SCALING UP SERVICES IN RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES - THE CHALLENGES AND THE POSSIBLE SOLUTION BY TEAM CovaiCare

Circa 2004. We commenced our journey of retirement communities – an unchartered territory until then. Most of us had heard about life in an old age home. It was soon after that the effects of Y2K started to take effect when there was an exodus by young and brilliant Indians in the IT sector to the West and for greener pastures. A great opportunity that was not missed. But it was the beginning of the problem of living for the parents who found themselves ageing.  

For Covai Property Centre (I) P Ltd, popularly called Covai in the real estate industry, it was an idea and an opportunity that came our way to develop five acres of land on Siruvani Road in Coimbatore. The land was an agricultural field in the midst of a coconut grove, surrounded by hills. Frankly speaking, unfit for real estate development. It lacked social infrastructure and was 2 km away from Perur Temple on Siruvani Road and, 12 km from Coimbatore Railway Station – considered too far away those days! 

Today, thanks to the popularity of Isha Yoga Ashram (26 km from the retirement community location) and Satguru Jaggi Vasudev, Isha is a popular destination of people from all over the world including our President and Prime Minister. Siruvani Road is now a 70 feet road and the area along the Noyyal River is seeing more habitats in these 15 years. Soundaryam Comfort and Retirement Homes were meant for 48 villas (75 residents above the age of 50). 

We modelled it on a military cantonment, self-contained with basic amenities and infrastructure that senior citizens we thought would need. We provided basic services and a medical centre with an ambulance! In the past fifteen years, we have spread to multiple cities and along the way, Covai has become brand CovaiCare with a simple vision of “Solve Ageing.” We provide solutions to living, care and products that are useful to the senior citizens. 

From mere living, we moved on to care components like assisted, memory and palliative and now have a PolyCare as well as provide care for the Special Needs Children with Autism, Down’s Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy (PsWD Care) after the demise of their parents. We have adopted technology and have embarked on making technology more useful for providing services and care. 

We have realised that it is no longer senior living but senior care inclusive of living. 

We have also realised that we can never be perfect but look for perfection. We cannot satisfy all our residents. There will be cases where we cannot meet the expectations. Our understanding of human nature is an on-going process and is never-ending!

I will share how my Team CovaiCare with the support of the seniors whom we care for, made this journey. But the journey cannot be stopped. We are still learning, but we have also leant that we need to foresee problems and have solutions to the problems. Yes, we need to be pro-active and not reactive. Is it possible? 

Questions: We had to find answers to these questions:

How do we: 

? Scale-up our services?  ? Provide the same quality of services in multiple locations? ? Ensure consistency in services delivery?? Measure the delivery of our services? ? Train our human capital and retain them? ? Keep evolving to the challenges that we face with the passage of time? ?Find solutions to the problems of longevity or ageing?  ? Create new concepts with changing times ? Meet the seniors’ expectations in a world driven by technology? ? Continue to enjoy what we are doing? 

Answers: Evolved over a period of fifteen years, the care (care inclusive living) at CovaiCare Senior Care communities have been tailor-made to cater to the needs and aspirations of every senior pre-empting their requirement not just for the day but for many years to come. Our systems and processes ensure that quality is consistent and our service delivery is also monitored. 

The BASIC SERVICES that are extended as a part of the daily routine are:

Housekeeping - cleaning of houses and common areas on daily, weekly and monthly tasks.

Any repair and replacement with electrical, plumbing, masonry or carpentry involved.

Periodic Maintenance of Utilities

Gardening- landscaping and providing the green cover across the community and houses assisting in waste management with the intent of achieving (near) zero garbage and producing manure out of food waste, leaves, weeds etc.

Catering- providing food and beverages with service at the dining or home-delivered (for those who have physical disabilities or are sick).

Health Management- ranges from preventive health care to evacuation to the hospital in case of emergency. The daily schedule includes home visits to check on the health and wellbeing of the sick and single residents.

Preventive Care through Medical Care is a SOP that monitors health state of every resident by recording Basic Health Status (BHS) by our Doctors from Covai’s PolyCare, The Nurse at the community has been given additional responsibilities and appointed as Resident Health Manager (RHM) who pre-empts medical tests and organises the same, monitors medicine intake (only single prescription), ensure medicine refills from pharmacy, updates health data of visit to doctors or hospitals, gives health status report to Chief Medical Officer of Covai’s PolyCare, administers medicines to those who are frail and need assistance etc.  We have made the Medical Centre in the Community to be pro-active instead of being reactive. Telemedicine facilities are also assisted by the RHM 

Security Services- involve in the ‘Loss Prevention’ activities at the community ensuring the safety of the residents.

Errand Services- Any requirement of the resident from pin to plane is coordinated by the office. This could involve concierge services organising bank transactions or shopping or paying bills or arranging escorts etc. 

Event Management- all activities to maintain an active life for the resident is managed by this team. The activity could range from a simple celebration of a personal occasion to organising events or celebrations of festivals. Travel and tours are also organised by the event management team.

SOPs & Documentation:

The entire bundle of services on offer by CovaiCare is very clearly defined in the ‘SERVICES MANUAL’ This manual is handed over to each owner when they occupy the house. The manual elaborates on the various services and facilities at the community along with the use and restrictions bound with it. It also provides details on the general guidelines for harmonious community living to be followed by each occupant in the community. 

The CATERING MANUAL offers all the checks and balances required for smooth and food and beverage management. It provides the standardisation of services.  Overall each procedure is listed with the process to be followed and formats and registers for reporting that go along with it.

The LOSS PREVENTION MANUAL enlists the tasks to ensure proper safety and security of the residents and assists in a smooth and hassle-free senior living in the community. It also helps to preserve and maintain the assets deployed in the community. All operational processes are time-bound for action and completion within the schedule. The quality of the deliverables is also evaluated based on the feedback from the residents and the cross verification by the manager. 

Each staff of every department is provided a JOB CARD, which lists his/her daily tasks while at work. 

There is an AUDIT CHECKLIST that helps to review the adherence of process and procedures followed by the services team at each of the communities of CovaiCare. These are carried out by Head Office senior staff during their regular visit to the community

CovaiSmart App assists the residents in availing their services request and also helps management in evaluating the quality of services delivered. This App is available in both IOS and Android version, exclusively for the residents of CovaiCare Retirement Community Projects

The Maintenance Manual gives out the maintenance procedures of the community and the utilities like STP, Lifts, RO Plant, Borewells, RWH, Supply of water to dwellings, pre-emptive checks by the community Plumber and Electrician as well as periodic visit by Chief Engineer to each community.   

It is the belief of Team CovaiCare that these SOPs must not only be followed but the staff should be constantly trained and kept motivated. There may be some adjustments necessary in following these SOPs but such changes can be done by the Management and recorded.

The challenge is in maintaining consistent quality and efficiency and, these SIOPs helps Team CovaiCare achieve near perfection and strive for perfection. 

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