Tag Archive for: Advanced Location Protocol

RCare’s Top 4 Tech Must-Haves for Seniors

With each passing year, technology is playing a more significant role in improving and enhancing the lives of our aging population. Not only do these devices combat isolation and depression by increasing communication, they also enable loved ones to regain their independence. At RCare, we believe in holistic senior empowerment, and we feel technology plays a critical role. We have come up with four vital segments of technology to provide seniors with the most bang for their buck.

  • Wireless Internet Access

Wireless Internet (or WiFi) has arguably become as essential to any  american household as running water or electricity. Everything can be accessed online or through a smartphone “app”, eliminating the need for a stationary personal computer at all.  Many family and friend communications, photo sharing and information exchanges happen on websites and social media networks.   Not to mention, many remote monitoring and alert services (think alarm, security and pendants) rely on WiFi connectivity. Without wireless Internet access, our senior population may feel disconnected and disengaged with the world around them.

  • Socialization Platforms, Smartphones & Tablets

Now that we’ve done away with the traditional stationary computer, adding a tablet, simplified communication device or smartphone into the residence of a senior is a great way to reconnect. Seniors can listen to music, read books, play cards, view photos, track their health, and even play games to promote brain health.  Choices range from your typical iPad/Samsung tablet manufacturers to devices specifically targeted to connect and engage seniors with their family and caregivers (e.g. www.grandcare.com)  Wow!

  • Wireless Remote Monitoring

For seniors wishing to secure more independence, wireless remote monitoring and crisis management systems like RCare can really save lives. Technologies ranging from motion detectors to door sensors to push pendants can monitor the activity patterns for signs of an emergency, without violating privacy.

  • G4 Advanced Locating Protocol

For a patient who may have wandering tendencies or memory loss, wearing a advanced location pendant and push button can be essential. While other systems may only give caregivers a general idea of a pushed pendant location, RCare allows care facilities to pinpoint nearly the exact location, and in a fraction of the time.

Want to learn more about the technology options available for Senior Housing? Contact us to learn more about what we do, or read through our FAQs and client testimonials.

PEAK Leadership Summit: Good Information. Good Technology. Better Decisions.

RCare - PEAK Leadership Summit 2018

RCare - PEAK Leadership Summit - QAPI and RMetrixCoffee

Like all decision-makers, executives in non-profit CCRCs need good information to make informed decisions. This information can be about regulations, industry trends, or demographic shifts–pretty much any aspect of business. But having good, up-to-date information is never more important than when it comes to decisions about technology, and how the right tool can help your community improve its ratings, and provide the data and insights you need for a successful quality assurance and improvement program. That’s why RCare is attending the PEAK Leadership Summit in Washington, DC this year and offering a free cup of QAPI!

We’ll be at BaseCamp in Kiosk #36. Stop by and visit, and have a cup of coffee on us. And then let’s talk about QAPI.

QAPI

Many CCRCs are hip-deep in implementing their regulation-mandated QAPI (quality assurance and performance improvement) programs. Leaders in these organizations will want to know about RCare’s newly revamped RMetrix reporting. We specifically redesigned it around the needs of communities who are initiating and managing quality programs. At RCare we like to say that if you can’t measure it, how can you manage it? RMetrix helps you measure important information about calls that will help you improve resident and family satisfaction, staff work loads, and resident health and safety, from basic call response times, to so-called “frequent fliers,” to comparisons among shifts, wings, and even different campuses.

The reports are extremely customizable, but we also want to give you flexibility to build your own reports with the included report designer. And if you don’t have the time or expertise to do it, RCare’s own business analysts can build custom-tailored reports for you. This is the kind of reporting that turns data into insight, and insight into action. When community leaders implement change in their organization, it will be data-driven. And its success will be proven with real metrics.

But that’s not all. We are also showcasing our brand new, safe area zoning, 3-in-1 GeoPendants.

GeoPendant

Seniors don’t become wander risks overnight. They don’t go from functioning perfectly in assisted living one day and requiring locked unit memory care the next. What are the best policies and procedures when caring for people going through this slow transition? Senior living executives will want to know about RCare’s GeoPendant when they make these kinds of decisions.

