Columbus-area senior living community adds mobile dashboard and self-service solutions
Status Solutions today announced that Feridean Commons in Westerville, Ohio, is expanding the use of situational awareness technology to enhance resident safety and service delivery. The 18-acre senior living community, which opened in 2001, provides both independent and assisted living services to approximately 110 residents.
Feridean Commons implemented the SARA (Situational Awareness and Response Assistant) automated alerting engine in 2010 to centralize monitoring, alerting and reporting for two nurse call systems. Life safety alerting through SARA will be further improved through the community’s adoption of pre-programmed mobile dashboards on Apple iPhones. Voice, Wi-Fi and cellular-enabled, these mobile dashboards let users respond to resident-care situations more quickly, initiate alerts and associated response plans more effectively, and escalate/notify others as necessary – all from one user interface.
“These mobile dashboards replace the current walkie-talkie paging system we use in our assisted living facility, which will give those residents more privacy and help us create an environment that is less institutional and more peaceful and homelike,” explains Ron Pyle, Feridean Commons’ vice president and general manager. “Staff workflow also will improve because they can see who’s on shift and therefore available to help when additional assistance is needed, and they can summon it quietly. No doubt, we’ll see even more improvement in our response time, which is invaluable to resident care.”
Feridean Commons also is deploying always-on, iPad-based kiosks within residents’ homes to provide multimedia communication and self-service capabilities, including intercom, email with voice-reply and access to dining menus, activity calendars and other amenities such as transportation services. In addition, the community will reduce a significant amount of paperwork and associated costs by digitizing information, plus broadcast emergency alerts, like those for inclement weather, across its large, multi-building campus. Independent-living residents in 40 villas spread throughout the campus also will be able to use the kiosks for daily check-ins.
“We’ve always been a high-touch organization, so we’re excited to bring in new tools that will help us provide even better care and services, not to mention separate us from other providers,” Pyle says. “Residents and staff are enthusiastic about being able to better communicate with each other, and residents and their families are excited to stay in closer touch, especially those who live long distances away. Even those residents who are less technology savvy have embraced the self-service solution because there’s no typing with voice to text; it’s just so easy to use.”
“It’s always great to see technology adoption not for the sake of the technology but for the power of what it can do and the difference it can make in people’s lives,” explains Mike MacLeod, president of Status Solutions. “Ron and his team at Feridean Commons clearly care about their residents and want to go well above and beyond the status quo to help keep them safe while improving their quality of life.”
