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Even if you're by yourself, you're never lonely in the Blueroof Technologies "model home" on Spring Avenue in the city.

Open the front door, and "Amy" announces your arrival. Turn on the bathtub faucet, and Amy announces that, too. Use the cabinets, the stove or the refrigerator, and Amy tells you right away. She doesn't miss much.

"Sometimes what Amy says drives us crazy," jokes John Bertoty, executive director of Blueroof, whose offices are on the home's second floor.

He and the other members of the non-profit corporation's small staff get to hear the voice of "Amy" --- a digital speech synthesizer, run by a computer in the basement --- all day long.

But Blueroof employees aren't the only one listening to Amy. The federal government is listening, too.

. . .

Next month, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a Johnstown Democrat and one of the most powerful members of Congress, will be testing out Blueroof's newest project --- a special assisted-living cottage for wounded Iraq War veterans.

Equipped with technology that allows disabled or partially paralyzed vets to live independently, it can be attached to an existing house, saving their families tens of thousands of dollars in expensive modifications.

The Blueroof "Independence Module" will be exhibited May 29 and 30 at Johnstown's Showcase for Commerce. Using the onboard "telemedicine" equipment, Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, will have his vital signs checked by a doctor 166 miles away at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Murtha spokesman Matthew Mazonkey confirmed to the Almanac that the congressman will be touring the Blueroof module, but it's not known exactly which day.

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People in the Mon Valley have heard a lot of promises over the years about miracle start-up companies with can't-miss high-technology projects. Most of them were never completed.

Blueroof isn't a pie-in-the-sky proposal. The model home was built three years ago. Since then, a for-profit subsidiary of Blueroof has erected 10 more homes in the city, Elizabeth Township, North Versailles Township, White Oak and other suburbs.

Each is equipped with some variation of technology that enables people with physical disabilities to live on their own.

Ground will be broken for the newest Blueroof home this Wednesday in the Third Ward. It'll be used by faculty and students from Pitt and Carnegie Mellon to gather data for gerontology research.

And there's more to come.

. . .

What's so special about Blueroof's model home? It looks like a thousand other frame houses in McKeesport.

OK, it's a lot newer than most of them. (More than 80 percent of the city's housing was built before 1960, and nearly half is from before World War II, according to the U.S. Census.)

The point is that the model house blends nicely with an older urban community. It also wouldn't look out of place in a new suburban development.

Even inside, the voice of "Amy" is the only obvious difference between the Blueroof house and the average comfortable older home in Myer Park or Port Vue.

That's by design. The technology in the walls of the model home is designed to be "invisible" to occupants, Bertoty says.

. . .

Under the surface, the Blueroof house is a very sophisticated dwelling, designed to allow independent living to people who have restricted mobility, including those with degenerative muscle diseases or who have lost the use of their limbs to accidents.

"Senior citizens don't want to be warehoused," says Bertoty, retired principal of McKeesport Area High School. "When we talked to seniors, we found they really wanted to connect with what goes on in their neighborhoods. They want to connect with young people. That really belies what we've been doing with senior high-rises and so forth."

Unfortunately, the typical 1920s or '30s "four-square" Mon Valley home isn't easily modified to accommodate a wheelchair or a walker. The bathroom is on the second floor; the hallways are narrow; the kitchen cabinets are too high; the bathtub is hard to climb into.

The model home has more than 1,000 square feet of accessible living space. Kitchen cabinets are wheelchair accessible. A person in a wheelchair or walker can get into the bathroom just by rolling over a small lip.

. . .

All this is fine, but what's with "Amy" and all of the sensors?

Well, if you're living alone, what happens if you fall and become incapacitated?

What happens if you have a chronic illness and lapse into unconsciousness?

If you don't have a regular caregiver or close family, it could be days before you're found.

Or what happens if you're suffering from memory loss? Maybe you started making dinner, got distracted, and forgot you left the oven on. Carbon monoxide poisoning or a fire could result.

In a house equipped with Blueroof technology, caregivers anywhere in the world can monitor sensors remotely, over the Internet. Conditions like a faucet left running, or an oven left turned on, trigger alarms.

And there are sensors in and around the bed. If you don't get up and move around every day, they know that something's gone wrong, and they can summon help.

. . .

Most of the sensors are simple off-the-shelf components like motion detectors and water-flow detectors --- but can provide a surprising amount of data, Bertoty says.

"If you haven't opened the refrigerator for a couple of days, you're probably not eating," he says.

The model home is also equipped with remote-controlled video cameras, but Bertoty says most clients want to maintain their privacy and don't ask for cameras.

And with the help of components from Nintendo's Wii video game system, doctors can even provide physical and occupational therapy from anywhere in the world.

Reading data from the Wii game controllers, which measure real-life force and velocity, enables physical therapists to ensure that patients are doing their exercises properly, and evaluate their progress.

. . .

Using off-the-shelf parts and pre-fabricated housing components keeps the cost of a Blueroof home low.

A house like the model cottage can be assembled for the same cost or less than a so-called "stick built" home, according to Bertoty.

The independence module for disabled veterans costs about $50,000, plus site preparation. Bertoty says the cost has to be weighed against the expense of modifying an existing home for wheelchair accessibility.

In January, the independence module was trailered to Walter Reed, where doctors and researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs spent several days evaluating it.

And more than 300,000 people toured the independence module during the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show in March.

More tests are coming, and the new "research cottage" will go a long way toward securing the funding Blueroof needs to take its work to the next level.

"We believe this technology can help support people, but now we have to prove it," Bertoty says.

. . .

Coming Wednesday in the Almanac: Blueroof's proposed role in economic development ... and in the rebirth of the city's Third Ward.