Older Americans Month: Meet Our Residents!

Older Americans Month

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Celebrating Older Americans Month by celebrating the lives and stories of a few of our community partner residents!

May 19, 2021

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In tough times, communities find strength in people—and people find strength in their communities. In the past year, we’ve seen this time and again in communities across the country as residents and staff have found new ways to support each other.

In senior living communities, older adults are a key source of this strength. Through their experiences, successes, and difficulties, they have built resilience that helps them to face new challenges. When communities tap into this, they become stronger too.

Each May, the Administration for Community Living leads the celebration of Older Americans Month (OAM). This year’s theme is Communities of Strength, recognizing the important role older adults play in fostering the connection and engagement that build strong, resilient communities.  

When people of different ages, backgrounds, abilities, and talents share experiences—through action, story, or service—we help build strong communities. And that’s something to celebrate!  Together, we can find strength—and create a stronger future.

This year, one way K4Connect will celebrate Older Americans Month is by highlighting some of our amazing community members (residents). 

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Meet Don Homer

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What was your first job?

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Delivering prescriptions on my bicycle at 14 years old. My first career job was as an electrical engineer with GE.

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What are your top 3 movies of all time?

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Gone With the Wind, Star Wars and The Godfather

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If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

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Italian food

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What world event(s) had the most impact on you?

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Vietnam

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What are you most proud of? 

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My career and family.

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What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?

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When you think you have problems, look over your shoulder, someone you see will have real problems.

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What would you tell your 20 year old self?

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Pick a goal and get started.

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What do you think the best age to be is? Why?

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30 – 40. You are no longer teenage impulsive; you’re working, healthy and settled with a family, and still invincible.

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Meet Deanna Hill

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What was your first job?

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My first job was at age 14 working at J B Ivey’s, a retail department store in Charlotte NC, making 50 cents an hour.  They were not open on Sundays and even closed the display windows so that people could not window shop on Sundays.  I worked in the boys’ clothing department and in greeting cards and gift wrap.

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What are your top 3 movies of all time?

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‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’, which I have seen 8 times including once here at the Cardinal, is my all-time favorite.  I’ve also read the book and been to Savanah to visit the actual locations shown in the movie.  Watching so many times was somewhat like shopping in a wonderful gift shop where you can’t see everything in just a few trips.  I also like ‘Pretty Woman’ and any movie Kevin Spacey is in.

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If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

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Well, it would be hard to do without my favorites: strawberry shortcake, anything lemon, Jiff Extra Crunchy peanut butter, and Kettle popcorn.  But being a vegetarian and wanting to feel good as long as possible, I suppose it would be a toss-up between Thai food or a salad with lots of fruit, veggies, onion, and beans or eggs for protein.

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What world event(s) had the most impact on you?

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Like most people near my age, I remember exactly where I was when J F Kennedy was shot.  Then his brother Robert and Martin Luther King along with the civil rights movement.  We have come such a long way from those days but have much further to go.  

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What are you most proud of? 

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My response will be in addition to my children and grandchildren, of course. As a volunteer in 1981 I helped organize a team of wonderful people to build a swim and racquet club and served as its first president.  That club brought families from several neighborhoods together for such fun, for the competition and good sport of swim meets, and for pool parties, laughter, and special celebrations.  I still love to ride by or visit and see children and young people enjoying time there.

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What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?

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Don’t double trouble by wasting time or energy worrying.  Don’t make decisions out of fear.  Even in difficult times look for all the things to be grateful for, trust God, expect the best but be prepared for the worst, practice patience and kindness, show compassion.

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What would you tell your 20 year old self?

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Learn the skill of being assertive instead of aggressive. Many want to be attractive or smart but the most important thing to be is kind. Don’t be so rigid and intent on doing things right; find the joy and have fun.  Be grateful in all things even through pain and heartbreak. Try always to be true to your values; forgive yourself when you fail and do better the next time. Remember you will be ‘less young’ one day yourself.

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What do you think the best age to be is? Why?

