Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation. – Dean Kamen
Galloway Ridge is always looking for innovative ways to improve the lives of our residents, and we have recently implemented cutting-edge aging services technology in an effort to achieve our goals. Through our connection with Senior Portal, we participated in a study to address the advantages of integrating voice-assisted technology to engage residents in our community while increasing our team efficiency. Leading Age, an organization of over 6000 members and partners representing the entire field of aging, has recognized our work with Senior Portal to make a positive difference for our community. For us, however, the biggest indicator of our study’s success is how our residents have embraced our initiative and incorporated it into their daily lives.
Breaking Down Barriers
As many of our residents know, Senior Portal is one of the best things to happen to residential senior living in years. The application is essentially a way to provide a social media approach to communication, activities, event planning, and online concierge services for community residents. Our residents have secure user information to access the Portal, and once online, they can utilize features and register for activities as well as get the latest information on events within the community and the region. It is a social network, real-time calendar, appointment setter, and troubleshooter, all conveniently accessed through one package.
Adding Value
Galloway Ridge and Senior Portal have teamed up with Amazon’s Echo to launch voice-activated aging services technology to access the Senior Portal network, making the benefits more user-friendly for every level of ability. We provided training seminars to our residents to learn how to use the technology. We have the capacity to add or adjust features based on resident and employee feedback to ensure our Portal serves the needs of the community. The result is better engagement and socialization opportunities for our residents, faster response time from our team, and more connectivity throughout our facility.
About Those Benefits
For a generation that has seen the world shift from paper to digital, the adjustment to embrace new aging services technology has been surprisingly swift. Our residents can continue to enjoy the many positive features that applications such as Senior Portal can provide, including:
- Reduction in social isolation
- Improved residential engagement and satisfaction
- Growth in social networks
- Increase in staff efficiency
- Elimination of printed materials
While the last two benefits may not seem to directly affect resident quality of life, they actually make a significant difference. Staff members can address individual needs more effectively because they can devote more time to interaction with residents and less time performing routine administrative tasks. With less paper tracking to identify, address, and resolve issues, our process becomes leaner and even more ecofriendly, an important feature to both residents and staff.
Addressing Concerns
The rollout and implementation of Senior Portal and Echo aging services technology has gone remarkably well. Our team recognized and addressed the concerns of residents and can continue to mitigate those issues through capable IT support. Our residents have secure connections to protect their private information, technical support when needed, and Wi-Fi for consistent access.
Galloway Ridge leads the trend for implementation of aging services technology for resident quality of life enhancement in the Triangle area. It’s just one of the many ways that our community meets and exceeds the needs of our community. Please contact us to learn more about Senior Portal and other amenities available to residents.
