How to Create a Resident-Centric Experience

“Simple ways to use technology to deliver a personalized resident experience at your senior living community.” 

By: Diana Gore | Product Marketing Manager, K4Connect

March 19, 2021

According to industry leaders, the best community is the one that is designed and committed to enhancing the lives of seniors. Thriving senior living communities are passionate about the resident experience and uncompromising when it comes to putting resident needs and desires first. The past year has required staff to re-imagine how to keep residents engaged, informed and connected to their community, as well as family and friends living outside of the community. At the same time, maximizing staff efficiency became critical as additional challenges of staffing shortages and increased responsibilities became a reality. As life slowly moves towards our new normal and residents are able to safely be out and about in the community many of the things that were implemented due to pandemic life are here to stay. And that’s a good thing!

Here are three essentials for being a community who keeps the resident at the center of all that you do:

KEEPING RESIDENTS ENGAGED

Enabling residents to stay engaged in things they enjoy keeps them happy and can even lower their risk for some health problems.

  • Virtual events: From hosting a book club via Zoom or Google Meet, to sharing tours of national parks and zoos there are endless opportunities to captivate your residents.
  • Live streaming events like cooking demos, music series’, education lectures, exercise classes and community meetings is another simple way to engage residents.
  • Videos: There are several well-established content providers that offer excellent video content for residents to enjoy. CuriosityStream brings award-winning documentary streaming and on-demand entertainment with over 3,000 features and series covering topics from space exploration and adventure to nature and lifestyle. Spiro100 provides the industry’s largest library of exercise and wellness video streaming programs. Residents will enjoy courses that focus on mind, body and spirit activities and that are safe, appropriate and outcome-based. 
  • Virtual games: AARP features a collection of senior online games such as chess, puzzle games, brain games, word games, card games. Many other great options to explore as well!
Virtual events accessible to your residents via K4Community Plus.

KEEPING RESIDENTS INFORMED

Knowledge can be one of your residents’ greatest interests and with the help of a technology partner, you harness the power to deliver information in a simple and timely manner. 

  • Announcements and Updates: 
    • Video Messages: Executive Director’s weekly fireside chats and other important information can be easily shared and in a format that is simple for all residents to access any time, from anywhere. 
    • K4Community Plus offers a first of its kind Community Social Feed that keeps residents constantly updated on the latest community news in the style of today’s most popular social media platform feeds like Facebook.
  • Dining Updates: Whether it’s a question about what is for dinner tonight or this week’s specials, residents want to know what’s on the menu. In fact, menus are the second most frequently visited feature by residents using our K4Community Plus App.  
  • Self service updates for dining balances and maintenance/service requests.

“I really didn’t think I’d like it, but I’ve actually come to depend on it. I check it at least once a day and when our plumbing went out I went right onto the Services and submitted a request. It was really fast and efficient….” – Resident, Masonic Villages Elizabethtown 

 

KEEPING RESIDENTS CONNECTED

The ability to connect and communicate with friends and family helps residents maintain relationships and develop new friendships. 

  • Video Chats: Regardless of if residents are utilizing the video chat functionality in K4Community Plus or a platform like FaceTime, video chat usage saw a significant increase over the past 12 months. We saw this with our resident users – a nearly 55% increase in K4Community Plus video chat usage between Oct 2020 and January 2021. 
  • Messaging/Chat:

“I just wanted to let you know that myself, my mom, and [my partner] really appreciate using K4Community. There have been times before COVID where we would be in another country and use it to send messages…to her. It has been a great lifeline between us and it is great for staying in touch…We have found it to be a really valuable resource.” – Family member, Eskaton Monroe Lodge

  • Photo Sharing: There are many creative ways to help residents and the important people in their lives share photos with one another. It is true that often a picture is worth a thousand words!
A mobile and desktop view of the k4community communications hub.
Messaging made easy via K4Community Plus chat feature.



Your community is vibrant and the resident’s experience is at the heart of all you do. Learn more about how K4Community and our K4Community Plus app and web experience can help keep your residents engaged, informed and connected.