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For me at age 48, having reared my children and learned to enjoy being ‘single again’, I experienced a freedom I had never felt before, not even in childhood.  I was in good health mentally and physically.  This was also a time of reinventing myself once again and starting another career that challenged me and helped others.  

If we ignore the health issues, life as a senior citizen is full of good memories, hopefully some wisdom gained throughout life, and others who are on the journey to the same destination we are and who support one another on that journey.  Opportunities abound to do the things one loves to do.

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Meet Alec Jablonover

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What was your first job?

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 My first job was with IBM Corporation in engineering development.

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What are your top 3 movies of all time?

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My top 3 movies of all time : West Side Story; The Longest Day; My Fair Lady.

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If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

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If I could only eat one thing it would be dark chocolate.

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What world event(s) had the most impact on you?

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The Birth of the State of Israel had most impact on my life because it opened the door for my family to escape the Romanian and soviet life and emigrate to Israel.

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What are you most proud of? 

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My biggest accomplishments are the development of my family and my professional accomplishments in management and use of languages.

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What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?

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Maintaining social network, continued learning and finding ways to help others.

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What would you tell your 20 year old self?

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Learn all the time from school, friends, family and develop sources of pride in yourself.

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What do you think the best age to be is? Why?

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I believe the thirties because by then one has a pretty clear career path and a family may be developing to achieve a happy life.

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Meet Jim Cochrane

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What was your first job?

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Setting telephone poles in hot summer.

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What are your top 3 movies of all time?

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My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins and The Magnificent 7

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If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

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Ciopinno

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What world event(s) had the most impact on you?

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The fall of the Berlin Wall

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What are you most proud of? 

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Raising two super children

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What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?

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Never give up (Winston Churchill)

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What would you tell your 20 year old self?

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Take more risks

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What do you think the best age to be is? Why?

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Today’s age – tomorrow’s age will be better!

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We hope you enjoyed learning a bit about some of these fantastic residents. For more resources, visit the official OAM website, follow ACL on Twitter and Facebook, and join the conversation via #OlderAmericansMonth.

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5 Things To Consider When Reopening Your Senior Living Community

Utilize the technology you have at your fingertips to help resume vibrant resident life in your community.”

By: Diana Gore | Product Marketing Manager, K4Connect

April 14, 2021

Spring is here! As flowers emerge and trees bud, we see the beginnings of a fresh start all around us. And thankfully, senior living communities are also seeing the opportunity for new beginnings as our society transitions back to a sense of normalcy post-COVID. There have been, without a doubt, many learnings over the past 12 months and some key takeaways.  As you look to reopen your communities here are five things to keep in mind: 

  1. Keep communication high with your residents. There are still changes happening in your community as you roll out new processes and provide ongoing guidance as various restrictions are lifted. Your residents all absorb information differently so be sure to find multiple ways to provide updates. For the most important updates, remember the “Rule of 7” — communicate the information multiple times and across various platforms to ensure the message is heard and remembered. Our community partners are leveraging K4Community Digital Signage and Direct Broadcast (in-house TV Channel) to quickly and easily share written or video updates. Community staff are also creating posts in our staff tool, Team Hub, to share information via K4Community Plus (resident app) and through Alexa. 


  2. Continue to ensure your resident’s loved ones and community visitors stay informed. Share updates with friends & family through the K4Community Plus app. If you still have community visitor limits in place, give them opportunities to sign-up for a spot to visit their loved one through simple tools like Google Forms or JotForm.

  3. Give your residents a voice. Before you simply shift back to some of the old ways of doing things in your community, find out from residents if there are things you started during the pandemic that they would like to see stick around. Create an online survey and share the survey link with residents in the K4Community Plus App.
    Ask questions like: 
    • Do they want to continue to have meal delivery as an option and what would they be willing to pay for it?
    • What new events introduced during quarantine did they enjoy most?
    • Did you roll out new content and programs through a third party provider such as Spiro100, CuriosityStream or Coro Health?  If so, what programs do your residents want to continue to be able to access? 

