How ED's Can Reduce Stress With Family CareSpace

Being an Executive Director at a Senior Living Community or a Nursing Home is one of the most stressful yet rewarding careers. That being said, the responsibility keeps many ED’s awake countless nights worrying about their residents/patients & staff. The ED’s have many to answer to: their residents/patients, the families of their residents/patients, their Regional Directors, the owners of the community & even the state. The safety of their residents & staff is of the utmost importance, but so is making sure the building is operating efficiently.

So, how do they manage all the minutia, while staying on point, keeping the back door closed to keep occupancy up & their communities & staff up to code? It isn't easy, but Family CareSpace technology can make it less stressful while improving the bottom line.

When Family CareSpace President/Founder, Jonathan McCoy first entered the Senior Living scene in 2006, he felt there had to be a better way. Communicating with antiquated walkie-talkies & beepers was not only expensive but inefficient, noticing that many pleas for assistance from staff members were missed. Hours spent on care minute tracking seemed tedious, more time with residents was needed. No matter how many staff were on duty, there was never enough staff to see everything going on. However, Jonathan with a technology background & being an owner of a memory care community, responded to this need in 2007; Family CareSpace was born.

As an owner of a memory care community, he was able to test it out to make sure it met the real and pressing needs of ED's, Owners, Administration, Care Staff, Residents and Families. He's since sold his community & now is offering Family CareSpace as a solution for all senior living communities & nursing homes. (Soon, the Family CareSpace technology will be offered to home care/home health & hospice as well.)

It was Benjamin Pearce, Founder/Owner of EvoLve at Rye who purchased Jonathan's community states: "Family CareSpace has been instrumental in helping us monitor and deliver care to our residents. The system tracks residents and staff along with their interaction and helps us to identify where, when and how much care is actually delivered to residents. This way we can recover the cost of acuity creep and have the data to justify the level of care charges to families. Additionally, families can monitor remotely the location, activities an even photos of their loved ones bringing them peace of mind." Ben didn't have to keep Family CareSpace when he purchased the community, but after testing it out for 6 months, he decided the community would function best with it.

What does Family CareSpace do? Well, in short it keeps residents & staff safe in senior living communities/nursing homes. It also encourages staff engagement with residents/patients and families resulting in better overall care outcomes. Family CareSpace has automated care minute tracking as well as many other capabilities that address the pressing needs of communities. It includes a secure web portal to communicate with families, keeping them up to date on their loved ones, letting them see the daily activities & receive photos & videos of their loved one. The best part, families can login to the secure portal & know exactly where their loved one is in the community, thus fostering transparency & resulting in great family satisfaction and enthusiasm. This is a perfect tool to boost a community’s competitive edge.

How does it work? Unlike GPS, which works outside & unlike some systems that rely on one source of technology to work, Family CareSpace works with a combination of RFI & Infrared technology that use clinical-grade room-level sensors that are placed throughout the community.

Residents have pendants (for residents/patients without memory issues there is a call button but for those with memory issues there is no button.) Staff have badges with staff assist buttons. Care staff communicate with Apple ios devices as well as their badges. Room/hall & door sensors monitor resident pendants & staff badges. If there is an issue, an alert is sent to care staff who can intervene BEFORE a crisis happens.

Some examples of how the alerts help staff & ultimately relieve ED stress: How many times has a resident with early-stage memory issues been placed in independent/assisted? Perhaps, because the family wasn't quite ready? Perhaps because the community didn't have a room yet. We know 6 of 10 people diagnosed with memory loss will wander, but we are hoping for the best. As an ED, you are trusting your marketing director, nurse & the family to ensure the resident is placed in the right environment, but in the end, it is the ED who is ultimately responsible.

In a Family CareSpace Community, an ED can sleep well, because the sensor technology make sure that the resident will NOT be leaving your community. Alerts are easily set up so care staff will know when the resident starts to wander. As the resident gets close to an exit, an alert is triggered, typically, the closest care staff member will handle it. The rest of the staff goes about their business & that staff member will handle the alert, by redirecting that resident. Crisis avoided. One less thing an ED has to explain to a family. In fact, you can even set it up, so in the evening, if that resident starts sundowning & leaves their suite, staff are alerted with the location of the resident. Family CareSpace is easily customizable, supporting resident-centered care.

How about those two residents in memory care who don't get along? Often these residents get in altercations & the ED has to explain the bruise to the family. This is not something an ED enjoys doing. Keeping these residents apart is important & with Family CareSpace alerts can be set up so that when the two of them get too close an alert goes off. The closest staff member handles the alert, allowing the rest of the staff to go about their business. Another crisis avoided!

What about those residents who are "too fond" of one another in memory care? ED's seem to have to keep explaining & fielding these calls as well, try as they may, these residents keep sneaking off together & their families aren't happy about it. Just like the residents who aren't getting along, alerts can be set up for this situation too. An alert can be triggered when they enter a room alone together. Another situation averted.

How does Family CareSpace help with that memory care resident who keeps taking things from other's suites? Staff can't be everywhere, but the sensors know the movements of all residents & staff. Therefore, when that resident enters someone else's suite & doesn't leave that suite within a specified time, typically 10 seconds, an alert is triggered. Typically, the closest staff lets the other staff members know that they are handling it. This staff member will go to the suite to re-direct the resident before there is an unwanted situation. Another situation avoided.

