Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

December 16th, 2025

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

Summer across Australia and New Zealand is a season we all look forward to, long days, warm weather, and time with family. But for older adults, especially those living alone
or in retirement villages, summer can bring hidden dangers.
High temperatures combined with reduced contact during holiday periods can pose serious health risks.

Why heat is a hidden danger

Every year, families head away for extended holidays, and regular check-ins with their older parents or family members can become less frequent. Unfortunately, heat-related illnesses can develop quickly, especially for those with mobility issues or cognitive difficulties.
These conditions often lead to increased hospital admissions, ED visits, and ambulance call outs.

Did you know

Excessive heat is the leading cause of weather-related hospitalisations in Australia. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
People aged 65 and older are most at risk.
In New Zealand, older adults are a key vulnerable group for heat-related illness and death. (NZ Medical Journal, 2025)

Personal Alarm Systems: A Lifeline in Emergencies

Personal alarm pendants are often associated with fall risks, but they’re just as critical during summer. If your loved one feels unwell or becomes disoriented due to heat, they can press the pendant to summon help immediately. For those living alone, this simple action can make all the difference.

With the addition of an Adi Temperature Extreme Sensor, the system becomes even more powerful. This sensor:

Sends alerts when temperatures become too high or too low
Detects rapid rises in temperature

This technology provides peace of mind for families who can’t be in constant contact, supports cognitive safety for those who may not recognise heat danger, and helps retirement villages respond proactively before heat stress becomes an emergency.

By pairing personal alarm pendants with heat sensors, families and retirement communities can create a safer environment for loved ones. These devices help monitor temperature extremes and provide quick alerts if something isn’t right, giving everyone confidence and peace of mind during the hottest days.

Want to learn more about keeping your loved ones safe this summer?

Get in touch with your monitoring centre today or contact us and find out how easy it is to add heat protection to your safety plan.

Adi Assistive Technology products

Aged Care Reform: Why Technology Must Be at the Heart of Change

December 2nd, 2025

Aged care at a turning point: why technology-enabled care must sit at the heart of New Zealand’s reform

by: Abby Moore, CEO, Chiptech

Coming out of Health Infomatics New Zealand Digtal Health Week 2025 (HiNZ), one theme has stayed with me – that our aged care system is changing whether we are ready or not.

On one side, we have an ambitious 10-year Health Digital Investment Plan and a new Centre for Digital Modernisation of Health, signalling serious intent to fix fragmented, outdated digital infrastructure. On the other, Government has announced a full overhaul of aged care funding, backed by substantial analytical work on current service models and their shortcomings. Together, these moves are reshaping what it will mean to grow older in Aotearoa, particularly for those who want to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible.

For organisations like Chiptech, and for the New Zealand providers we work alongside, the question is no longer if change is coming, but how we’ll use it to deliver better outcomes for older people, whānau, and staff.

Shilvana Shaikh and Abby Moore at Digital Health Week 2025

A system that wasn't built around real lives

Listening to speakers and reflecting on the recent reviews of aged care services and funding, the same issues keep surfacing:

Services are still funded and delivered in silos – primary care, home support, community services, aged residential care, and hospitals each operating to their own rules and data sets.
Funding models have not kept pace with what older people actually want and need, which is to maintain independence, stay connected to their communities, and have care wrapped around them when they need it, not just when they meet a particular eligibility threshold.
Workforce shortages are hitting every part of the system, particularly in regional and rural areas – and they are not going away.
Māori, Pacific, and other communities face clear inequities in access to appropriate, timely support.
Aged care is still too often treated as something separate from the rest of the health system, instead of a critical part of how we prevent hospital admissions, support safe discharge, and enable dignified end-of-life care.

The Sapere reviews for Te Whatu Ora are very clear that increasing funding alone won’t fix this. The system itself needs to be redesigned around pathways that support people to live at their desired level of independence, with flexible combinations of support that evolve over time – in the home, in the community, and in residential settings when required.

