In senior homes, AI technology is sensing falls before they happen

Kathy Doyle fell on the street in Manhattan several times over the years. Usually, she’d end up at Lenox Hill Hospital, disoriented and upset. Then she had a stroke. She kept falling, often injuring herself and scaring her family.

So in 2023, Doyle, now 81, moved to a luxury assisted-living home a few blocks away from her longtime home on the Upper East Side. At the Bristal, residents can opt in to use a high-tech fall-detection system that employs a motion sensor to monitor gait, posture and patterns of movement that could portend a fall. If a resident does fall, it alerts building staff immediately.