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Senior living communities across the country are becoming more and more dependent on new technology with new features and enhancements. But how do you know which technology enhancements will streamline caregiver workflows and help residents maintain their independence, and which improvements are unnecessary and cumbersome? Sentrics has identified the essential technology enhancements to add in 2023. Life safety, entertainment, engagement, and technical support are the top priorities for senior living.
There’s more to RTLS than dots on a screen
It is the perfect time to upgrade your eCall system. If you are not leveraging the latest and greatest technology, your system could be out of date, regardless of its age. The list of must-have new technologies includes passive monitoring, which helps staff know if residents are awake while maintaining dignity. Pathway lights that automatically turn on and off to light the way for a nighttime restroom visit, prevent falls, and alert staff when residents are awake. A fall detection system that alerts staff when a fall occurs and calls for help. And pre-integration with popular EMR technologies that provide visibility to critical care information via a standard caregiver smart device without logging in and out of different apps.
While all these features are important, Real Time Location Services (RTLS) is one of the most important features to consider when evaluating eCall systems. RTLS is now more than dots on a screen; it provides staff with real benefits, such as alerting them when residents loiter near doors (or other unrestricted areas). With RTLS-enabled eCall solutions, an alarm is also triggered when a resident is separated from a needed medical device, such as a walker. The system can even detect when a “known wanderer” leaves an exit.
This is the perfect time to make room for a more powerful eCall platform. A next-generation life safety solution from Sentrics, Ensure360℠, combines efficiency with care. With this RTLS-based eCall platform keeps residents safe, improves caregiver efficiency and reduces adverse events. Are you still unsure about RTLS? Ensure Lite offers many of the same benefits while allowing you to upgrade to RTLS later.
Residents who are unhappy with their entertainment are unhappy with their community
TV programming is available in every community. TV options should offer more programming options, an easy-to-navigate guide, integrated DVR, on-demand programming, voice-controlled TV, and closed captions on both live and recorded programming. In communities where entertainment is viewed as an investment, rather than a baseline service, residents are more satisfied, and the community has a competitive advantage.
Furthermore, a growing number of residents are tech-savvy and want to connect multiple devices to a network. Does your community offer sufficient Wifi? If your Wifi can’t keep up, residents may experience slow download speeds, dropped video calls, and constant buffering. When considering your community’s Internet in 2023, choose a service that provides in-room, dedicated Internet with buy-up speeds, unlimited connectivity for personal devices, and the ability to connect to third-party streaming services.
Anything less leaves residents frustrated with their entertainment options. While individual solutions are available, they are expensive and difficult to manage, and troubleshooting issues becomes a nightmare when multiple vendors blame each other. If residents are unhappy with their entertainment, they are unhappy with their community.
Take a closer look at your entertainment offerings and consider what more they can do for your community. Entertain360SM, from Sentrics, is a TV, DVR, Internet and phone platform in one. It is elegant simplicity and it is available today.
Engagement solutions that focus on the resident
Today’s engagement solutions largely improve operational efficiency. The best engagement solutions are resident-centered and meet the needs of residents before they even ask. As a result, residents stay healthier longer and support their wellbeing through a variety of personalized engagement options. If you’re ready to replace multiple solutions with a single platform, look for an engagement solution with a formal wellbeing approach and scoring model, integrated survey tools, a recommendation engine to support and promote personalized behavior, and an analytics engines that provides resident insights to staff. It should also include options for sharing dining menus, seeing and registering for activities, and requesting services. Don’t forget to look for solutions that also support a resident’s health with one-click access to senior-safe exercises, faith programming, therapeutic music and telehealth from an easy-to-use device.
Choose an engagement platform that builds trust and confidence with your residents by automating simple tasks to help you differentiate yourself from your competitors while creating a truly personalized resident experience that improves health and wellbeing without adding to staff workload. Engage360SM from Sentrics does all of this right from the resident TV. It transforms resident TVs into a social, health and wellness engine that improves overall health, increases resident and family satisfaction, and enables a more proactive approach to resident wellbeing, while making your staff more efficient at the same time.
Adopting new technology requires technical support and training
Consider technology buy-in and adoption from your community’s staff and residents when selecting new technologies. Investing in tech support and training up front is the best way to get your community up and running quickly with new technology.
Confirm that support plans include a Tech Concierge who assists residents and staff with technology issues. Tech Concierge professionals are technology savvy, uniquely trained to work with seniors, and can do anything from helping a resident login to a new program or connect a printer, to hanging a TV or helping a staff member connect new technology to the network. A Tech Concierge is trained specifically for senior living and typically costs less than a full-time staff member.
Managed Services and a Tech Concierge service are becoming increasingly important as senior living communities become more sophisticated and residents are expected to use technology more frequently. Take a look at the Sentrics’ service suite to see how it can help you simplify technology management and help you adopt and drive the use of technology across your organization.
Our 2023 budgeting checklist provides deeper insights
Our 2023 Senior Living Budgeting Checklist includes a complete breakdown of these must-have technologies and a list of features and budget checklists to consider when building your budget for 2023. Download it now right HERE. The checklist provides real information on the costs you may expect when upgrading your community’s technology using a 100-unit independent and assisted living community as a template. It includes the questions to ask, needed features and additional information that comes along with any new technology you may be considering for 2023.
Whether you are ready to move forward with a new technology upgrade for 2023 or want more information about the costs, we can help. To talk to a Sentrics Sales Executive about your technology needs for 2023 today fill out a form right HERE or call (888) 988-8210.