That is exactly where technology-enabled care (TEC) and personal emergency response systems come in.

Reframing technology-enabled care

Too often, technology-enabled care is still seen as ‘a pendant’, ‘a base unit’, or ‘a handy extra’ that can be bolted on to existing services.
At Chiptech, we see it very differently.
Our experience with New Zealand and international providers has shown that when TEC is deployed as infrastructure, not as a stand-alone product, it does three important jobs:

1. Extends safe independence
Linked devices, sensors, and medication support devices help older people live safely at home, with the confidence that help is available at the touch of a button, after a fall, or when a pattern of behaviour changes. This is true whether someone is in social housing, living rurally, or in a retirement village.

2. Guides where precious workforce effort goes
Activity and alert data can show who is stable, who might need a check-in, and who is at high risk if nothing changes. That allows providers to target in-person visits and clinical input more intelligently, instead of relying solely on time-based rosters or waiting for a crisis.

3. Creates the data we need to fund what works
Time-stamped, objective TEC data on falls, call patterns, medication adherence, and more, provides the evidence needed to design and justify new funding models that reward prevention, early intervention and safe ageing in place.

In other words, TEC is not just about responding when someone presses a button. It is a lens for seeing risk sooner, a multiplier for stretched workforce, and a source of proof that new models of care are delivering what they promised.

Pivotell Pill Dispenser

Aligning with the new direction of travel

The Government’s move to establish a Ministerial Advisory Group on aged care, review funding models, and explicitly focus on ‘the right type of care in the right place’ is encouraging. The associated work on the future of ageing well, service models, and funding gives us a shared evidence base to work from.
At the same time, the 10-year digital plan, with its focus on a single electronic medical record, modern infrastructure, remote monitoring, and better data flows provides the backbone that integrated aged care has been missing.
Where these two streams meet, there is a clear opening for TEC to be treated as part of core health and social infrastructure, rather than a discretionary add-on.

Examples include:

Falls and frailty
Falls remain a leading reason for emergency department presentations, loss of confidence and early transition into higher-level care. TEC solutions that combine pendants, automatic fall detection, activity monitoring, and lighting can support proactive falls prevention programmes, timely response when incidents occur, and structured follow-up. This is directly aligned with the health system’s objectives to reduce avoidable hospitalisations and support safer discharge.

Medication support
There is a wealth of evidence that missed or incorrect medication contributes to confusion, instability, and health deterioration. Smart dispensers, reminders, and monitoring can significantly reduce this risk, particularly for people with complex regimens or early cognitive change.

Post-discharge and step-down care
TEC can support short-term, intensive packages following a hospital stay, enabling people to return home sooner, with a virtual “safety net” for both the person and the clinical team overseeing their recovery.

Supporting unpaid carers and whānau
For many families, technology can provide reassurance that their loved one is OK without constant in-person checking, which is particularly important where whānau live at a distance or juggle work and caring responsibilities.

These are not theoretical benefits. They are stories we see every day in the lives of people connected to Chiptech systems.

What this means for providers in Aotearoa

For New Zealand service providers, from home and community support through to aged residential care, the reform agenda creates both pressure and opportunity.

Pressure, because expectations are rising around outcomes, equity, digital maturity, and workforce productivity. Data will increasingly be used to compare models of care and determine what is funded.
Opportunity, because providers who can demonstrate that they are using technology to keep people safely at home, reduce avoidable hospital use, and support staff to work at the top of their scope will be well-placed to influence and benefit from new funding models.

We see four practical areas where providers can start now:

1. Reframing TEC in your own strategy
Treat TEC and personal emergency response systems as part of your core service model, not just an add-on. Ask:

Where can TEC help us safely reduce low-value face-to-face visits?
How can it support our falls, frailty, and medication strategies?
How will we measure impact over time?

2. Building your evidence base
Use the data already available from TEC deployments to understand patterns of demand, risk, and response. Even simple analysis of who calls, when, why, and what happens next can provide powerful insights for service redesign and future funding discussions.

