On July 31, provincial and local politicians, seniors advocates, and health-care professionals gathered at Saanich's Veterans Memorial Lodge at Broadmead to announce a new virtual service that aims to provide seniors with some of the support of a long-term care facility in their own home.
The Long-Term Care at Home program, spearheaded by the B.C. Government, provides seniors with technology that would monitor seniors in their homes for fall detection, activity levels, medication adherence, wandering and vitals, similar to long-term care residence monitoring.
Glenn Maxwell, one of the first to participate in the program, said he was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss 35 years ago and it has since become tough to navigate. His equilibrium issues that stemmed from his hearing loss morphed into "outrage and fear."
"I didn't want to go out or I didn't want to take a chance when doing stuff. I was afraid I would fall down, and I have. It's not a lot of fun to lie there on the floor," said Maxwell. "The fact that they now brought in this new system that is, as I understand, radar-based, and it gives an infrared image of me, and it learns my behaviour, learns where I normally would sit, how long I would sit, so if I disappear from one of these viewers, it knows something has happened, and either I will tell it to make a call, or it will call someone to come and help, and that has removed fear."
A variety of devices may be used for equipping a senior’s home. These include a tablet for connecting to family and friends or participating in virtual programs, a wearable pendant or wall-mounted device for fall detection, two-way emergency calls, and sensors installed throughout the home.
"It is my view, that we have an obligation to make things better, and I think better for seniors in long-term care. To improve not just the safety of long-term care, but the quality of life in long-term care and the quality of life in community care," said Adrian Dix, minister of health.
The project is being piloted at KinVillage in Delta, where 11 seniors are enrolled, and Broadmead Care Society, where 15 seniors are enrolled. The province aims to support more than 2,700 seniors and their caregivers over the next four years and expand to other communities around B.C. over the next 18 months.
The program is funded through the Canada-British Columbia Aging with Dignity agreement, which provides up to $47 million over four years.
