How Tech Upgrades Have Helped Us Navigate Isolation

Online meetings, new social media dance moves, and dinner over the phone – we’ve all had a surge in screen time to help us cope with new circumstances.  For the residents and staff at St. Joseph Home, this surge in tech has never been more important.

Investing in new technology has increased our flexibility in how we work and care for residents while minimizing risk.  New to our technology suite is a telehealth cart. The mobile cart is equipped with both an iPad on an extended flex arm and a laptop.

“One of the most significant changes has been to our clinic and doctor’s appointments,” said Theresa Brockert, Vice President of ICF Services.  Through Microsoft Teams, families can be a part of specialized medical e-visits while nursing staff and therapists assist the video-conferenced doctors with physical checks.  “Regular check-ups and visits to specialists would introduce a risk that we don’t have to take now,” continued Brockert.

Non-care staff have limits on their time in the cottages to reduce person-to-person exposure. To help bridge the gap, each of our three cottage-based teams now have equipment and software to maintain our collaborative approach to care.  Staff also use the tech to take and send better quality photos and videos to families daily. Adapters to cottage TVs and mounts for wheelchairs are also on the list of investments made to ease the burden of disconnection between families and residents. Advancement, HR and Finance staff have been working from home or at a remote location on staggered schedules since March to minimize contact with our main campus care staff – necessitating the purchase of laptops and VPNs.

Your donations made it so that we could respond quickly, stay in operation, and adapt all aspects of our work without cutting connections or slowing care.  Thank you for making the best support possible for those we serve and our staff.