Fire drills: The state requires fire drills, & getting everyone out efficiently isn't easy. Rather than sweeping the building, wouldn't it be nice for an Administrator/staff to look at their Apple device & know EVERYONE was safely out of the building? If they weren't, they would know exactly who wasn't & where they are in the building in order to get them safely out.

Automated Care Minute Tracking: Having a hard time convincing a family that their loved one needs more care? With Family CareSpace, you can show them how many times they called for help, how long each staff member spent with them to help with their ADL's & more. This is possible with Family CareSpace's empirical data, with the staff/resident location & powerful alert features. With this information EDs can show families when it's time for their loved one to move to another level of care in the community. Having powerful historical data for empirical analysis of care minutes and staff productivity definitely helps reduce the stress a ED faces.

Know where your staff are? As an ED, there is nothing worse than hearing from residents/patients or their families that staff didn't answer residents/patients calls for help. Seeing calls go unanswered or multiple calls for the same thing & minutes without a prompt response is problematic for the community.

In a Family CareSpace Community this should not happen, because ED's know exactly where their staff is AT ALL TIMES, 24/7/365, whether the ED is in the community or not. All the ED needs to do is look at the Family CareSpace application on their Apple device. They can see who is doing their job, how quickly they are answering calls & supporting their colleagues. No more, "I didn't hear the walkie-talkie, beeper, nurse call bell or see the nurse call light."

Staff don't like big brother looking over their shoulder - Fact of the matter is, if staff are doing their job, it shouldn't matter. The staff that does their job are the staff you want in your community. Staff typically do not want to tattle on each other, but Family CareSpace can be the HR monitor for you. In Jonathan's community, two staff left for a increase in pay. They both came back to his community, within 2-3 months. Why? Because it wasn't worth the extra pay to not have the support Family CareSpace provides them in their job. In a community with Family CareSpace, alerts get answers effectively, efficiently & deficiency free because crisis can be avoided with technology helping staff "keep an eye" on things.

Demonstrated reduction in Lease-Up time by 50%: Jonathan’s building was expected to fill in 18 months, instead, it was filled in 9 months. Talk about reducing stress for an ED So if you have a new building, Family CareSpace’s competitive edge could lend a hand at filling your building 50% faster, too.

Boosting Competitive Edge? Family CareSpace has a secure portal just for families & approved friends. This portal allows communities to communicate with families, giving them updates & they can see the daily activities that the activity director provides. There is one family member that is designated as the family administrator. The family administrator approves access for all the family & friends to the portal.

With one click, ED's or a designated community administrator, can approve content generated by the staff & send to the family administrator. Content can consist of updates, photos & videos for family administrator approval. No more multiple calls/emails trying to get through to multiple family members to get everyone on the same page.

Families/friends can login to the secure portal to see exactly what room in the community their loved one is in real time. Family can also send photos & videos back to their loved ones. Staff engagement increases with residents and families have a easy way to stay in touch & know what is going on, even if they are across town/across the state/across the country or across the world. Have a resident talent show going on? Get a cute video of the resident singing. It works the other way too. The resident's/patient’s daughter can send a priceless video back of the resident's granddaughter in a talent show. The web portal helps bridge the gap by using the secure Family web portal, even if they aren't in the same state. The best part, ED's can use the tool to:  1) Attract new residents; 2) As an additional amenity/revenue opportunity per resident.

Just how do you gain additional revenue? Communities can choose to roll the cost of the portal into the resident's rent & give the portal to all residents or they can have the portal as a "a la carte" item - if it's "a la carte" each portal that is sold, Family CareSpace rebates the community back $40/family/month who subscribe to the portal.

This all sounds great, but what about the cost? After all, as an ED, you have to be fiscally responsible. Family CareSpace can actually reduce costs in areas, as it can replace existing Nurse Call & Elopement Management Systems, acts as a communication tool for families, has automated care minute tracking & eliminates the need for walkie-talkies/beepers and their endless batteries. But most important, it is proven to reduce staff expenses by 5-10% annually through an increase in staff productivity. Family CareSpace actually could increase net operating income!

Prices are actually based on the square footage of your community, the number of staff, & the number of residents/patients. (But if you want to keep your existing nurse call/elopement management system, don't worry, you can as Family CareSpace will work with most nurse call & elopement management systems), but why would you want to if you can eliminate the expenses?

Replace Those Walkie-Talkies/Pagers: Aside from being antiquated, staff often find them cumbersome & limited to what they can do. The devices do not take photos & there is no digital record of their use. With Family CareSpace, care staff & administrators will use Apple ios devices that can cost $50-150 refurbished, have a "find my iPhone app" & you don't need to replace batteries all the time. These devices can be programmed to turn off when not connected to your communities WiFi if you wish. The Apple ios devices are used to communicate amongst staff, access the alerting and location information, and take photos/videos to share with families. (We usually recommend iPods for care staff, & iPads/iPhones for management.)

Family CareSpace is here to reduce stress for ED's, making it easier for them to do their jobs. If you are an ED interested in reducing stress, let's talk about making your community a Family CareSpace Community. 

For more information, contact: Amy K. Gaskin, National Sales Manager at: 321-236-4777, [email protected].