“There will be a short window this summer to re-examine your digital infrastructure and technology tools before another round of COVID-19 returns.”

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors

May 26, 2020

A colleague recently said to me, “COVID hasn’t change the world, it has accelerated it.” At first I wanted to argue, but the more I thought about it, so much of what we are witnessing is the normalization of technologies that were once used only by a minority.

“Changes that I thought would take years have occurred in a matter of weeks.” Bob Kramer, Founder of NIC, in a recent SLIF interview.

I am not downplaying the significant (hopefully temporary) changes to our daily life, but what is remarkable is the accelerated use and adoption of technology around the world, by all age groups and across all industries. We have seen it in the way we work, consume entertainment, deliver education, participate in faith-based activities, provide healthcare, and talk to our friends and family.

In just 3 (long) months, so much is different, and yet so much remains the same. In October 2019 K4Connect introduced its model of Digital Transformation in senior living and how we help communities on the aspirational journey to become a Smart Senior Living Community.

Little did I know COVID-19 would soon appear and be the unwelcomed reminder of the importance of technology and basic digital infrastructure. Now, several steps of that journey are critical to navigating these uncertainties and being a COVID-ready community.

Right now, senior living community leaders are appropriately focused on the protection of their residents and staff, trying to meet the ever-changing regulatory requirements, planning for the careful lifting of restrictions on dining, wellness and activities, all while also working to re-start the move-in process. However, while doing this, many will recognize the need for strengthening their Wi-fi networks, improving communication channels, setting up YouTube for streaming content, and better preparing staff to engage residents using technology.

At K4Connect, we continue to believe senior living has reached a crossroad with technology and innovation. Our recent experience has only cemented that belief. We have increased the velocity of our own product development and leap-frogged to items in our longer-term product roadmap – all to meet the COVID-ready needs of our customers.

I am suggesting senior living operators need to be doing the same. There will be a short window this summer to re-examine your digital infrastructure and technology tools before another round of COVID-19 returns. Whatever gaps emerge, this is the time to address them.

If you need help, K4Connect has several resident-centered technologies that solve many of these challenges, and K4Advisors can share the best ways to integrate them into your current workflow. As always, you can reach me at Cindy.Phillips@K4Advisors.com, or (910) 477-1556. Keep doing good work!

“Without the proper tools, these operators are either under communicating or wasting critical staff time getting the message out the old-fashioned way.”

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors

May 13, 2020

In a previous article, I talked about the mass notification tools that have become critical during COVID-19, moving from nice-to-have to must-have. For every community that is using these effectively, there is another that is struggling to keep their residents, families, and staff informed and updated. K4Connect’s K4Community Hotline service is the fastest way to improvement.

Without the proper tools, these operators are either under communicating or wasting critical staff time getting the message out the old-fashioned way (photocopies, emails, letters, elevator posters.) Even worse, as documented in a recent McKnight’s survey, fielding hundreds of phone calls from residents, family, or even staff, wanting to know the same information.

The K4Community Hotline is just what it sounds like – a recorded message line that keeps callers informed on the latest information and frees up staff from repetitive phone calls. The Hotline accomplishes two things that are critically important right now; first, informing residents and families about the latest COVID-19 information and second, offsetting the time staff is spending fielding those calls.

This need for a process and a tool for timely mass communication in senior living is certainly not limited to COVID-19. If you look back just the last few years, there are many other scenarios that a tool like this would be critical for communications, especially to external audiences:

• Regulatory compliance (including COVID-19)
• Severe weather alerts/evacuations
• Active shooter or bomb threats
• Radiation leaks/incidents at Nuclear facilities
• Abuse or negligence charges
• Theft or significant drug diversions
• Records breach (HIPAA)

If you are lucky enough not to be facing some of these, there are many other internal uses for mass communication tools. Some of those are as follows:

• Road closures
• Restaurant closures
• Event cancellations
• Power outage information
• Temporary suspension of shuttle service
• Last minute changes to services such as trash pick-up 

Bolstering your communication tools is a must right now, and there is an opportunity to implement the simplest of these tools – a K4Community Hotline. It is not the complete engagement solution, but it works for you 24 hours/day, can be set up in a few hours, and immediately improves the quality, timeliness, and transparency of communications. 