  4. Remember all residents may not feel safe being out and about the community or being in group settings quite yet.  Ensure they have opportunities to be engaged in community events and happenings, as well. Use Direct Broadcast to live stream community meetings and various activities. Continue to create virtual events that residents can attend and participate in by simply clicking a link in the K4Community Plus app. Many of our community partners have found great success in creating virtual clubs that residents attend via Zoom. Using YouTube streaming for community meetings, religious services, concerts and fitness programs is another popular way to provide engagement opportunities to all residents, especially those that prefer to remain socially-distant as your community reopens.



    Limiting the number of residents for certain events and requesting residents sign-up to attend can create an environment where residents feel safer. Encourage residents to use the K4Community Plus app to sign-up for events in an effort to save staff the time required to manage paper sign-ups. 

  5. As you work to maintain and increase your occupancy, know that the technology you have deployed in your community and the many benefits it offers differentiates you from other senior living providers, and what is often your biggest competitor: a senior’s current home. Be intentional in finding ways to highlight how technology — such as K4Community Smart Home, a resident app, Alexa and Direct Broadcast — enhance your residents’ lives. Create a demo apartment to compliment prospective resident tours that showcases the innovative things that are part of your community’s different and better story.  And don’t forget that many of your leads originate from the internet so be sure that your website and social media platforms highlight the use of technology in your community as well.

Learn more about how K4Community can partner with you as your senior living community reopens.

The Senior Living Shift is About Transformation, Not Just Technology

“If we rethink our approach to how both community staff and residents engage with one another, then 2021  can be a truly transformative year.” 

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors & Jack York | Co-Founder, iN2L

April 6, 2021

In 2020, we knew change was coming, it is always coming. But as it was happening it seemed to be ushering in so much faster.  Not just because of COVID, but also the acceleration of technology, the increasing volumes of those reaching age 65, along with the growing diversity of expectations, interests and goals of this new generation of the senior living resident.

Most of the narrative surrounding technology through COVID centered around staff.  How did they implement it? How did they juggle their time and their residents through so much tragedy?  These are all valid conversations, but it’s also critical to include the resident voice in the discussion. They are, of course, why we’re all here. Our experience has been that throughout the last decade there has been an undeniable uptick in residents’ personal technology use, many bringing their own devices and experience into a community.  

Yet there were still many older adults, particularly some dealing with cognitive decline, that were resistant to the use of technology. COVID turned everything upside down and when technology became the only way for any meaningful interaction with their grandkids, the naysayers quickly changed their view on the value of learning something new. An absolute silver lining to the pandemic.

Looking back a decade from now, 2020 will be remembered for many things, but let’s look past the ups and downs of COVID and focus on how we take our new tools, abilities, and attitudes, and assemble them into a new roadmap for daily life and engagement in senior living.  

“If we rethink  our approach to how both community staff and residents engage with one another, then 2021  can be a truly transformative year.” – Cindy Phillips

Late last year, we co-authored an eBook titled, “Success in Senior Living’s New Frontier Strategies to Optimize Activities and Engagement.” In it, we offered some predictions of how resident engagement would look in 2025, and how the role of a lifestyle/life enrichment professional should change along with it. What we were really describing was transformation.  

Reinforced by several industry thought leaders in a recent blog, they are “not fans of senior living as it looks today.” We’re all talking about more than a slight improvement or new piece of technology; instead a fundamental significant change in mindset and approach.

Transformation, as defined by William Bridges, is different from change as it speaks to the emotional experiences and changes that occur in parallel and far beyond the physical ones. For example: getting married happens in one day (change), but learning to be married, accepting your new role as a spouse, joining a new family, giving up some of your independence – that is a much longer transformation.

Helping us further understand, Bridges explains transformation in three phases: 

Phase One: Endings – about letting go, grieving of something old, seeing it go away, and often it generates sadness, anxiety, and even anger. 

Phase Two: The Middle – the in between space where you are feeling disoriented, chaotic, uncertain and often off-balance. We tend to see people looking back to the old way, wishing for it to be the same again. This is actually the turning point for transformation and while messy, it is the foundation for discovering the future. 

