Life-Saving Support Systems - it's our time to act

In among all the political news today was a story that caught my eye: the suicide rate of people in my age group – between ages 45 and 54 – has soared in the past five years.

Overall in that age group the suicide rate increased nearly 20%; for women, the increase was 31%. This is in sharp contract to the suicide rates in other age groups, which either increased only slightly (teenagers) or actually decreased (senior adults).

Of course, no one can do a factual study to find out why, but many theories are being discussed. I have my own theory: we’re feeling increasingly more stressed with pressures of being sandwiched between our responsibilities as parents (many of us still have young children, having waited to start our families until our 30s or even our 40s) and our parents, most of whom are living longer – not necessarily independent – lives.

If you google the term “Sandwich Generation” you’ll see with page after page of stories, web sites and blog discussions. This is not an isolated experience – it is nearly universal within this age group.

Of our own personal friends, the vast majority are feeling the pressure. In the past 12 months, three of our closest friends lost a parent. All had increased their visiting, their work load (to help pay for needed services) and their own involvement in their parents’ lives. All had children at home or in college. One was even fighting her own battle with breast cancer at the same time.

Is it any wonder that some people simply say, “Enough!”?

As professionals involved in providing services to seniors, what are we doing to support the people in the middle? What more CAN we do? Support groups often aren’t the answer for people who are already running every day and evening of the week. Virtual support, email support and simply being available to listen may be one of the most significant things we can offer.

Certainly, taking some of the caregiving responsibilities off of the shoulders of maxed out kids can make a tremendous difference.

Silverado Senior Living has been taking this assistance on the road, so to speak, by offering services in the homes of individuals who are not yet ready – may never be ready – to move into a community living environment.

The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) calls this approach “assisted living without walls”.

I can only imagine the relief that the families of those being served must feel.

Another option is the Quiet Care system – one which, when we previewed it in my office a couple of weeks ago, one of my team members immediately said, “I need one of those today!” For individuals trying to focus on work tasks, all the while worrying about a frail parent at home alone, the relief can be immeasurable.

There’s no doubt that the increase in suicides among the “sandwich generation” is a combination of many factors; perhaps we, as a profession of senior care providers, can step up with even more tools to provide solutions.

Tech times at the Senior Citizen Home

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most in my own personal transition from a senior care provider (through the assisted living communities we owned and operated) to an online senior care skills trainer is getting first hand look at the range of technologies that can help us all live fuller, more independent lives as we grow older.

I was fascinated by a news alert that popped into my mailbox today about a new link to a weather satellite that the Hong Kong Observatory is making available to seniors to help them prepare for “extreme weather”. The news report indicated that 10% more seniors experienced health-related problems when the weather dropped below 12 C (that’s a frigid 54 degrees F) than at usual, balmy temperatures. The story indicated that this data was derived from the number of seniors who first used the Personal Emergency Link before going to the hospital.

With just a few minutes of research I discovered that this Link is an emergency call system available throughout the country designed to contact help in case of a physical or emotional crisis. I was hoping to read that it was state-sponsored, at no charge to elderly residents, but that appears not to be the case.

What is cool about this program is the fact that technology is being widely used, monitored, and responded to (by the government, apparently, as indicated in the news story about the weather information) in an effort to keep seniors healthy and independent.

How else can we apply emerging technologies to senior care, both in home and in care settings? Only our imagination – and our determination to live out long, healthy, independent lives – will answer that question.

Online Training is Coming of Age

One of the most interesting professional journeys I’ve been traveling has been learning how to create online courses – my small contribution to the overwhelming need of more well-trained senior care providers – in a way that makes them not just equal to, but much better than classroom education.

I started this journey by studying about teaching in general. It is fascinating to me to learn how educators in past centuries thought that teaching must be done in a one-to-one setting to be truly effective; certainly tutors could only handle just a few pupils at a time. Classrooms were considered a pathetic method to conduct true education.

Of course down the road a pace we know that classrooms are challenging. The brightest students are often bored – and disruptive – while the slower learners can become frustrated – and disruptive.

