Using Things in rules

Hi All,
My problem statement:
Using the echo Control binding I can see the list of echo devices on my account and also the state of each of them (Online/Offline) is there a way to return the state of a specific device, so it can be checked in a rule?

I have been given one answer by @michi which was:

See here Using Hue ONLINE / OFFLINE Events in rules or Detecting offline Things

I tried putting together what I thought was meant but it did not work.
perhaps someone can elaborate, or provide an alternative solution?

I have the following rule defined which does not work.

rule "HO echo online"
	when 
		Thing "amazonechocontrol:echo:account1:HO_Echo" changed
	then
		var status = ThingAction.getThingStatusInfo("amazonechocontrol:echo:account1:HO_Echo").getStatus()
		if (status.toString() == 'OFFLINE')
		{
			HO_Echo_Online.sendCommand(OFF)			
		}
		else {
			HO_Echo_Online.sendCommand(ON)
		}
	end		

Thanks
Paul