Lakewood Manor

Expands and Improves Life Safety with SARA

Description

Virginia Baptist Homes (VBH) was established in 1945 as an agency of the Baptist General Association of Virginia.  VBH operates four retirement communities and a foundation.  Lakewood Manor, located in Richmond, Virginia, offers residents a unique landscape for exploration, personal growth and a sense of independence.  The 128-acre campus offers a full range of professional services in a caring environment, from assistance with daily activities in Assisted Living to full-time nursing care in the Health Care Center.

Opportunity

At Lakewood Manor, residents find themselves in a community built on security, involvement and respect.  The staff, and in particular Jim Jacobson, the Director of Support Services, wanted to uphold these principles when faced with an expansion project that would include the building of 14 new independent living cottages and an independent apartment building made up of 30 units.

The existing nurse call system did not need to be replaced entirely, but could be improved through automation and integration to other systems and devices.  The building of the additional living facilities gave Lakewood Manor the perfect opportunity to implement a solution that would allow their existing systems to work together more cohesively.
"We were looking for a way to have consistency from a safety standpoint across our entire campus.  We knew what we wanted and Status Solutions knew how to get us there," states Jim Jacobson.    

Solution

Status Solutions' Situational Awareness and Response Assistant (SARA) was integrated to Lakewood Manor's existing nurse call and fire systems to allow alerting via pagers, cell phones and email.  Wireless, mobile pendants were given to residents in the new facility, as well as to those living in the existing buildings.  Previously, the pendants and pull cords used by the residents in the existing living facilities only worked within the walls of their apartments.  The new wireless devices allow residents to signal for help wherever they are on the 128-acre campus.  The wireless "bubble" encompasses the entire community, and enables the staff to know both when and where an incident occurs.

With integrations to the nurse call system, the fire system and devices such as pull cords, pendants and motion sensors, the SARA system also enables reporting of historical events.  This allows Lakewood Manor to maintain quality assurance when it comes to the safety and security of its residents.

Improving Staff Efficiency and Resident Safety

At Lakewood Manor, the well being of the residents is the highest priority.  In order to improve staff efficiency, while increasing the safety of the residents, Lakewood Manor asked for a means by which staff members could be notified when a resident was up and moving around their rooms. Status Solutions accommodated Lakewood Manor's need for a special feature to be added to the SARA system.
The motion based check-in component of SARA allows for an email to be sent to designated staff members when sensors in the specified residents' rooms detect movement before 10:00AM each morning.  If staff members do not receive the "check-in" message by the pre-determined time, then they know they should go to the resident's room to see if they need assistance.
"Family members think the motion based check-in process is a great enhancement to the community.  It gives them the peace of mind that their loved one will not be left alone in their room if an accident occurs," comments Jim Jacobson.

Increasing Staff Communication

Lakewood Manor leverages SARA's notification and reminders capability to keep the staff informed of important announcements and information.  When a staff member receives a reminder, the unique voice of SARA is what they hear when answering the phone or checking their messages.  This is made possible by simply typing any text into the system, and then that exact message is delivered by SARA's voice over the phone. Alerts and reminders are also in text form and sent via email in much the same way.
For example, quick messages are sent to certain staff members to make them aware of things such as maintenance alerts.  At Lakewood Manor these are sent across two-way radios used by the maintenance staff.

Reading, Hearing and Seeing

Lakewood Manor has not only implemented SARA's voice and text capabilities, but also its video component as well.  With the villas (30 unit apartment building) being completely separated from the main building, it is important that the same level of security be maintained.  Video cameras were installed at the main entrance and two side doors, so the security personnel could monitor persons entering and exiting the facility.  The nursing staff, security personnel and anyone else on the network can view what is being recorded by simply accessing the SARA system.

Summary

With the installation of the SARA system, Lakewood Manor is now able to provide a consistent level of security across all of its facilities.  "Being able to assure new residents and their family members that they will be well taken care of regardless of where they are on the campus, is well worth the investment made in the new technology," states Jim Jacobson.

Partnership

Now that Lakewood Manor has fully equipped their new facilities with the SARA system, they plan to extend the alerting capabilities to the existing assisted living apartments as well.  They are able to easily do this by taking advantage of the wireless "bubble" that is now in place.  They also have plans to extend the notification capabilities to their residents.  This will be in the form of reminders about scheduled activities and events delivered via phone by the voice of SARA.

Jim Jacobson recounts, "Undergoing a technology change of this magnitude was a bit frightening; Status Solutions put us totally at ease.  The implementation and transition were seamless.  Status Solutions has provided us with coaching, excellent customer service, and is always there when we need them."