3. Preparing for interoperability
As the digital investment plan rolls out, the ability to integrate TEC data with wider clinical systems will matter more. Providers can start planning for that now, by clarifying what information they need from TEC platforms, and what information they may need to feed back.

4. Contributing to the policy conversation
Sector bodies and individual providers will have opportunities to contribute to the aged care review process. Including TEC and personal emergency response systems in your submissions, along with concrete examples and data, will help ensure these tools are recognised and supported in future funding models.

Chiptech's role: partnering for better outcomes

Chiptech has always been focused on enabling people to live safely and independently, as well as supporting the organisations who walk alongside them. In this new environment, that means:

Continuing to evolve our products and platforms so they are ready for a more integrated, data-driven health and care system
Working with providers to design packages of care that combine devices, monitoring, and human support in ways that make sense for local communities
Using our experience and data, from here and overseas, to contribute constructively to the national conversation on aged care reform.

Reform on this scale can feel daunting. But it is also a rare chance to reshape aged care around what matters most: dignity, independence, safety, and connection.
Technology-enabled care is not the whole answer. But without it, it will be very hard to deliver the right care, in the right place, at the right time, for the people who have spent a lifetime contributing to Aotearoa.

Chiptech is ready to play our part, partnering with providers, policymakers, and communities to make sure we don’t waste this moment.

– End

#ChipFest25

October 22nd, 2025

#ChipFest25

We had the privilege of hosting some of our key Australian and New Zealand customers at our very first #ChipFest event in October. It was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate, share insights, and explore the future of technology-enabled care (TEC).

A look behind the scenes

Guests were taken on a tour through our production facilities, including our two surface Mount technology (SMT) lines to see individual components being placed on a printed circuit board (PCBS). In photos you will see us all wearing ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) jackets, one preventative measure we employ that is designed to prevent static electricity buildup discharging onto sensitive electronics reducing the chance of electrostatic damage. Guests also had the oppoertunity to see first-hand how the products thet purchase from Chiptech are assembled and quality tested at multiple stages throughout the manufacturing process.

The tour included time talking with our software and engineering team about current and future projects. Visiting operations, and servicing, to gain insight into how every department, from design and engineering to production, works together to deliver Technology Enabled Care (TEC) solutions that make a difference.

Teeing Up Teamwork

Of course, it wasn’t all business! Our #ChipFest25 golf day brought out some impressive (and entertaining!) golf skills, providing the perfect chance to relax at Clearwater Golf Club, have fun, and connect on a more personal level.
We played under Ambrose rules, where everyone plays from their team’s best shot. It was a fun and engaging way to experience golf, blending strategy, collaboration, and friendly competition.
The Ambrose format echoes how we work with our customers, partnering closely, planning strategically, and always driving forward from the strongest position.

It was a great way to reflect our commitment to collaboration and shared goals.

Shared Words, Shared Wins

We also spent a day sharing insightful presentations from our internal teams and our key suppliers Arrow Electronics and Active Components.

We unveiled new prototypes, software updates, and emerging technologies that are shaping the next generation of TEC. Guests had the chance to explore these innovations and give us feedback on designs and direction.

Jeremy, one of our R&D engineers, presented the how we improved our falls algorithm which we showcased in our August newsletter , presenting the thinking behind our technology and how our research is supporting safer communities.

Interactive customer surveys and open table sessions sparked great discussion and provided us with invaluable feedback that will help shape our roadmap and guide future product improvements. 

It was a great celebration of what we can achieve together. Whether it’s building safer communities, developing smarter solutions, or simply sharing a laugh on the golf course, we’re stronger when we work side by side.

A huge thank you to everyone who made the trip and joined us for #ChipFest25. We hope you took away some meaningful insights into the people and passion behind Chiptech.

End.