Translate that to adult learning and you get a room full of people at different skill and knowledge levels, with an instructor doing his or her best to provide each person with something of value. Or maybe just shoving in a video, and leaving the room…

Online training provides an exciting new twist to the journey; one that can utilize the best of technology (a constantly evolving definition) to, in a sense, return to training people one by one, letting the more experienced learners progress quickly, while the slower learner can move at his or her own speed.

But online training must be so much more than producing PowerPoint presentations that have 2 sentences per screen.

It must be more than loading PDFs onto a website, followed by a quiz.

Online training need to show people the “what”, the “why” and the “how”; and then it needs to give people opportunities to learn their own way, using interactive coaching activities.

We can do this quickly and easily with current technology – we simply need to have the focus and the will.

Don't be a Technology Dinosaur

Let’s face it: most of us running companies providing care to seniors today didn’t grow up with a PDA or a mouse in our hands.

We probably don’t have Facebook or MySpace accounts, let alone thousands and thousands of “friends.”

If you’re like me, you may not even know how to load a video onto YouTube, although you have watched one or two.

But please don’t call us technology dinosaurs! We like to think we’ll adopt technology as soon as it’s tested and can be demonstrated to be of benefit – that very minute, we’ll be on board.

But just listen to what U.S. Senator Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said about us just recently at the Senate “idea exchange” sponsored by Sen. Harry Reid and Sen. Debbie Stabenow: “"the use of technology is worse in this industry [long term care] than any other industry except mining."[1]

Yikes! That’s not a flattering review of our profession.

Just to show you that I know how to do some cool things using technology, here’s a YouTube video of what one company, Ecumen, is doing to utilize technology:



Pretty cool stuff – and great press that gets the attention of seniors today whose number one concern is losing their mental functioning and consequently their independence.

But what about technology as it relates to training? What’s wrong with the old “stand-up-in-front-of-the-entire-staff-on-payday” approach?

Just a few things: using the same schpele for everyone, regardless if they are a week one or year 10 employee, missing those folks who are sick, sleeping or simply don’t show up, and checking how well your training worked by using a sign-in sheet for verification.

Why not dip your toes into the murky water of technology and check out online training? Like other aspects of technology, the cost is increasingly affordable, the implementation is quick and simple. And the results? One independent study found that game-based online learning was over 7 times more effective than traditional forms of training.

That’s something to think about when you’re ready to make the move away from the old way – the dinosaur way – to the new, modern way of providing senior care!
[1] As reported by Larry Minnix, AAHSA President and CEO in his message dated 9/13/07.

Innovation and Technology Applications in Senior Care

“Mom, lay back down and push your call button. Someone will help you get up. Lay back down now, mom!”

That’s the voice recording my friend Lane put on the fall alert device he recently purchased for his mother. She has been getting increasingly forgetful, and has been experiencing some falls. After a nasty fall last Christmas, Lane found an assisted living community near his home and was delighted to be able to secure a unit for his mom.

No matter how many times Lane and the staff there have instructed her she simply can’t remember to use the call system before getting out of bed. When she attempts this by herself, she falls. So far she has not suffered any injuries, but a few months ago while Lane was traveling out of the country, his mom fell again. To make sure she didn’t have any injuries the assisted living staff sent her to the hospital for a check-up and X-rays. At the hospital, staff became alarmed and determined that she wasn’t appropriate for assisted living – she was too great of a fall risk.

What happened next was a nightmare for Lane’s mom: admission to a skilled nursing center where, to prevent her falling, she was immediately put into a wheelchair and taken to the dining room, pushed up against the table and wheels locked in place.

She was accompanied on walks a couple of times a day, but other than that she was in the wheelchair, unable to get out.

When Lane returned from his trip, he was horrified to discover his mom unhappy, depressed and significantly weaker than when he left. Lane immediately moved her back into the assisted living community and started looking at options to keep her safe – and independently mobile. She uses a walker, and she wants to walk. While she seems to be able to walk relatively safely now, getting out of bed unassisted is her trouble spot.

