Are you looking for a fall detection device for your retirement village?
The average age of retirement village residents is now 80, up from 55, twenty years ago.
Across 2,200 villages nationally, there are 184,000 retirement village residents accounting for almost 6 per cent of the over-65 population.
These might seem like an ordinary bunch of statistics to most people, but they make a world of difference to aged care workers.
If you were at a senior care conference a few years ago and said that you managed care delivery, people in the room would probably have laughed at you.
Not anymore. As residents grow older, they suffer problems with mobility and gait. Everyday tasks like washing, bathing, cooking and grooming become harder. Older people have a greater risk of contracting illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular illnesses and need to monitor their health regularly.
Residents today demand greater levels of physical care besides help with washing and grooming. While this is something that seniors might take for granted, the specialized care involved is something that most caregivers are ill-equipped for.
New hires overwhelmed with extraordinary work demands either quit or leave the burden of care to senior staff. This results in longer work hours for senior workers, leaving them fatigued.
These aren’t the only problems carers face.
Low pay, lack of career progression, and administrative overheads in the form of unrelenting paperwork further sap the morale of aged care workers… leading to decreased productivity and not enough time to devote to their patients.
Many caregivers don’t have the time to drop in for a friendly chat or regularly monitor the health of their patients.
For seniors who leave their homes to reside in retirement villages, expecting a world of comfort and convenience, the lack of attention may come as a rude surprise.
Disillusioned with this step-motherly-like treatment, many residents choose to leave a retirement village in search of another one.
It might seem like retirement villages are fighting a losing battle, but a fall detection device like eazense Powered by SOFIHUB offer a ray of hope.
There are 5 reasons why retirement villages should utilise eazense:
It reduces unnecessary caregiver visits
Falling is a serious health risk for the elderly and can cause broken bones and brain injuries. Undetected falls can even lead to dehydration and hypothermia.
The statistics are frightening.
- One in 3 people aged 65 years or older falls each year
- At least 3 million older people are treated in emergency rooms for fall injuries every year
- Each year approximately 300,000 older people end up in hospital for hip fractures
eazense is a radar sensor that passively monitors residents without requiring them to wear or do anything, and instantly detects and notifies caregivers in case of falls (including low-impact falls).
It gives residents security while preserving their independence and privacy. For caregivers, it reduces the number of unnecessary visits, allowing them to provide care when it is most needed.
Reduces the need for regular health monitoring
It detects records and logs activity in a room without using cameras and notifies carers in case of anomalies. Anomalies could be seniors leaving the room and not returning in time, not returning at all, or not going to bed in time.
eazense in the future will also monitor vital parameters and can even detect if the person is breathing. It will alert caregivers if values breach thresholds, reducing the need for regular monitoring.
Lowers healthcare costs
Since the eazense allows caregivers to provide help when most required, it reduces the need to scale resources, directly lowering a retirement village’s healthcare costs.
Increases job satisfaction and reduces attrition
The eazense frees up caregivers’ time, provides them with an opportunity to streamline tasks, finish pending record keeping, and make more efficient use of their time.
Caregivers can also use the extra time to upskill themselves and engage in more productive work, which makes them happier and more fulfilled, lowering the risk of attrition.
Reduces the chances of seniors exiting the facility
Empowered caregivers care more deeply for residents and make them feel like a family rather than treating them as mere tasks that need to be taken care of. Happier residents are less likely to consider quitting the retirement village in search of alternate accommodation.
As mortality rates decrease and people live well into their golden years, it becomes more challenging for retirement villages to cater to seniors’ increased care needs.
A fall detection device, like the eazense, provide benefits that conventional human resources with limited technology at their disposal cannot.
Visit SOFIHUB to know more about the eazense.