older woman with walker
The Walker Squawker (Image courtesy of Ageless Innovations)

Technology can be a game-changer for some communities — and their residents and staff.

Although the long-term care industry typically lags more than a decade behind other sectors in adopting technology, the pandemic sped up that timeline and opened a variety of opportunities for senior living. 

Here are some ways technology is being used by operators.

Robots

Robots are big in senior living. 

A Geriatric Nursing study assessed the use of socially assistive robots to nurture social engagement between older adults in two assisted living communities. Researchers found that socially assistive robot intervention activities had a positive effect on overall engagement, fostering both human-human interactions and human-robot interactions. 

Healthcare services firm Clearday is launching its initial fleet of Mitra robots this summer to senior residential communities for residents with cognitive challenges. Mitra robots provide customized and personalized engagement services, including digital programs and physical therapy exercises.

Robotic pets are a fan favorite among many senior living residents.

One of the latest on the scene is the Walker Squawker from Ageless Innovation, which started out with the Joy for All Companion Pet Pups and Cats. The animatronic bird is designed to sit, sing and play atop walking devices as a personalized sidekick. It was invented by a 93-year-old woman determined to improve her own experience with her walker.

Older adults living in memory care communities are benefiting from a Joy for All Pet Companions program from For the Love of Paws. The organization receives the robotic kitties through Amazon from donations to the nonprofit, then sets up deliveries with communities.

The program launched in 2021 when someone donated a Joy For All kitty to the For the Love of Paw Thrift Store. The operations director thought it would make a great donation for a local senior living community, Solaris Senior Living Vero Beach in Florida. The gift went over so well with memory care residents that the community had to change the batteries several times in just the first week.

Aging in place

A new report from Guidehouse Insights looks at how traditional forms of personal emergency response systems are being replaced by passive monitoring. They found that artificial intelligence and predictive analytics in elder care and healthcare enables safer aging in place.

“Technologies can be used in private homes or assisted living facilities and in the future are expected to be able to work in tandem with home robotics,” Guidehouse Senior Research Analyst Francesco Radicati said.

At Johns Hopkins University, undergraduates developed an artificial intelligence-powered board game designed to reduce social isolation and stimulate the brains of older adults. Modeled after “Guess Who?” the game was piloted at a local long-term care community to improve its visual elements.

Fellowship Senior Living and Livindi are collaborating on a first-of-its-kind technology combining a smart home platform with a touchscreen to provide engagement, connectivity and access to health and wellness programs for senior living residents. The personal health navigator supports residents with all aspects of care, including appointment scheduling, transportation, medication reminders, event streaming and telehealth options.

Serenity Engage integrated with Amazon’s senior living solution from Alexa Smart Properties, in essence marrying Alexa voice AI and video technology, to create a custom Alexa deployment serving as a personalized digital concierge in senior living.

Knute Nelson, a senior living provider in Minnesota and North Dakota, is partnering with K4Connect to bring care and services to more than 8,000 residents across the long-term care continuum. Knute Nelson launched K4Community to provide access to digital engagement, communication and informational tooling for real-time updates and socialization. 

And although voice-controlled devices, such as the Amazon Echo and Google’s Alexa, have flooded senior living communities in the past two years to combat isolation and loneliness during pandemic lockdowns, they also have created privacy concerns.

JD Supra offers some guidance for organizations that don’t have the financial resources to partner directly with Amazon so they can benefit from ready-made policies and procedures.

Staff communication

On the staffing side, senior living developer Vi has created ViHive. The employee mobile app enables two-way information sharing with more than 3,000 staff members across all departments, communities and care centers. 

The app shares news and other content, community and company events, employee appointments, new training tools and other resources.