Lane looked at alarm systems; by the time staff was alerted, however, his mom was out of bed and on the floor.

So he discovered the voice alarm alert. Now, he goes to visit his mom and she’ll say, “It was the strangest thing: I heard your voice in the middle of the night last night telling me to get back into bed!”

So far, mom has had no further falls. For Lane – and more importantly, for his mom – the risk of falling is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing, by far, is losing the independence and mobility she has left.

Do you know some innovative devices currently available to promote independence? Share them!

Are You a Learning Leader? Lessons from MetLife

Every day I'm immersed in training issues for senior care providers: writing and editing CEU courses for administrators, discussing new, creative ways to train caregivers, working with our learning partners to develop online courses to reach out to even more care providers, especially those located in rural, remote areas with limited access to big-city training opportunities.

I love the example of MetLife, and the recent article that came to my attention recognizing this company as a "Learning Leader." Doris Fritz, the VP of learning and development, identifies the company's need to go beyond basic training and to address learning as a vehicle for corporate development in a fast-paced, changing business environment (sounds a lot like senior care, doesn't it?).

MetLife chose three main focuses of training:

1) Centralization and systemization to increase efficiencies;
2) Using technology and a design team to gather resources into the central distribution source;
3) Focusing on learning needs that advanced the company as a whole, including new employee orientation, customer sales and service, and in-depth product knowledge.

MetLife had been offering training as instructor-led, but determined that, to meet their goals, they would need to develop a robust e-learning approach. MetLife chose to hire an in-house team and spent significant resources developing their own e-learning solution.

The result? Quicker and more effective skill building in new employees immediately evident, with anticipation of strong, long-term results from this approach.

The application for senior care is clear:

1) Focus on building a community or company training approach that goes further than simply compliance;
2) Look to technology to help systematize the approach and delivery (and we don't need to build it from the ground up, with those high costs and time delays);
3) Expect increased skill development, at a quicker time-line, than traditional instructor-led approaches.

Improved training is accessible to almost every senior care community and company. Not going the extra mile to provide all the training, resources and support to our caregivers and other staff is a mistake that we cannot afford to make as we build excellence in service.

Technology and Independence

Last week I attended a great presentation at the Oregon State capitol building in Salem, presented by CAST (Center for Aging Services Technology) and Orcatech (Oregon Center for Aging and Technology).

Although it's exciting to see all of the brainpower working on the task of helping older people stay independent as long as possible - the number one concern of aging boomers - at the same time it is a bit discouraging to see the time lines of availability of these products. Many of them are still in development and won't be available, at the earliest, until late 2008.

The day after this event I attended a fund raiser for a local foundation, the Jessie F. Richardson foundation, for their work helping seniors in Nicaragua. At the fundraiser the point was made that over 70% of the world's senior citizens will be in developing or 3rd world countries within the next 15 years. Makes the work of this foundation and others like it seem even more important. Check it out!

Technology Promoting Successful Aging is HERE

The impending baby boomer aging bubble, the rising cost of health care and services, the looming staffing shortage and the changes in technology are creating what Eric Dishman, Center for Aging Services Technology (CAST) chairman calls the upcoming “perfect storm.”

CAST, whose mission is “leading the national charge to develop and deploy technologies that can improve the aging experience in America,” held a Technology Day at the recent American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) conference.

The CAST sessions are posted on their website, and present an exciting insight into the ways senior care communities are using technology to help increase senior independence and quality of life.

And if you think this is something that doesn’t apply to the average nursing home, assisted living center or retirement community, think again. As Dishman so clearly points out, technological advancements are here – they’re not just a thing of the science-fiction future. Those companies and communities that are truly dedicated to their mission of serving seniors will be seeking ways to implement technology now so that they can lead the way to fulfilling their mission in the coming years and weather any upcoming storms of change.

This is an incredible opportunity to catch up for those of us who missed the conference. Check it out - Thanks, CAST!