Pleasantville Native Launches Video Call Service for Seniors

Hundreds of miles and busy schedules often keep generations of families apart. That can be especially true for seniors, who may move to retirement communities throughout the country while children and grandchildren maintain hectic lives elsewhere.

In hopes of reuniting families, Pleasantville native Ellen Ferguson has developed a unique video service by using a 5-by-7-inch tablet. Her business, Visual Senior, launched earlier this year and has been a rousing success, in part because unlike some other technologies it is easy for older people to understand and use.

Visual Senior allows older adults living alone or in assisted living facilities and nursing homes in Westchester and in South Florida, where Ferguson has now lived for nearly 30 years, to stay in touch with loved ones and friends by simply talking.

“There is no interaction or touching anything on the part of the senior,” said Ferguson, whose 85-year-old mother, Helen, lives in Mount Kisco and is a regular user of the service.

Ferguson came up with the idea while moving her mother-in-law from California to an assisted living facility in Florida. During visits, Ferguson noticed how lonely many residents were. Soon after, she searched for a solution that would keep young and old connected, but also bring a more personal element to adult children who had previously relied on phone calls to communicate.

The tablet device is a configuration of an already available technology, said Ferguson, a former software engineer for Siemens. As long as there is an Internet connection, families can sign up and connect. It includes setting up a tablet computer, which is part of the initial set-up package, and then loading sometimes hundreds of family pictures that appear in a slideshow throughout the day.

At any moment, a family member may video call the senior without having to touch any buttons. The senior, without touching anything, just has to speak to the person on the other end.

Ferguson said she knew she’d have to design something that would be completely hands-free.

“This group of people never learned technology and very often don’t want to,” she said.

For her mother, Ferguson’s invention has been a Godsend.

“This has been a great way to keep her connected to all of her adult children and grandchildren,” said Ferguson.

Now close family members regularly call her mother several times during the day to check in and “visit” with her.

Families also control who has access to the technology, when they sign up for Visual Senior, Ferguson said. In addition, the tablet is activated during specific times, usually from about 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

While Ferguson’s company is based in Boca Raton, she has established a strong presence in Westchester, providing the service to several clients in assisted living facilities as well as independent residences. She maintains the business in both areas by frequently flying back and forth to service existing clients and to solicit new ones.

As part of each client’s contract with Visual Senior, Ferguson, a 4H club leader and robotics team leader at her son’s high school, visits once a month to make sure the device is working, to load additional photos to the tablet or to address any other issues that may arise.

“Everyone I showed this to has just loved it,” said Ferguson. “It’s really exciting because nobody else is doing this, and best of all, it’s peace of mind for both the senior and the adult child.”

To find out more, visit www.visualsenior.com or contact Ferguson at ellen.ferguson@visualsenior.com.