Phase Three: The New Beginning – moving forward with the new way, the new mindset, or the new approach to something. This can be exciting but also scary, and can take months to fully go through it and feel grounded again.

A graphic showing the three stages of transformation by Wiilliam Bridges

“Once you learn something (no matter how old  you are), and you benefit from it you don’t go back. It becomes part of your reality.”  – Jack York

This is where we are right now. At the beginning of an exciting – and true – industry-wide transformation. And why not start with resident engagement – we believe the majority of community residents and staff are ready. 

We explore this topic of transformation further in part two – read it here!

How to Create a Resident-Centric Experience

Simple ways to use technology to deliver a personalized resident experience at your senior living community.” 

By: Diana Gore | Product Marketing Manager, K4Connect

March 19, 2021

According to industry leaders, the best community is the one that is designed and committed to enhancing the lives of seniors. Thriving senior living communities are passionate about the resident experience and uncompromising when it comes to putting resident needs and desires first. The past year has required staff to re-imagine how to keep residents engaged, informed and connected to their community, as well as family and friends living outside of the community. At the same time, maximizing staff efficiency became critical as additional challenges of staffing shortages and increased responsibilities became a reality. As life slowly moves towards our new normal and residents are able to safely be out and about in the community many of the things that were implemented due to pandemic life are here to stay. And that’s a good thing!

Here are three essentials for being a community who keeps the resident at the center of all that you do:

KEEPING RESIDENTS ENGAGED

Enabling residents to stay engaged in things they enjoy keeps them happy and can even lower their risk for some health problems.

  • Virtual events: From hosting a book club via Zoom or Google Meet, to sharing tours of national parks and zoos there are endless opportunities to captivate your residents.
  • Live streaming events like cooking demos, music series’, education lectures, exercise classes and community meetings is another simple way to engage residents.
  • Videos: There are several well-established content providers that offer excellent video content for residents to enjoy. CuriosityStream brings award-winning documentary streaming and on-demand entertainment with over 3,000 features and series covering topics from space exploration and adventure to nature and lifestyle. Spiro100 provides the industry’s largest library of exercise and wellness video streaming programs. Residents will enjoy courses that focus on mind, body and spirit activities and that are safe, appropriate and outcome-based. 
  • Virtual games: AARP features a collection of senior online games such as chess, puzzle games, brain games, word games, card games. Many other great options to explore as well!
Virtual events accessible to your residents via K4Community Plus.

KEEPING RESIDENTS INFORMED

Knowledge can be one of your residents’ greatest interests and with the help of a technology partner, you harness the power to deliver information in a simple and timely manner. 

  • Announcements and Updates: 
    • Video Messages: Executive Director’s weekly fireside chats and other important information can be easily shared and in a format that is simple for all residents to access any time, from anywhere. 
    • K4Community Plus offers a first of its kind Community Social Feed that keeps residents constantly updated on the latest community news in the style of today’s most popular social media platform feeds like Facebook.
  • Dining Updates: Whether it’s a question about what is for dinner tonight or this week’s specials, residents want to know what’s on the menu. In fact, menus are the second most frequently visited feature by residents using our K4Community Plus App.  
  • Self service updates for dining balances and maintenance/service requests.

“I really didn’t think I’d like it, but I’ve actually come to depend on it. I check it at least once a day and when our plumbing went out I went right onto the Services and submitted a request. It was really fast and efficient….” – Resident, Masonic Villages Elizabethtown 

 

KEEPING RESIDENTS CONNECTED

The ability to connect and communicate with friends and family helps residents maintain relationships and develop new friendships

  • Video Chats: Regardless of if residents are utilizing the video chat functionality in K4Community Plus or a platform like FaceTime, video chat usage saw a significant increase over the past 12 months. We saw this with our resident users – a nearly 55% increase in K4Community Plus video chat usage between Oct 2020 and January 2021. 
  • Messaging/Chat:

“I just wanted to let you know that myself, my mom, and [my partner] really appreciate using K4Community. There have been times before COVID where we would be in another country and use it to send messages…to her. It has been a great lifeline between us and it is great for staying in touch…We have found it to be a really valuable resource.” – Family member, Eskaton Monroe Lodge

  • Photo Sharing: There are many creative ways to help residents and the important people in their lives share photos with one another. It is true that often a picture is worth a thousand words!
A mobile and desktop view of the k4community communications hub.
Messaging made easy via K4Community Plus chat feature.



