Hidden Cameras for Elder Care

Easy-to-use hidden cameras from BrickHouse Security help you ensure that the elderly or those with special needs get the care and respect they deserve.

"Granny Cams" Keep an Eye Out for You

They took care of you, now it’s your turn to take care of them. Whether in their own home, your home, or in an inpatient facility, leaving your elderly loved ones in the care of another can be a troubling position. You’re forced to put your faith in people you barely know to look after a person who means the world to you. Even if they’re capable of living alone, the elderly or those with special needs are at a constant risk of falling or being injured. And if they suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s, the stakes are even higher. Wandering cases are common and can lead to a host of problems including serious injury, and in some cases, even death.

Luckily, no matter what your elder care situation, BrickHouse Security has a solution to put your mind at ease. Hidden cameras allow you to feel confident when you can’t be around, enabling you to verify that those you love are receiving proper care.

While many people associate hidden cameras with nanny cams used to monitor babysitters looking after children, hidden cams are equally valuable for protecting elderly parents or relatives left with a nurse or caregiver.

Hidden cameras come in multiple form factors, many of which would seem perfectly natural in a bedroom or managed care facility. For example, a hidden camera can be housed in an alarm clock, a smoke detector , or an air purifier among other common household objects that wouldn't arouse the suspicions of anyone looking after your elderly relative. Other simple devices, like a coat hook or an AC adapter can be placed covertly in any room and go unnoticed.

All of these devices feature motion-activated recording so that they will only capture video when something is happening in their field of view. Motion activation conserves battery life for cameras that don’t run on AC power, increases the recorder’s ability to archive footage if it is stored locally on an SD card, and prevents you from having to sift through hours of superfluous video when there’s nothing happening in front of the camera. Some hidden cameras also have the benefit of operating over WiFi, allowing you to stream video live to a remote location, using a computer or smartphone. This gives you the ability to monitor your loved one’s care in real time, ensuring that nothing important is missed.

How to Choose the Right Hidden Camera

Features and pricing vary among models, so when choosing a hidden camera for elder care monitoring, it’s important to consider where you’ll be setting up the device. The characteristics of the room (or rooms) you need to monitor will dictate the features you’ll need.

Questions to consider about the space as you choose your hidden camera are:

• How big is the space?
• Is it well-lit?
• How much time will your relative and her caregiver be spending in the room during a typical day?
• Should more than one room or area be monitored?

These are important questions you’ll want to answer before you decide on the hidden camera for the space. For more detailed information about choosing the best camera for your needs, see our hidden camera and video surveillance shopping guides.

Make Your Own Granny Cam

Our best-selling hidden camera, the Camscura Micro, is a low-cost solution for covert recording. This tiny black box device can be discreetly placed in any room right out of the box, and it’s also specifically designed to fit in almost any housing you can imagine. You can transform a book, a stuffed animal, a potted plant, and more, into a custom camera within minutes. The Camscura Micro features 24-hours of motion-activated recording on a single charge, up to three weeks of standby battery life, low light recording, and three customizable recording modes. The Camscura WiFi hidden camera is nearly the same device, but this one is WiFi-enabled, allowing for remote view of your video footage.

View Live Video Over the Internet from Anywhere

If you want to see what’s happening in your home in real time over the Internet, BrickHouse offers a number of Internet-ready camera solutions. WiFi-enabled hidden cameras and IP cameras are able to give you remote access to the live feed, as well as stored footage captured in your space.

These versatile devices come in a number for form factors, from tissue boxes to alarm clocks, making them perfect for fitting into a bedroom or living room area without drawing attention.

If you are choosing to invest in one of these devices, it’s important to take a few things into consideration. In some managed care facilities, your access to a proper network may be restricted, so be sure to research this before placing a hidden camera at one of these facilities. You can protect yourself by selecting a hidden camera that records to an SD card as well, ensuring that your video is backed up, and that you can capture footage for later retrieval, even when WiFi is down or disconnected.

Whichever model you choose, a hidden camera can give you the peace of mind you deserve and the confidence you need to safely leave your loved ones in someone else’s care.

Hidden “Granny Cam” Success Story

Just recently, Diana Valentin of the Bronx, New York, concealed BrickHouse’s Camscura Micro Hidden Camera in a houseplant after she noticed mysterious bruises on her grandmother’s face and body. The shocking footage she captured led to the caregiver’s arrest, and Diana’s grandmother, who suffered from dementia, was transferred to a safer facility.

“You can see the sense of relief in her face,” Diana said of her grandmother when she learned of her new hospital placement. “She looked so happy.”