RCare - PEAK Leadership Summit - GeoPendant and QAPIThe GeoPendant can be programmed with a “safe zone,” unique to each wearer. What’s more, that safe zone can be customized right down to certain hallways or floors, other specific locations inside or outside a building. If the wearer moves outside the safe zone, caregivers are quietly and discreetly alerted so that they can redirect the individual. This way someone who poses a slight wander risk can be kept safe even while enjoying the independence and freedoms that come with living in a least-restrictive environment.

The GeoPendant also functions as a PERS button. When the wearer presses the button, it alerts staff that help is needed. And the GeoPendant comes equipped with Advanced Locating Protocol (ALP), to let caregivers know the location where the call was made, so that help can be directed to where it’s needed.

Stop by Kiosk #36, have a cup of QAPI coffee on us, and let us show you how your nurse call system can help your community raise its ratings, and succeed in its QAPI programs.

PEAK Leadership Summit
March 18-20, 2018
Washington, D.C.
Kiosk #36
BaseCamp Kiosk Hours:
Mon, March 19, 9:30am-1pm & 4:30pm-5:30pm
Tues, March 20, 11:30am-1:30pm
@LeadingAge

RCare Mobile is Highlighted in National Nurse Call Research Report

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RCare was delighted to be highlighted and called out for their advanced location protocol featured in a recent Nurse Call System research report by Grand View Research, a San Francisco-based market research and consulting firm.  

RCare Mobile's "I got it" feature on ensures caregiver accountability and lets multiple caregivers know who will be responding to any given alert.

RCare Mobile’s “I got it” feature on ensures caregiver accountability and lets multiple caregivers know who will be responding to any given alert.

Nurse Call System Market Worth $1.8 Billion By 2022: Grand View Research, Inc.

This study found that the global nurse call market is expected to reach 1.8 Billion USD by 2022. This number will be driven by reimbursement coverage reductions, hospital readmission penalties and the increased expectation for digital health in long term care.

RCare is a market leader with a global footprint throughout the United States, Europe and most recently in Asia with their latest Malaysian distribution partner.

The report singles out RCare for its innovative “I Got it” feature on the RCare Mobile and the Advanced Location Protocol (available for senior housing communities in the United States).

“Wireless communication equipment is expected to witness rapid growth. With the increasing healthcare complexities, the need for integrated nurse call systems and electronic health records is driving the industry players to launch advanced solutions. InNovember 2015, RCare launched its G4 technology with Advanced Location Protocol (ALP) for senior living facilities. The “I Got It” button provides a state-of-the-art solution to allow staff to pinpoint locations with the aid of RCare pendant.”

Read the entire release…

War on Pagers: Better Informed with RCare Mobile™

Screen Shot 2016-04-27 at 5.34.15 PMSomeone in your senior housing community needs help and triggers your nurse call system. Pagers go off, telling your staff that assistance is needed.

Did you spot the problem? It’s not enough for the CNAs to know who needs help. They still don’t know what the situation is. Nor do they know which of them is to respond to the call.  When you replace your pagers with RCare Mobile™, caregivers are empowered with information: the caller’s name, photo, location, important medical facts, even personal preferences. And they can know which of them is responding.

Not only is your CNA going to show up with the right resources and equipment with no duplication of effort, the quality of contact is transformed. Receiving assistance from someone who not only knows you by name, but also knows that your grandson got married recently, makes a real difference. That difference will be reflected on your resident satisfaction surveys.

Information empowerment isn’t just for CNAs. Community managers and directors of nursing will know a whole lot more with RCare Mobile, too. Which caregiver responded? How long did it take? How long were they there? Which services were provided? Detailed reporting leads to new insights, helping you better manage staff and increase efficiency community-wide.

There’s never been a better time to ditch your pager system. RCare: winning the #WarOnPagers, one community at a time.

Pretty Pretty Pendants Now Back In Stock!

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Pretty Pretty Pendants are back in stock, order yours today!

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We know seniors can sometimes resist having to wear those bulky, ugly PERS pendants.

This led us to pose the question, “why do pendants have to be ugly?” Turns out, they don’t! It isn’t an actual requirement. (We checked).

