Patient Engagement

Philips breaks out secret weapon to sell passive PERS: Betty White

There are celebrity endorsers, and then there is Betty White.

Betty White

There are celebrity endorsers, and then there is Betty White.

White, who turned 94 on Sunday, is joining with talk-show host Leeza Gibbons to promote Philips Lifeline, the mobile personal emergency response system from Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips.

This is significant because it puts the marketing muscle of America’s favorite grandma — not to mention “America’s most appealing celebrity” for 2013 — behind an actual, modern, passive PERS. It’s about time seniors and caregivers learn that there’s better technology out there than the panic buttons of “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” fame that are useless if the wearer is incapacitated or suffering from dementia.

According to Philips, White took the gig because of longtime friend Gibbons, whose father had a heart attack while alone last year. Carlos Gibbons is alive today because he was wearing a Philips GoSafe device with automatic fall detection, the company said.

Photo: Philips Healthcare

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