Not All Personal Alarms Are Created Equal

September 29th, 2025

Not All Personal Are Alarms Created Equal

Personal alarm devices have become a critical safety tool for older adults and people living with disabilities. These devices provide peace of mind for individuals and their loved ones, offering the reassurance that help is just a button press away. But not all personal alarms offer the same level of reliability, and that’s a serious concern.

In recent years, the market has seen a rise in ‘direct to the consumer’ personal alarm product sales. While these devices are often advertised as affordable and easy to use, the reality is that many of them fall short. They may look the part, but they are not always built with the same standards or backed by the same service levels as professionally monitored systems.

‘Shonky’ products called out

In 2023, Australia’s leading consumer advocate, CHOICE, published its well-known Shonky Awards highlighting just how unreliable many non-monitored personal alarms really are. After testing 40 over-the-counter devices (so not those connected to a monitoring service) sold in retail stores and online and, they were unable to recommend a single one. According to CHOICE, these devices consistently failed in the areas that matter most: reliability and ease of use. Critical functions didn’t work properly, many devices were difficult to set up, and battery life was often too short, all of which pose a major concern for older adults, especially those with cognitive impairments. They may appear to be a cheaper and simpler option but when tested under pressure, these devices fail to deliver.

What’s more, many of these products lacked transparency about how user data is collected and stored. To put it bluntly, the very devices meant to keep people safe may be putting them at risk, not only in emergencies but also in terms of data security.

That’s why there is a growing call within the industry for stronger regulation and clearer standards around personal alarm devices. Customers and their families deserve to know that the system they’re relying on will actually work. Personal alarms should be held to a higher benchmark, in the same way we expect smoke alarms, seat belts, and medications to meet strict safety requirements.

Regulation and standards are key

Governing associations are now playing a key role in setting and maintaining best practices across the industry. Personal Emergency Response Services Limited (PERSL) in Australia and the Telecare Services Association of New Zealand are both dedicated to ensuring that personal alarms, both monitored and unmonitored, are safe, effective, and supported by certified providers. These groups continue to advocate for stronger safeguards and increased funding to help more people access quality, standards-based personal emergency response services.

As the aged care sector evolves, and as more people prefer to stay in their own homes for longer, it becomes increasingly important to invest in technology that genuinely supports safety and independence. The risk of relying on unregulated, non-monitored products is simply too high.

Standards-based industry leader

At Chiptech, all our products, from mobile personal response devices to assistive technology, meet international safety standards and comply with PERSL and TSANZ’s best practice. With 25 years’ experience as an industry leader, quality is one of our core values ensuring that we provide premium products that are trusted and reliable when it’s needed most.

The bottom line is clear, not all personal alarms are created equal. Monitored solutions, supported by regulation, industry best practice, and professional care, remain the gold standard. It’s time for providers, government, and consumers to recognise the difference, and to advocate for systems that truly keep people safe.

Blog Archives

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

You may also like

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

Aged Care Reform: Why Technology Must Be at the Heart of Change

#ChipFest25

Aged Care Reform: Why Technology Must Be at the Heart of Change

Aged care at a turning point: why technology-enabled care must sit at the heart of New Zealand’s reform

Shilvana Shaikh and Abby Moore at Digital Health Week 2025

A system that wasn't built around real lives

Reframing technology-enabled care

Pivotell Pill Dispenser

Aligning with the new direction of travel

What this means for providers in Aotearoa

Chiptech's role: partnering for better outcomes

You may also like

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

Aged Care Reform: Why Technology Must Be at the Heart of Change

#ChipFest25

#ChipFest25

#ChipFest25

A look behind the scenes

Teeing Up Teamwork

You may also like

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

Aged Care Reform: Why Technology Must Be at the Heart of Change

#ChipFest25

Not All Personal Alarms Are Created Equal

Not All Personal Are Alarms Created Equal

‘Shonky’ products called out

Regulation and standards are key

Standards-based industry leader

You may also like

Summer Safety for Seniors: How to Protect Loved Ones from Heat Risks

Aged Care Reform: Why Technology Must Be at the Heart of Change

#ChipFest25