Your community is vibrant and the resident’s experience is at the heart of all you do. Learn more about how K4Community and our K4Community Plus app and web experience can help keep your residents engaged, informed and connected.

Quarterly Product Update: 5 Benefits of the Latest Updates to K4Community

Commitment to innovation and continual improvement are key when it comes to your senior living community’s technology partner.”

By: Diana Gore | Product Marketing Manager, K4Connect

February 16, 2021

At K4Connect we are relentless when it comes to constant innovation. Every quarter we’re delivering exciting new technologies and features to senior living communities through our K4Community solution. 

This quarter, our team focused on improvements to features that benefit residents, their family members and community staff in the areas of:

  • Expanding communication tools
  • Increased accessibility of voice features via Amazon Alexa 
  • Smart home alerting to improve efficiency

Here are five ways your senior living community will benefit from our latest updates:

1. Increased communication for residents with each other and family/friends who live outside of the community with the introduction of the brand NEW Communications Hub. It’s easier than ever for residents to share photos, URLs, and audio files in a secure messaging interface that mirrors standard text messaging. We’ve even included message reactions and emoji support!

2. Voice interactions (via Alexa) are now more conversational, further reducing the learning curve for residents. Residents can simply ask questions the way they would naturally speak, like, “What is for dinner tonight?”, “What are today’s specials?” or “What is for breakfast tomorrow?”

3. Many residents are using voice devices like Alexa at home and want that same experience in their living community. Now, in addition to our enterprise voice offering, residents with  personal devices – whether an Echo Dot, Echo or other Alexa-enabled device – can now access all that K4Community has to offer with our public skill.

  • Residents have the ability to install the K4Community Alexa Skill from the Alexa app
  • Residents can access all of your community’s content from their personal Alexa device
  • Residents can control their K4Community Smart Home devices from their personal Alexa device

4. The debut of in-app guides improves the K4Connect team’s ability to inform, communicate and educate residents on important product updates available to them, as well as seamlessly request feedback in the K4Community Plus web and mobile apps. We love hearing from our Members (our term for residents) and value their feedback to continuously improve K4Community!

5. High/Low temperature alerts embedded in the staff Team Hub increases the benefit of smart home-enabled apartments. This new feature helps communities save money, improve energy efficiency, recognize possible HVAC malfunctions, meet regulatory guidelines (where applicable) and increase resident comfort. Generated alerts are immediately sent to designated staff members’ mobile phones via SMS. This enables staff to assist residents quickly and ensures timely resolution of the alert.
Check out Winter 2021 Release to get more information about all of this quarters updates. Ready to learn more about K4Community? Book a demo today!  

The Key to Thriving Residents? Easy Access to Engaging Content

“Do your residents enjoy documentaries? How about faith-based music and meditation? Or maybe they want to watch exercise videos on demand.” 

By: Diana Gore | Product Marketing Manager, K4Connect

February 4, 2021

Now more than ever, senior living communities are utilizing technology to minimize social isolation and enhance their resident’s lives. At K4Connect, our belief is that technology is only meaningful when it improves the quality of everyday life—we like to say, making life Simpler, Healthier and Happier. 

Employing technology created for seniors provides a myriad of opportunities for communities to deliver engaging content and programming directly to residents in their homes. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

GIVE YOUR RESIDENTS OPTIONS

Dynamic content options allow you to better connect, entertain and inspire your residents through a variety of interests. Check out these highly recommended content creators, all available to K4Connect communities and residents.