Our Pretty Pretty Pendants have been a Pretty HUGE success!  Needless to say, we’re Pretty excited.

While we knew at least some seniors and senior living facilities would be interested in our new Pretty Pretty Pendants, we didn’t realize just how interested they would be and we sold out immediately. Don’t worry, we made more! We now have our Pretty Pretty Pendants back in stock and they are already going pretty fast!

Don’t wait, contact us to get yours now. Please visit https://rcareinc.com/contact/.

Screen Shot 2016-04-22 at 11.30.17 AMThey said Beauty lies within.

We say Flaunt it!  

They say Liberty is within us.

We say Wear it proudly on your chest!

RCare War on Pagers: If Everybody Is Responsible, No One Is Accountable

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Shouting “Call 9-1-1” to a crowd of onlookers in a medical emergency doesn’t work. Instead, it’s better to identify a specific individual to make the call. Why? Because if you don’t, the call might not get made. Scientists call this the “bystander effect” or the diffusion of responsibility. When everybody is responsible, no one is accountable.

This is one of several reasons why pager systems are inadequate for senior housing communities. When a resident needs help, every pager goes off. Who’s accountable for responding to that call? No one knows.

With RCare Mobile, accountability is guaranteed. When the call for help goes out, the nearest available staff member responds using the “I Got It” feature to let other staff know that they are handling it. Now you know who is accountable, every time.

Find out more about RCare Mobile and RCare’s War on Pagers.

Death to Pagers: 15 Uses for Obsolete Pagers (#8 Will Shock You!)

Long term care and senior housing communities around the world are finding their archaic pager systems to be ineffective and outdated. They’re coming to RCare Mobile™ for the two-way communication, and the “I Got It” accountability feature.

When healthcare professionals communicate about life and death emergencies, they need more than just a beep and a phone number. They need to know who is having the emergency, and what kind of emergency it is. They need to know where it is, what is needed, and who is responding. They need to know how urgent the matter is. Should they drop everything and run, or can they finish with their current patient first? And they need to know right away. That’s why it’s time for pagers to pack it in. Hit the road. Make way for more effective technology. Make way for RCare Mobile’s accountability.

Disgruntled nurses across the country are sending video footage of their hilarious disposals of the old tech. Check out the footage from the front…

But I know some of you are worried. When the war has been won, and health facilities are communicating with technology from this decade, what is to become of all those old pagers? If you’re like my grandparents, you’re thinking, those thingamajigees still have some good in them.

As the official RCare MobileTM War on Pagers wages on, RCare wants to help you figure out some good uses for these previously unusable items. There’s no need for them to go to waste. We’ve come up with 15 new and innovative uses for your old pagers. (Note that none of the new uses involve taking care of patients and residents or communicating with staff. That’s better left to RCare MobileTM.) Enjoy new ways to use your pagers.

Is Your Nurse Call System Secure?

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Why privacy matters with the latest and greatest nurse call systems.

RCare with shadow

Our customers know RCare as the industry leaders, the head innovators. Usually that means a helpful new technology, a new thing that goes beep. Not this time. Today we’re leading the industry in an entirely new way: privacy.

We realize that this might raise a few industry eyebrows. But nurse call systems are no longer the simple, one-dimensional products of 20 years ago. The ever-increasing need for interoperability and integration with EMR and population health systems necessitates a more secure approach. And while all that new functionality helps deliver better care, it also demands additional responsibilities from companies like ours. That’s why we at RCare have decided it’s critical to ensure that all our solutions are HIPAA-compliant.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulates, among other things, the use and disclosure of protected health information. That is, it establishes guidelines for keeping private medical data private.  It’s an important issue for our customers and so it’s important to us, too.

Turns out that becoming HIPAA-compliant isn’t a small thing. In fact, people familiar with our plan often asked us why we were even bothering, since none of our competitors seem to be doing it. The answer is that we want to be proactive, to get out in front of these issues. Taking a “wait and see what happens” position struck us as an irresponsible approach to privacy and security. We know where the industry is going. We know because we’re taking it there ourselves. So why wait until a crisis occurs? Why wait until someone’s medical data is not safe and private? We think now’s the time to address HIPAA compliance.