Additionally, our current hotline clients have routed thousands of calls to these numbers in just the past 30 days, saving hundreds of labor hours that are better directed to resident care.  

If your residents would benefit from voice-enabled access, we have many communities providing access to hotlines, not through a telephone only, but through our Amazon Alexa integration. They simply ask, “Alexa, call the Hotline.”

Here is how simple it is to get started:

1. Contact K4Connect – Call at Support at
   (855) 876-9673  or CovidInfo@K4Connect.com for setup and pricing.
2. Select the # of Hotlines – We recommend two to start, one for residents/staff, and an additional one for external stakeholders such as families, volunteers, and vendors. If you are a multi-site operator, we do recommend each community has its own hotline, and suggest a single hotline be set up for centralized messaging.
3. Determine your Hotline Usage Plan – Who will record the messages; what is the intended message stream; and how often will you be updating it. K4Advisors will be publishing best practices around this in another article.
4. Develop your Strategy for Publishing Hotline Telephone #’s – Getting the hotline numbers and the update intervals out to residents and staff should follow your normal communication channels, including elevators and bulletin boards initially. For external audiences – using existing email lists, donor lists, Facebook and Linked-In pages, or any other social media platforms seem to work best.
5. Record your First Hotline Message – We recommend writing it out, practicing it, and then recording it. The whole process takes about 10 minutes, and you are ready to go!

It really is this simple. A mass notification tool like K4Connect’s Hotline can mean the difference between a crisis or incident that is controlled and one that threatens your community reputation, resident or staff morale, regulatory compliance, and your marketing and sales efforts. Why wait to take advantage of this simple solution?

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As always, contact me with questions or ideas at Cindy.Phillips@K4Advisors.com, or to learn about technology that supports the safety, well-being and engagement of older adults, go to www.k4connect.com.

“While the full impact of COVID-19 remains unclear, we are beginning to speculate on how senior living as we know it, may be changed forever. “

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors

May 7, 2020

Like any disruption or crisis (Covid-19 included), there are always new ideas that emerge, but in some cases those ideas can be contradictory, making it even harder to decide what to do or how to emerge smarter, more agile and better able to serve your customers.

While the full impact of COVID-19 remains unclear, we are beginning to speculate on how senior living as we know it, may be changed forever. As I spend time doing that, what I am finding most interesting is that many of the changes I foresee are almost opposite of the existing norm. This provides a catalyst for innovation by way of resolving the competing sides of a paradox. 

Paradox is not a word we use in everyday life – but it seemed to fit perfectly. Merriam Webster cites under the definition – The ancient Greeks were well aware that a paradox can take us outside our usual way of thinking. They combined the prefix para- (“beyond” or “outside of“) with the verb dokein (“to think“), forming paradoxos, an adjective meaning “contrary to expectation.”

Here are 8 paradoxical contradictions I believe will drive change in our industry:

