Case Study

ELIM operates two Christian retirement communities, Elim Village Fleetwood (Surrey) and Elim Village Garrison Crossing (Chilliwack). ELIM brings the best in housing, wellness, and care together to deliver an exceptional aging in place experience for older adults. ELIM’s Chief Operating Officer is Sheldon Loeppky, who was involved in the retrofit at the Fleetwood location and new installs at the Garrison Crossing location.

Retrofit

The Emerald, a supported and assisted living building located at Elim Village Fleetwood, opened in 2005. In 2019, Scout was invited to retrofit the building’s aging technology infrastructure. At the time, The Emerald was close to 15 years old and was still dependent on the building’s original nurse call system. A complete overhaul of the building with the latest in modern care technology would have been cost prohibitive. However, as Sheldon notes, Scout was able to save the existing infrastructure through integrating it with ELIM’s newest digital technology installed in its newest buildings.

“Scout was able to bring live monitoring data from the old system to ELIM’s care station, mobile phones, and escalation process. This data is now displayed on care staff and management dashboards and can be tracked for reporting purposes. And the reports are customizable, as the system tracks a myriad of variables.”

Sheldon also says that ELIM is no longer limited to nurse call and related sensor monitoring support being offered only in its care buildings. On the same campus, residents in independent living buildings can also receive this level of support, with live monitoring data feeding back to care stations and care staff located anywhere on site. “ELIM can now provide care in a responsive and timely manner to anyone,” says Sheldon. “Even if an unexpected care need arises, we can have support set up and ready within minutes for a resident.”

New Installs

Another benefit of the miAlert nurse call system is that the technology is completely scalable and multiple units can be brought online at the same time. This benefit was realized in the brand-new installs performed at Elim Village Garrison Crossing in The Hawthorn, a new independent plus building, and The Maple, a new independent living building.

“The new installs have given us the opportunity to offer home care with nurse call support to all Garrison Crossing residents, bringing live monitoring data from anywhere within our community to ELIM’s new home care office in The Hawthorn.”  Like ELIM’s Fleetwood campus, the miAlert nurse call system knits together ELIM’s Garrison Crossing retirement village, ensuring the very best care support is available to any resident, regardless of the housing type they reside in.

Selection of the Right Tech Partner

The decision to go with Scout Senior Care was made after careful research and consideration of other companies in the care technology market. There are many providers, but for Sheldon it has come down to who could give ELIM the best solution and who could provide ELIM the best support level. Another factor was planning for and safeguarding the future. “ELIM needs highly integrated, adaptable and scalable systems,” comments Sheldon. “We don’t want to have to worry about replacing all of our technology every three to five years.”

Ensuring minimal disruption for residents and the care teams is also critical. Nurse call systems are based on the principle of 24/7 access, monitoring and response.  Limited downtime is required. “Scout is keenly aware of this need and does a great job accommodating staff and residents alike”, Sheldon says. “If necessary, Scout is willing to do their work late at night or early in the morning, not during a shift change or over a peak time when others cannot easily accommodate an interruption.”

Scout has proven to be flexible and adaptable when it comes to working alongside Elim Village as they’ve continued to grow and need more sophisticated technological solutions. “Scout has become part of our team,” says Sheldon. “We really depend on them. Another strength is their work ticket system with quick turnaround times and helpful assistance. Over the years a lot of trust has been established.”