  • CuriosityStream brings award-winning documentary streaming and on-demand entertainment with over 3,000 features and series covering topics from space exploration and adventure to nature and lifestyle. Residents can explore their passions and find new ones like diving into aviation, revisiting medieval history or traveling somewhere new around the globe. 
  • Spiro100 provides the industry’s largest library of exercise and wellness video streaming programs. Residents will enjoy courses that focus on mind, body and spirit activities and that are safe, appropriate and outcome-based.
  • Coro Health (MusicFirst™ and CoroFaith™) is the leading provider of therapeutic music and spiritual support within the healthcare industry. Their solutions are clinically proven to improve mood, reduce agitation and depression. MusicFirst™ is a therapeutic audio platform with more than 1,500 music programs and CoroFaith™ has the largest database of spiritual, religious, and wellness content in the industry.

 

Spiro100, Coro Health and CuriosityStream content view on K4Community Plus mobile app

MAKE IT EASY

Providing residents with easy ways to access content ensures you’re reaching residents where they are, whether at home or out and about in the community.

  • Make holistic wellness options available to all of your residents whether they desire to attend live classes or participate from the comfort of their homes.
  • Worried about your residents not being tech-savvy? It turns out that technology use is increasing among the Silent Generation, or adults aged 74 to 91. In fact, roughly one-third of adults in this age group now own smartphones or computers and are frequent social media users! 
  • Residents can access endless content anytime, anywhere from the mobile and web applications that are available through K4Connect’s K4Community Plus solution. It’s easy for staff to share and even easier for residents to experience.

Technology has the ability to truly transform senior living in a positive way. Digital tools will save staff time and become essential as communities work to evolve their wellness models and battle social isolation during the ongoing pandemic and beyond.

Learn more about how K4Community and our content partnerships can increase staff efficiency and keep your residents thriving!

Best Practice: Making K4Community Hotline part of a Larger Communication Strategy

A multi-channel communication strategy is nothing new, but in the chaos of COVID-19, it was easy to get scattered and start communicating in a very disconnected way.

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors

June 2, 2020

The K4Community Hotline is just what it sounds like – a recorded message line that keeps callers informed on the latest information in a community. The Hotline accomplishes two things that are critically important right now:

  • Informs residents, families, and staff about the latest COVID-19 information (for skilled nursing, that is now a C.M.S. regulatory requirement and may be for AL/MC); and
  • Offsets the time caregivers are spending fielding those repetitive calls (see previous article for examples of how to use Hotline for communication beyond COVID-19).

While the Hotline has been a simple and easy solution to implement during this unplanned COVID situation, communities now have time to ensure it fits into their overall, multi-channel communication strategy (see figure below).

A multi-channel communication strategy is nothing new, but in the chaos of COVID-19, it was easy to get scattered and start communicating in a very disconnected way.

Here are three steps to ensure your K4Community Hotline is part of a more integrated strategy:

  1. It is essential to identify the key stakeholders you plan to reach and second, what are the best ways to reach them. Most of our communities set up two Hotline lines, one for internal audiences (residents and staff), and another, external Hotline for families, prospects, volunteers, etc. You can of course pull out any one of the audiences – for example, prospects, and customize the message specifically for them.

    What I specifically like about the internal Hotline, along with digital signage or your TV insertion channel, is that it provides an easy way to reach low-tech residents, so that you can limit the amount of paper you have to send out.  Another approach to simplifying access to a Hotline is deploying Amazon Alexa devices (via our K4Community Voice platform), allowing for residents to utter a simple voice command to listen to an updated Hotline message.

  2. Content is the driving force in communication. In crisis, it must be created or assembled in a single place. Messaging must be tailored to the various stakeholder groups, and then distributed to each channel in a timely and consistent manner. But if the Hotline is not part of your overall communication strategy, or if you try to cover too many groups with a single message, you are likely to miss the mark. See our best practices video for recording an effective Hotline message.

  3. Frequency is the final component. Communication (especially during times of fear and uncertainty) is most effective when it is predictable and at a regular cadence. If you are trying to reduce unproductive calls to staff, you must build a habit for your audience to check in regularly, knowing it will have new information on a specific day or time.

