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Zika Care

Safety & limits

Useful in a bad moment. Honest about the rest.

A service that talks to someone often can easily be mistaken for one that watches over them. Zika Care doesn't watch over anyone. Here is exactly what it does when something is wrong, and what it can't do at all.

If someone is in danger now, call your local emergency number. Zika Care is not an emergency service and does not dispatch one.

When something is wrong

What it does, and in what order.

Her emergency word

One word, in her language. Say it and the line stays open until a person takes responsibility. It gives her the local emergency number and helps her call. A mistaken word can be cancelled within 30 seconds, no questions.

Missed calls

Three unanswered attempts become an urgent alert. It rings the nearest person first — often the neighbour with the key — and reaches the rest of her plan at the same time, not one by one.

Distress and crisis

It stays on the line, says again that it's a machine, brings in a person and offers the local crisis line. It shares her exact words only with the people who must know, and tells her who was told. It doesn't counsel. Talking about dying isn't treated as a crisis.

Scams

If a caller or letter asks her for money or details: “don't pay, don't tell them anything.” It rings the real relative on the number it already has, alerts the family, and checks a doorstep visitor against who's expected.

A route outside the family

Before the first call, we record a route to help that doesn't go through the family, for the rare case that someone close is the problem. A person reviews anything before a referral is made.

No one can cut her off

No family setting can stop her reaching emergency help, a crisis line, the safeguarding route, or simply ringing the number.

Before you pay

The nine things it can’t do.

We show every family this list before payment, not in the small print after it. If one of these is the thing you're worried about, we'll tell you what does it better.

  1. 01

    A fall nobody mentions

    If she falls between calls and can't reach a phone, we won't know until the next call is missed. A fall sensor or pendant does what we can't.

  2. 02

    Someone who has wandered

    We can't see where she is. There's no location tracking, by design.

  3. 03

    The hours between calls

    We are not watching overnight or in between. We hear only what she tells us, when we're on the phone.

  4. 04

    Continuous vital signs

    No heart rate, no blood oxygen, no monitoring. If she reads out a blood-pressure number, we record exactly what she said and interpret nothing.

  5. 05

    An emergency where she can't speak

    Everything we do depends on her voice. If she can't speak, we can't help her in that moment.

  6. 06

    Being there in person

    We can arrange help and ring the right people. We can't hold her hand or open the door.

  7. 07

    The television

    We don't control smart TVs or cable boxes.

  8. 08

    Diagnosis

    We never name a condition, never give medical advice and never interpret results. We pass on what she says, in her words, to people who can.

  9. 09

    Protection

    We offer a route to someone who can help. That is not the same as protection, and we won't pretend it is.

Consent

Her yes, in her words.

Families arrange this. Only she can agree to it.

  • Asked separately. We ring her before the service begins, in her language, and ask. If she says no, it doesn’t start.
  • Asked again. Consent is re-confirmed from time to time, not assumed forever.
  • Everyone recorded agrees. A carer, a neighbour or a clinician whose voice is recorded is asked too. Joined calls aren’t recorded unless both people agree.
  • When capacity is in question, we need documented legal authority, not just a relative’s say-so.
  • She can stop it. One sentence, any day. Her family is told; the number stays open for her.
All of our principles

Found a safety problem, or worried about how the service could be misused? Write to safety@zika.care. We read every message.

How the AI is disclosed

Too far away? Not from their phone.

Hear a call first