Leveraging Technology to Engage Residents
A group of friends at Pickfair Square in Pickerington, Ohio, gather around ElliQ to discuss their love for the technology.
One might think that United Church Homes’ (UCH) focus on technology is only in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – a period in which people and organizations increasingly relied on technology to stay connected with friends, family and work. However, senior leadership and staff are always exploring ways to better serve residents throughout UCH’s nearly 80 Life Plan, healthcare and affordable housing middle market communities and have long recognized the many opportunities to do so through technology.
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“Each UCH community is unique and so too are residents’ needs and preferences,” explained Amy Kotterman, UCH’s director of customer experience. Some technology initiatives enhance the quality of medical care provided to residents, while others contribute to residents’ abundant living. Some do both and all align with UCH’s commitment to helping people achieve purposeful living in mind, body and spirit. A new UCH artificial intelligence technology initiative being piloted at various independent living communities is ElliQ, described by its developer as a friendly, intelligent, inquisitive presence in seniors’ daily lives. ElliQ is a device similar to Amazon’s Alexa but different in two distinct ways: it is empathetic and proactive. More than one-third of the devices being used in the U.S. are in the hands of UCH residents, engaging them in conversation, facilitating health check-ins, encouraging physical activity, streaming various genres of music, sending messages, reporting news, sports and weather and engaging residents in cognitive games. “Over time, ElliQ learns residents’ personal interests and preferences,” explained Dan Fagan, UCH’s executive director of housing and services, who reached out to the developer after reading an article in The New Yorker magazine.
WINTER 2022
“As part of the pilot, UCH residents offer feedback that will inform further development and help identify new ways to keep seniors engaged.” |
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