1. Dining-In vs. Take-Away – This was a budding trend in 2019, and COVID-19 has locked it in.  Whether it has seasonal swings, there will be a segment of residents wanting both dining options. If communities add more “spacing” to venues, either by reservation times or less tables, some will not want to risk it nor may want to wait for an available time. Carry-out and grab-n-go will follow the trends of the larger U.S. population, and the industry needs to invest in tools for on-line ordering, packaging for grab-n-go, and resources for delivery.
2. Virtual vs. In-person Community Activity – While born of necessity, virtual events, classes and religious services have become a norm in senior living programming. Why would this change? Hard to estimate the percentage split, but virtual should be part of the mix and offer residents the choice. It would naturally follow that at least one member of the activity or wellness staff will be dedicated to this modality.
3. Content Curators vs Content Creators – Following the same thread of #2, we have seen some very engaging and popular online content, especially appealing to older adults, emerge during this social isolation period. Automating familiar games or activity, but also providing new educational material, how-to videos, virtual trips around the world, etc. For years, community staff have been responsible for designing and creating things to do, maybe their roles are evolving to “curators.” It opens up a world of possible content and reaches a much wider audience of residents.
4. Virtual Sales & Marketing vs. Group Events & Community Tours – It has been commonplace in senior living to rely on leads to convert to event attendance to convert to private community tours to ultimately convert to move-ins. Things have changed. Most sales team are re-thinking their entire approach, knowing that social media marketing will be even more critical, and leveraging current resident networks to drive referrals. Telephone selling and closing skills will be paramount, and higher quality virtual tours (drone footage for larger campuses) will be a must-have.  Appointment setting and information sharing may go through a website chat-bot, so more staff is available to run small group events for the “hottest” leads.
5. Self-Service vs. White-Glove Service – Several years ago we started seeing an infusion of a hospitality mindset in senior living. In my opinion, it has improved the overall look and feel of many communities and has improved our image. However, the use of self-service kiosks in hotels and airports, voice-activated or AI customer agents and driverless shuttles are finding a place in the service spectrum. No longer seen as a cost-cutting measure, they can increase efficiency and provide “no-touch” engagement with customers. Think of how much faster you could re-open your business today (with Covid-19) if some of it was self-service. Both service types will be critical to future success.
6. High-Touch Care vs. Focused-Touch Care – In assisted-living, and even in independent or retirement living, often a selling point is the quality of care, the amazing staff, and the attention a prospective resident will get. But the realities of a caregiver shortage, combined with the infectious disease protocols that require quarantining and excessive PPE use, maybe we should be looking for ways for limited but focused-touch care. Using wearables to monitor temperature or blood pressure or using personal video devices to gather data without entering a room or apartment, enables staff to monitor residents without using PPE to provide hands-on care for only those who need it. Analytics and predictive health monitoring will enable providers to quickly identify who needs help first, and likely before it becomes an acute event. Some worry technology could de-personalize caregiving, but I believe it can increase the attention and targeted care we offer.
7. Reactive vs. Proactive Communication – Residents and families have always asked for open communication, it has been the #1 action item on almost every satisfaction survey. COVID-19 has demanded a regular cadence of communication and we will never go back. Why should we?  The topics will change, but the pattern of having a daily or weekly social feed of information will bring comfort to many. A more engaging dialogue has been started and the successful communities will not let it end. 
8. Separated vs. Connected – The physical separation dictated by COVID-19 has forced us to address the hole it created in the social and emotional well-being of residents – especially if future waves are expected later in the fall. By what has been overlooked, is that social isolation was an issue before COVID hit us. A joint University of Michigan-AARP study released almost exactly a year ago reported “1 in 3 adults over age 50 lack regular companionship, and 1 in 4 say they feel isolated from other people at least some of the time.” We need to look beyond the creative stopgap measures we have put in place during COVID and keep looking for ways to create more connection and engagement opportunities for seniors. Through all eight dimensions of wellness, the use of technology, and with the help of families, volunteers and residents themselves, we can raise our game here!

In the end, this virus and its impacts are not going away. Senior living has changed forever, and our choice is how we react and position ourselves to leverage that change. A paradox is not resolved easily, and certainly not by choosing between one way “or” the another. Instead, it forces us to think in terms of “and” to find the best from the old and the new. 

Creating the next normal is never easy, but we will survive, maybe even thrive, if we take control of shaping our destiny. Every operator, every provider that serves this industry must start mobilizing around these changes, keep innovating us forward, and ready us to weather future disruptors. I know that is what we are doing at K4Connect and K4Advisors. Join us!

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As always, contact me with questions or ideas at Cindy.Phillips@K4Advisors.com, or to learn about technology that supports the safety, well-being and engagement of older adults, go to www.k4connect.com.

“Senior living needs some disruption, beyond just lifestyle changes for older adults, we need disruption and innovation that will lead to exponential progress in caregiving.”

