The Elmcroft Family Portal, created by Elmcroft Senior Living and honored as a Best of the Best Program to Watch, is a revolutionary online tool that facilitates communication between senior living communities and residents’ families.
Of all the ways that senior care providers have been experimenting with interactive online tools to reach families, here’s one that holds particular promise.
The Elmcroft Family Portal, powered by Silverchair Learning Systems, provides family members with secure and private online access to education, information, and communication. Family members can view more than 70 introductory mini-courses by a geriatrician on topics such as long-distance caregiving or various specific diagnoses. They can access the community’s calendar, news, and menus. They can leave notes for each other, interact with staff, and keep track of correspondence with the community on any concerns they might have. They also can use the portal to respond to surveys.
“It’s a great way to get the communication going,” says Gerald Jackson, director of program and staff development. “It has become an awesome vehicle for increasing the communication flow back and forth between the community and families.” Once a member of a resident’s family has joined the Elmcroft Family Portal, the rest of the family tends to quickly follow.
Elmcroft Senior Living launched the program on a pilot basis in 10 senior living communities last October. Participating communities found ways to reach out to potential users, such as hosting a family night where family members could register for the online family portal.
Within the first 60 days of implementation, almost 60 percent of family members had registered and engaged in the system. That number has since increased to 90 percent, and access to the portal is now being expanded to the rest of Elmcroft’s 44 communities.
Mike Mutka, president of Silverchair Learning Systems, gives Elmcroft credit for taking the step to engage families. “Our tool helps communities reach out to family members and build trusted connections with them. In order to make the most of a program like this, you need a passion for service and a willingness to take those connections and use them to improve that service. Elmcroft has that passion and is taking the lead in partnering with families to make the senior care experience better for everyone,” he says.
Over time, Elmcroft plans to generate more of its own courses and content for the portal. In the meantime, Jackson says, the Silverchair system “has enabled us to jump ahead much quicker.”
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