ECHO Community Services and InteliCare used smart home technology to transform in-home care

The key to helping seniors stay healthy, active and independent in their own homes lies in proactive, preventative customised care. But how can care providers provide this level of always-on, ever-evolving in-home care?

Carers can’t be there 24/7 to look out for their clients and monitor their changing care needs. Equally, their clients are reluctant to use traditional monitoring and risk reduction technologies such as emergency pendants, want to protect their privacy.

This is the challenge ECHO Community Services overcame in partnership with InteliCare using the InteliLiving smart home system, designed to help seniors enjoy greater independence and peace of mind without compromising their privacy.

Finding a solution that’s good enough for Mum

ECHO prides itself on providing quality in-home care based on a ‘MY MUM’ approach – if it’s not good enough for ‘my mum’ (or dad), then it’s not good enough for yours.

To give clients and their families this high standard of care and greater peace of mind, ECHO needed a better way to monitor the wellbeing of their clients.

They were looking for an innovative solution that needs little or no client involvement. Few of ECHO’s clients consider themselves tech-savvy, while many already have emergency pendants that they don’t wear or use.

And crucially, ECHO wanted a solution that provides advanced analytics to help identify health risks and alert them to falls, but that’s also camera-free. Their clients wouldn’t accept an invasion of their privacy.

Rolling out an innovative pilot program

After extensive consultation, InteliCare ran a pilot program, installing InteliLiving into the homes of 70 of ECHO’s clients.

The system can be installed quickly and turns any home into a smart home. It uses discreet sensors to learn how each client likes to live their life, and identifies worrying changes in behaviour that may indicate an emerging health issue or fall.

From everyday activity levels to quality of sleep and health metrics, if InteliLiving detects a worrying change, it notifies care providers, as well as the client’s family members through the InteliLiving app.

Moreover, when paired with InteliCare’s Pro Dashboard for care providers, InteliLiving provides 24/7 data and insights into clients’ physical and emotional health. This deep client intelligence enables care teams to continually reassess and reset care plans, customising and escalating support for each client based on real-world evidence and protecting their health and quality of life.

Making a life-changing difference

The pilot proved to be a huge success, especially during the coronavirus pandemic when ECHO supplied InteliLiving to seniors who were isolated from their families. InteliLiving connected these families and provided peace of mind at a time when face-to-face contact wasn’t possible.

InteliLiving has detected health risks for ECHO’s clients and alerted carers to a number of falls. It has enabled ECHO’s care teams to modify clients’ care plans to address emerging health and falls risks. And where falls have occurred, response times have been minimised.

Ultimately, ECHO has been able to reduce the risk and incidence of hospitalisation and actively help clients stay independent and out of residential aged care. InteliLiving and Pro Dashboard have also assisted the ECHO team in streamlining care delivery, improving productivity, creating complete audit trails and meeting their compliance obligations.

For more information please visit www.intelicare.com.au