Brookdale Goes High-Tech for Resident Safety

The nation’s largest senior housing provider has a new goal: to become the industry leader in security and safety-related technology innovation.

To accomplish that goal, Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) has partnered with STANLEY Healthcare and RF Technologies, the Brentwood, Tennessee-based senior living owner/operator announced Monday. The move comes as part of Broodake’s “Rewiring Aging” initiative, which is meant to enhance the lives of seniors through the use of technology.

Brookdale chose STANLEY Healthcare and RF Technologies because they both have “good roadmaps of future innovations in their pipelines,” Andrew Smith, Brookdale’s director of strategy and innovation, told Senior Housing News.

Advertisement

With the help of these partners, Brookdale intends to pilot a variety of technologies that can be refined and implemented to benefit its residents, Smith said. At the start, Brookdale will implement the latest technology developed by STANLEY Healthcare and RF Technologies; eventually, though, Brookdale plans to work with them to develop new technology.

First, Brookdale will focus on streamlining workflows to more efficiently respond to individual resident needs, the company said in a press release. The company will also work to enable faster notification of emergency situations.

Another possible area of innovation relates to remote monitoring of residents’ clinical indicators and behaviors, which could result in early detection and treatment of conditions like urinary tract infections, the company said.

Advertisement

“Identifying potential clinical conditions sooner and treating them rapidly may prevent residents from going to the hospital,” Smith said in a prepared statement. “This could mean a tremendous improvement in their quality of life.”

As part of the partnership, Brookdale also plans to do things that are more than just safety and security-related, Smith told SHN. For instance, Brookdale intends to focus on activity indicators, and other factors that can help the company better understand a resident’s overall wellbeing, he said.

Brookdale anticipates spending the next two to six months talking with STANLEY Healthcare and RF Technologies about which technologies they’d like to pilot next, Smith said. Brookdale declined to comment on other pilot details, as the companies are still working together on rolling out their plan for the new technology.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based STANLEY Healthcare provides more than 12,000 long-term care organizations and 5,000 acute care hospitals with enterprise solutions that transform security, safety and operational efficiency. RF Technologies, based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, provides safety and security solutions for the health care, hospitality and education markets.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson

Companies featured in this article:

, ,