A Broomfield home care service is using artificial intelligence to help provide life-saving, around-the-clock care to seniors.

Griswold Home Care’s branches in Westminster, Broomfield and Boulder offer clients a new technology that allows seniors to be monitored constantly, a unique approach that’s already saving lives.

“It’s an added layer of protection,” said Jim Middleton, owner of the Broomfield Griswold branch. “Giving clients peace of mind that should something happen, that we would be able to respond appropriately.”

The technology, Sensi AI, uses audio to monitor seniors and other care clients. It can detect conversations as well as other noises and sounds. Middleton said that, for example, Sensi might detect a client exclaiming an expletive and then a loud bang, possibly detecting a fall. These high-level alerts are then reported to Griswold, who can follow up and ensure the client’s safety.

“We are notified with a phone call, a text message and then can listen to the high-level alert in an app on our phones,” he said. “So if it’s fall, we literally hear that fall — and some of them are just gut-wrenching.”

Griswold, operating in 32 states, offers non-medical in-home care services to Front Range seniors who need assistance to thrive in their residences alone. Services include personal care, homemaking, companionship and support for those with illnesses or injuries.

In a release, Griswold CEO Michael Slupeck said the Sensi.AI technology is plugged into the wall and captures audio data to detect anomalies to “avoid unnecessary hospitalizations.”

Sensi.AI can detect falls, physical distress, calls for help, and it can identify early signs of cognitive decline, infection, medication errors and potential urinary tract infections, the release states.

Middleton and his team of caregivers can check on the client or call emergency services after listening to the recording and confirming something could be wrong.

On one such occasion, Middleton remembers getting a high-level alert from Sensi in the home of a 92-year-old woman, and she didn’t answer calls to confirm if she was safe. When a caregiver arrived at her house, they found that she had fallen and was unconscious on the floor.

“She had a brain bleed and was taken to the hospital,” Middleton said. “(She) spent a few days in the hospital and was back at home shortly thereafter, and to this day, her daughter credits us with saving her mom’s life.”

Even though personal emergency response systems like Life Alert can call emergency services at the push of a button, Middleton explained that by being reactive instead of proactive, they only work as well as they’re used.

In one instance, a client fell. hit his head and couldn’t get up. Sensi detected the fall and his cries for help, and Griswold caregivers found him on the floor when they arrived.

“I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you hit your Life Alert?’ and he said, ‘I didn’t even think about it, I forgot I had it on,’” Middleton said.

Sensi is offered to Griswold clients at no extra cost, and is HIPPA compliant.

“There’s a lot of great things that come out of Sensi, and can make a positive change for our clients,” Middleton said.