    Making this Hotline part of the audience’s daily or weekly routine will increase usage. Not surprisingly, a review of our active Hotlines revealed the highest number of calls (per living unit) came from those updating it daily, or on a specific day of the week.

Additionally, publishing the Hotline number initially and including it as a reminder in subsequent communication, or alerting the community in a K4App notification are both best practices to increase effectiveness.

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. Having one is the first step but integrating it into your overall communication strategy is equally important.

What is Digital Transformation?

At K4Connect, our belief is senior living has reached a crossroad with technology and innovation. Let’s be honest, this industry has not always rushed to embrace technology or change.

By: Cindy Phillips | Managing Partner, K4Advisors

February 21, 2020

Last week, I announced K4Advisors and our mission to partner and help senior living operators leverage as much as they can from each step along the journey of digital transformation – we know it’s not an easy endeavor. 

Late last year, F. Scott Moody, our CEO, Co-Founder and Chief Member Advocate, said “Innovation by nature is a journey with no destination — it’s constantly evolving.”

In this article, I will define that journey looks like from my perspective, how technology will both enhance and disrupt the longevity economy, and how the steps align with the practice areas of K4Advisors as we get started.

Digital transformation is not a new term, it has been floating around for at least 20 years, albeit with different meanings. This is one of the better definitions I’ve seen lately, courtesy of the Enterprisers Project, “digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.”  

I like this one as it encompasses K4Advisor’s philosophy that technology alone will not make us better, it is how we introduce it, how we implement it, and how we use it to improve our business processes that will determine our return on innovation and investment.  

At K4Connect, our belief is senior living has reached a crossroad with technology and innovation. Let’s be honest, this industry has not always rushed to embrace technology or change.  Moving to Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems is probably the best example, “Organizations are slow to change,” says Tom McDermott, vice president at Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Yardi. “Most people would rather get a root canal than change software.” 

But with the national trends showing higher expectations from residents, ongoing caregiver shortages, declining margins, and an increasingly competitive marketplace, community operators must turn toward technology for a part of the solution. In fact, it may even be a lever for new revenue streams as more services are aimed at those wanting to stay home and age in place a little longer.

The good news – digital transformation is not a one-size-fits-all journey. The bad news – it can be complex and overwhelming at times. While many communities have already begun, some have stalled, and others are still planning how to get started. K4Advisors can help. At K4Connect, we made that less daunting by the creation of our own roadmap to help assess and capture whatever phase you may be in. We are working with many client communities at each of the early steps of our model and have been successful in helping to sustain their journey. We know not every community has the time, knowledge or resources to figure it out alone. 

K4Advisors was started to fill that gap. The above model has been a great tool to plan next steps and to guide the strategy to achieve them. It is now the foundation for our practice areas:

  • Infrastructure Planning
    • Building your Technology Plan
    • WiFi Networks, VoIP or other Bundled Services
    • Integration of other Systems (work order, point-of-sale)
  • Communication and Engagement Strategies
    • Engagement from Prospect to Resident 
    • Integrating Voice, Digital Signage & K4App Functionality   
    • Creating a “Virtual Front Desk”
    • Extending to other Communities or Levels of Care
  • Leveraging Smart Home/Smart Living
    • Risk Management/Resident Morning Check-in
    • Energy Savings and Building Analytics
  • Data Analytics and Decision-Making
    • Building a Custom Dashboard
    • Advanced Analytics

No matter where you find your community along this continuum, rest assured becoming a Smart Senior Living Community is meant to be aspirational. Reaching that ultimate state of digital maturity is when an organization uses technology to support and re-invent its core business processes and is agile in adopting new features and functionality as they emerge. It may take 5-10 years to get there, and K4Advisors brings the experience to see that you do. 

Look for a future article with examples of what it might look and feel like in a senior living community that is “transformed.” As always, you can reach me at Cindy.Phillips@K4Advisors.com, or (910)477-1556.  Keep doing good work!