Our customer facilities already know all about HIPAA, but to make sure RCare matches their level of compliance we had to take a careful look at a lot of different areas, from the way we design our products to our own internal practices. We now have policies on how to secure client data, like making sure protected information is encrypted at every stage of use. We have performed risk analysis and mitigation. We have rigorous policies about breach notifications, so our customers will always know exactly what is going on with their data. On top of all this we have done extensive training to make sure that everyone at RCare understands these policies and practices–including how important they are.

Going forward we want all our customers to know that even as their care models are being enhanced through our newest and most innovative features, their privacy and security are guaranteed.

You’ve always known that RCare’s got the most advanced nurse call solutions. Now you know that RCare’s also got your back.

RCare Wins Prestigious Rochester Healthcare Achievement Award

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Response Care, Inc. (A.K.A. RCare), is honored to announce they have been awarded the Rochester Business Journal’s 2016 Health Care Achievement Award Honorees in the Health Care Innovation category.

The Rochester Business Journal chose 21 individuals and two organizations (RCare being one) for its 14th consecutive year of awards celebrating the impact of healthcare innovation in the Rochester community.  The Health Care Achievement Awards recognize excellence, promote innovation and honor the efforts of individuals and organizations who are making a significant impact on the quality of health care in Rochester. The awards honor the best that Rochester has to offer.

RCare’s Myron Kowal, a veteran attendee of this exclusive awards ceremony, was delighted to learn his organization had been selected.

“I have been attending this ceremony for years and am delighted that I will be able to be on stage with some inspiring innovators in the Rochester area,” said RCare CEO, Myron Kowal. “I am proud of the RCare Innovative team for honing and releasing the latest in Nurse Call technology, the G4 Advanced Locating Protocol. This new, ground-breaking technology is ultimately what secured us the award.”

Since 2006, RCare has been devoted to improving the lives of elders around the world. Beginning in the Rochester, New York area, RCare continues to flourish and now serves facilities throughout the United States, Canada and most recently into Europe.

The honorees in all categories will be featured in the Health Care supplement in the Rochester Business Journal.

For more information on RCare, please visit www.rcareinc.com or email info@rcareinc.com

RCare’s Kowal to Serve on Argentum Board

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March 7, 2016 Rochester, NY – – RCare, Inc. is honored to announce that CEO Myron Kowal has been chosen to serve on the prestigious Executive Advisory Board of Argentum.

Previously known as the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA), Argentum is the largest national association dedicated to professionally managed, resident-centered, senior living communities and the seniors and families they serve.  Kowal’s RCare has been leading the nurse call and monitoring industry since 2006, making them a valuable asset to this executive advisory board.

Myron Kowal has a long list of accolades and leadership roles under his belt including providing services for Habitat for Humanity and the Greater Rochester Area Partnership for the Elderly (GRAPE). He is also a recent recipient of the Rochester Business Journal 2016 Health Care Achievement Award for Innovation.

“Technology is changing the way care is delivered, while enhancing the professional caregiving experience,” said Kowal. “I am honored to help advance Argentum’s mission to improve the lives of seniors and those who care for them, as technology continues to play even more of a critical role.”

Motivated by a passion for the senior community and caregivers, RCare is a fixture at industry events such as the Consumer Electronics Show, the American Health Care Association, PEAK, LTC/CXO, Environments for Aging (EFA), Eden Alternative, Argentum, and LeadingAge. They will have a large presence in booth #408 and be sponsoring ancillary events at the upcoming Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference in May. The Argentum event will take place May 10th from 10:00am-1:30pm and May 11th from 10:15am-1:15pm in Denver, Colorado.

About RCare:RCare with shadow

RCare is a provider of UL 1069 tested wireless nurse call and personal emergency response systems for the entire spectrum of eldercare and senior living. RCare components integrate into a variety of healthcare communication systems to create efficient and verifiable responses to medical emergencies. RCare works together with distribution partners to build individualized, flexible and seamless systems to enhance professional caregiving teams and their residents.

 

About Argentum:Argentum_Logo

Argentum is the largest national association dedicated to professionally managed, resident-centered senior living communities and the seniors and families they serve. Since 1990, Argentum has advocated for choice, accessibility, independence, dignity and quality of life for all seniors.