By Steve Moran

It’s Friday morning, the day after the amazing 2020 Tech Foresight Virtual Summit and my head is spinning with possibilities for senior living. What is most exciting to me is that essentially everything we talked about over the three days is today’s technology. They are things you as an operator could implement in your communities.

It is frustrating that right now, today, you cannot find a single senior living community that is fully tech-enabled. And yet, if it existed here is what it would look like:

Robots

  • There would be robots at the front door to greet and screen residents.
  • Robots would be used to deliver things in the community, to take away dirty dishes in the dining room, and bring fresh food either to servers or directly to residents. Robots would be used to clean and sanitize common areas, and maybe even in resident apartments.

Voice Technology

  • There would be voice-enabled devices in every room of the community (Alexa or Google). And they would make it seamless for family members to interact with their loved ones. Even those who can’t handle technology.
  • This voice technology would allow you to have much more efficient staff and resident interactions. And because voice can be used without going into a resident room, it will save on PPE costs and the amount of time it takes to don and doff PPE. This voice technology would open new horizons for life enrichment. Some of which have not even been invented.

Health Technology

  • Lighting would be designed to match the natural cycles of the day, which would give residents more energy in the daytime and allow them to sleep better at night. It would also substantially reduce energy costs.
  • There would be ever-expanding remote resident monitoring of their current state of health. And, it will trigger notifications of residents’ potential increased risks and feed info to physicians and care staff. But even bigger, it would provide data that would allow for custom lifestyle plans for each resident. Plans that would allow them to live the fullest, most meaningful, purposeful life their heart desires.

Recruiting and Retention Technologies

  • There would be a sophisticated but simple to use technology stack that would help recruit the right new team members. This would help team members manage their work lives, schedules, and even improve their personal lives.
  • There would be technology that would fully recognize the team member’s contributions to the organization and to the lives of residents and fellow team members.
  • You would use data to make your staff more efficient and reduce costs.

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Life Enrichment Technology

  • Dementia care would become more sophisticated because of technology. It would help families and residents have amazing experiences together. It would delight residents that have not been delighted in years.
  • It would become the way to hit maximum physical health, which, of course, contributes to mental health. Technology-based exercise programs would be as cool as Peloton bikes.

The Bottom Line

The BIG BOTTOM LINE is that what seems impossible, and impossibly expensive, will do four powerful, critical, amazing things:

  1. It will substantially reduce your costs of operations
  2. It will add a cool factor that will help you recruit staff and attract residents
  3. It will measurably and substantially increase your residents average length of stay number
  4. It will improve your bottom line by 20-35%

If you missed the Tech Foresight Summit, you can still access the recordings by registering HERE.