Improving quality of life for residents through technology
Con Koulouris | July 23, 2009
In November I blogged here about the ConnectCare project which is harnessing technology to improve the level of care and efficiency within regional and remote aged care facilities.
When we started this project, the driver was clearly about increasing efficiency within facilities (and that is still equally applicable today). But as we continue to learn and listen to pilot sites and analyse findings from our research projects, it is becoming clearer that some of the improvements to the quality of life for residents that can be achieved through the ConnectCare infrastructure, are of equal importance to the facilities and their residents.
For many residents in aged care facilities, particularly those in regional areas, contact with family and friends is irregular. By utilising the broadband infrastructure established within the pilot facilities, virtual visiting programs have been commenced with low cost video conferencing technology.
Virtual Visiting was launched by the Western Districts Health Service in Victoria and the program found that regular social contact with friends and family was important to enhance residents’ quality of life and overcome the social isolation often associated with admission to an aged care facility.
Residents in three ConnectCare pilot sites – Sawtell Catholic Care of the Aged, Caloundra Community Homes and Nambucca Valley Care – now have the ability to connect with their family and friends regularly and this makes a real difference in their daily life. Not only do they enjoy the video conference itself but it also gives them something to look forward to and share with other residents.The stories from our ConnectCare pilot sites demonstrate the difference virtual visiting programs make for residents.
Nambucca Valley Care – A high care resident who has suffered a stroke is able to contact her stepdaughter in South Australia. Their distance apart means they only get to see each other once or twice a year and with virtual visiting they can see each other whenever they want. Due to the residents medical condition, virtual visiting also helps with communication because they can communicate non verbally and through lip reading and this wouldn’t be possible through a letter or telephone call. The resident looks forward to the weekly visit and can’t wait to see the family pets or changes to the garden.
Caloundra Community Homes – A resident will have the opportunity later this year to meet her grandchild for the very first time through video conferencing. Previously she would have waited until her family could arrange a visit to the facility and this is difficult due to their interstate location. Now with the launch of virtual visiting she will meet her grandchild much sooner than would otherwise be possible.
But it’s not just video conferencing that’s making a difference in the quality of life for residents. It’s little things like installing Google Earth that are making a big impact . According to Barbara Palte, Activities Co-ordinator, Caloundra Community Homes "Google Earth is a hit with the residents. We stroll through towns and cities where they used to live; sometimes a resident will ask to see where a son, daughter or grandchild lives. We have a resident who is from London and she likes to stroll up the Mall to Buckingham Palace."
Residents in these facilities are there for the final years of their life if we can make this experience better through the use of technology this is incredibly powerful.
Con Koulouris has 20 years experience driving marketing, sales and product strategies across both corporate and not-for-profit organisations, including 13 years within the ICT sector. For the past two years Con has been Director of Telecommunications and ICT at Church Resources, where he is responsible for bottom line commercial outcomes as well as facilitating collaboration, partnerships and solutions between the Church and not-for-profit sector, industry and government. In this time he has led a number of substantial transformation projects across the Church, Aged Care and Community sectors and has forged strong relationships with government and industry to assist in achieving substantial outcomes. Con’s experience also includes almost a decade at Telstra, where he held a variety of senior roles including General Manager, Sales for Telstra’s emerging technologies as well as Senior Product Manager for Telstra Multimedia.
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