PUP Socks: A new smart sock made in France by Manufacture Perrin

Jessica Brown, presenter of the American channel Fox 19, invites you to discover a new smart sock created by Patrick Baker and manufactured in France by the Manufacture de bonneterie Perrin.

A technological innovation that will help prevent the risk of falls for patients in hospitals, retirement homes, or even at home.

French translation:

Jessica Brown : I'm very excited to be doing this interview. Very interesting product today: there are smart socks that can help you reduce your risk of falls. They're called the PUP Sock, "Patient Up Sock," and we're here in the studio with the creator of the product Patrick Baker who's going to explain how they work. Hello there!

Patrick Baker : Hello, thank you.

Jessica Brown : We're so excited to have you here. We talked a lot about these socks during the break... OK, let's talk about PUP Smart Socks. How exactly does it work?

Patrick Baker : Well, it's the world's first smart sock for patients, and we're very proud of it. Here's how it works: Today, in hospitals, there are a lot of injuries and patient safety issues. Medical errors are the ^{third leading} cause of death in American hospitals today.

Jessica Brown : Yes.

Patrick Baker : There are about a million patient falls in American hospitals every year. Falls and patient safety are a very important topic.

Jessica Brown : And you know this because you were a nurse for years.

Patrick Baker : Yes, I've been a nurse for over 30 years, I've worked in hospitals my whole career and I've seen the impact of patient safety issues. So we thought, patients have non-slip socks that keep them from slipping on the tiles, so why not invent a smart sock? When the patient touches the floor, it sends information to the nursing staff that there's a real-time risk of an incident, so we can respond and help the patient before they fall.

Jessica Brown : There's something on the bottom of the sock, right?

Patrick Baker : Yes. Under the foot of the sock - we use a textile material that has three sensors under the heel and the toe. There, fibers woven into the sock like threads made of metal particles and elastomer and that send the message through the sock to the sensors, which then communicate the message to the nursing staff.

Jessica Brown : That's amazing! And how does the staff know there's a problem?

Patrick Baker : This is another point that we found very innovative: when the patient gets out of bed, and the alert is triggered to notify the nursing staff, the system will look for the 3 people closest to the patient's room in real time. The system is smart enough to know who is nearby, which nurse is on the floor, which nurse is in the cafeteria, where they are exactly. These 3 closest people will be notified by alert thanks to a Geofence system ( connected geographic barrier ) and beacons, on their connected watch or smart badge. And when the nurse enters the room, the system cancels the proximity alert: it recognizes that one of the notified people has entered the room and sends a message to the other two people to warn them that there is no longer any need for them to move, someone is already taking care of it.

Jessica Brown : You've definitely thought of everything! We have someone here to help us do a little demo and show us how it works.

Patrick Baker : Yeah. I'll show you quickly. My colleague Mark is going to get up from his chair and do a simulated bed exit. Stand up Mark. What's happening here is that an alert has been sent to the tablet and to the watch. You can see here that the screen turns red, the alert on the watch turns red, and the message is sent that way to the nursing staff.

Jessica Brown : As simple as that!

Patrick Baker : Exactly.

Jessica Brown : Okay, but then for people who may not be in the hospital, but who think they might need it for someone at home, for home hospitalization or whatever, how are they going to get it?

Patrick Baker : This technology can be deployed in hospitals, nursing homes, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, it can be used at home… As long as you have wifi, we can connect our sock, send notifications, and protect people at all times.

Jessica Brown : This product is really brand new to a lot of people. This is the future! I honestly think this is the kind of product that we're going to use more and more in the future. So what are the next steps? How are you going to get this product out to people like me, or families who might need it?

Patrick Baker : We're getting ready to launch a 9-month research project at Wexner Medical Center in Ohio, at the Neurology and Spine specialty hospital. We're going to enroll 2,500 patients there. We're also in a Christian Village Communities in Mason, and we're testing physical therapy rehabilitation apps. We also have a fitness app that can manage weight bearing on the feet, which we want to develop for sports medicine or orthopedics. For example, if the doctor tells you to put 10% of your weight on one of your feet, in the case of a hip or knee surgery, the sock can measure in real time the weight that you're putting on your foot. Here, we have 0%, and if you put your foot down, the app will tell you the exact weight that you're putting on your foot.

Jessica Brown : It's so interesting to see that all this is possible because of a sock. Thank you so much for explaining all this. How can our viewers find you online?

Patrick Baker : Visit our website www.palarum.com

Jessica Brown : We'll put the link on our website fox19.com so you can easily find it and get more details on these smart socks. I love it! Thank you so much for coming and nice to meet you

Patrick Baker : Thank you!