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors

April 27, 2020

Caregivers are the heroes in senior communities across the country, and COVID-19 has only made that more visible. Especially in assisted living, personal care, and nursing homes, they are an integral part of everyday life and a lifeline for many residents. 

The current challenge is really two-fold. One, there are not enough of them and that problem has been prominent in our planning with predictions from entities like Argentum and Leading Age for almost a decade – and it’s forecasted to only get worse. And two, their pay scales fail to or barely reach a living wage, and the alternative jobs at the same scale are often easier or more flexible. 

Even worse, during COVID-19, shamefully some are blaming these caregivers for igniting the spread of this pandemic in nursing facilities. They point to a common practice of aides or nurses working in multiple communities, which might be true, but those claims fail to also recognize the realities this workforce is experiencing. They are simply trying to make a living and this practice has been essential to ensuring facility staffing levels are met.

Going forward, it is not clear whether this negative publicity or stress will make the caregiver shortage even worse, but it is evident that the solution is multi-faceted. It cannot be solved by simply more recruiting or more training. 

Senior living needs some disruption, beyond just lifestyle changes for older adults, we need disruption and innovation that will lead to exponential progress in caregiving. The COVID era has showcased the value of technology in driving that progress. Here are a few examples:

Voice Enablement – Many stories are being played out on television or the Internet showing older adults using voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri to listen to music, play games or engage with families or friends. Sadly, some even to find companionship in their last hours of life. But they are also being used by residents in senior care communities to get COVID information, community updates, or to reach a remote caregiver at the front desk. These interactive communication assistants are being welcomed by seniors, they empower them to get what they need, when they need it, and in the end enable staff to redirect their time from answering repetitive questions to more critical caregiving duties.

Smart Home Technology – Just like at home, over 100 senior living communities across the U.S. have embraced this technology. With the support of K4Connect’s Home Automation package of smart lights, a thermostat, and a motion sensor have been installed in resident rooms, apartments or cottages. These devices not only provide convenience and safety (especially when tied into the Voice feature above), but also the ability to passively monitor the movement (or absence of it) of an independent living resident who may live alone. This daily “resident check-in” feature is always valuable, but during COVID-19, it has been an incredibly helpful safety net to identify unusual patterns while we are social-distancing. Without a system like this, many community caregivers would have to be making many more daily calls or visits to all residents versus helping those who really needed it. 

Wearables/Vital Sign Collectors – The Internet of things (IoT) has brought us so many useful devices and wearables, even to those in the 65+ market. Beyond simple fitness trackers, many seniors are using devices to collect and report their weight, blood sugar readings, and heart rhythms. The COVID-19 outbreak has shown the value of having a wireless personal device to take daily body temperatures and pulse oximeter reading for those with COPD. They now can collect and report this data to a remote nurse or a medical provider. All of this is ultimately saving hours of caregiver time in accomplishing the same, if not more, through remote data collection, monitoring and oversight. 

Telehealth – Telehealth has been on our radar as an industry for quite some time and is possibly one of the silver linings of COVID-19. We are finally getting some regulatory relief to use video conferencing to connect older adults to their medical providers. Especially during stay-at-home restrictions, technology is providing a safer, easier screening tool. It is also reducing transportation challenges – which can be unavailable or unpleasant for frail patients and saves caregiver time eliminating a need to accompany them to an appointment.

As a recent Zeigler Senior Living Z-News email confirmed, telehealth can help operators “optimize their workforce” and “direct residents to the most appropriate caregiver for their condition.” Using telehealth goes a long way in ensuring providers and caregivers, both in short supply, are utilized in the most efficient way and it can be a more pleasant experience for the patient.

Maybe talk of digital caregivers or robots seems futuristic, but the scenarios above are not just ideas, they are available and in place today, helping many communities keep their residents safe and they are helping caregiver staff focus their talents and energy on those that need it most. If they can provide relief when the demands on staffing are high, then we are making some progress!

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Contact me with questions at Cindy.Phillips@K4Advisors.com, or learn about tools to support older adults and caregiver staff at  www.K4Connect.com.