity Monitor. This monitor has two aspects. The Daytime part and the...
