Aged care presents its own unique challenges to assisted living facilities, and more often than not, some of them are arguably more difficult to address compared to other healthcare setups. The good news: there’s no shortage of innovative solutions available to tackle them.
In this post, we’ll be placing the focus on how having a senior living notification system set up in your facility could directly aid in overcoming even the most persistent hurdles in the industry. These 7 benefits could prove to be enough, considering how genuinely transformative most of them are.
- It directly aids in quick and timely responses to elderly falls.
The risk of falls among seniors remains one of the top concerns of assisted living facilities. While measures to boost its prevention are limited, it’s always right to consider the next appropriate step, which is responding to these accidents. You never know when an untoward incident can suddenly evolve into a life-threatening scenario, so it’s only right to have a consistent communication and notification system in place.
How can an emergency alert system for seniors ensure timely responses? Well, most of the time, it’s built with boosting internal communication in mind. Combined with facility-wide monitoring systems, an ENS allows staff to relay the details of a crisis (e.g. where the fall happened, which resident is involved, etc.) through chat. Of course, since this readily connotes two-way communication, staff will be able to freely respond and send their messages of acknowledgment of receipt and response to the emergency.
- Lessens the instances of miscommunication.
Another common issue that plagues assisted living facilities is miscommunication. What if the staff you relayed the message to isn’t available to respond to a given emergency? Can smooth, continuous communication be maintained as the crisis develops? A responsive senior emergency notification system knows how to anticipate these possibilities.
This is why they often reinforce and hone their two-way communication channels, with a substantial focus on being designed to handle the varying magnitude of emergencies — not all of them are high stakes, after all, and misconceptions and miscommunications as to the nature of disasters only take a toll on the relationship between staff. This is highly unlikely to happen with a communication system that lets staff freely respond and make confirmations.
- Most systems are built with user-friendliness in mind.
Most seniors and even operators who aren’t too techy can count on senior emergency notification systems to be designed with ease of adaptation as a priority. Plenty of companies that design them bank on minimalism to ensure uncomplicated integration and use. And this benefit applies to both the administrator and every staff member who will use it as well as the seniors involved.
It’s rare to find systems that do not give weight to the importance of practicality, considering the unpredictability of emergencies, especially those involving the elderly. You can count on these systems to not only be extremely easy to use but also not at all difficult to install in your facility.
- Flexible enough for other relevant applications.
Just because they contain the word “emergency” doesn’t mean that these systems should be limited to that. Think of the ways you can capitalize on its two-way communication feature, for example.
Sharing information about urgent medications that need to be taken as soon as possible can be made a whole lot more convenient with them. The same goes for sudden changes in staff scheduling, especially if a specific caretaker suddenly won’t be able to attend his or her shift. The possibilities are limitless, especially as the systems continue to evolve.
- They are affordable and help you make significant cost-savings.
There’s also no need to worry that you will only end up with more expenses because of these systems. In fact, most are designed to help facilities save on conventional equipment just to have a solid notification system in place. Why? Because most of them can now be run digitally, reducing, if not completely erasing, the need for hardware.
Most of the advanced ones nowadays just require a single laptop for the operator, from where he can perform most of the actions (i.e. sending emergency notifications). It can then be hooked up to every staff’s smartphone or any applicable device.
- Almost always reliable and available around the clock.
If you’re worried that an emergency notification system for seniors might fold under pressure, so to speak, and become unavailable, then consider companies that provide a safety blanket by using off-site hosting. A lot aren’t even WiFi-dependent. This makes sure that the system will still be functional even if an entire infrastructure is down. That said, be sure to discuss this with the company you’re considering to know exactly how they ensure consistent access and uptime.
- Nurtures camaraderie and a feeling of security between you and your staff and the community as a whole.
In the long run, with such a streamlined system in place, you’ll only be fostering the working relationship of your staff as well as their long-term chemistry. Without a doubt, these two factors serve as a glue that keeps your facility working in order and harmony.
It’s not for nothing that senior care facilities are also called “communities”. Communities readily connote working together for a common good. It only gets harder to achieve the kind of ideal collective you have in mind without a reliable emergency notification system in place. It only lays that security blanket, after all, which is founded on transparency and open communication, even in the face of disasters.
Conclusion
In the end, senior emergency alert systems also bring one coveted aspect in any facility: peace of mind for operators and residents alike. Combined with all the other advantages mentioned here, it’s safe to say that there’s no room to question their value.
Of course, not all emergency notification systems are built alike. As much as possible, you should opt for the one that is the most compatible with how your facility is set up. It also won’t hurt to go the usual route of looking at the feedback of past clients and the overall reputation of the company you’re considering.