Technology

Episcopal Senior Communities Improve Resident Safety with Vocera Solution

January 8, 2018

SAN JOSE, CA–Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a recognized leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, today announced that Episcopal Senior Communities (ESC) is improving staff communication and resident safety by using the Vocera Communication System at all six of its multi-level living communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For 50 years, ESC has delivered a variety of residential, memory care and aging services. The non-profit serves nearly 10,000 seniors through its community services programs that promote intellectual, physical, social and spiritual well-being. On a mission to consistently deliver a five-star experience for its residents, ESC sought to improve staff communication and response times. ESC selected the Vocera system to enable Wi-Fi communication and replace a fragmented system by integrating with the resident safety system in place throughout its communities.

“Vocera technology is like a Swiss army knife for communication,” said Chris Dana, vice president of information technology for ESC. “It connects all the different functions our people perform in our communities every day and all the technologies we rely on to complete them. Ultimately, it improves our ability to keep our residents healthy, safe, and happy. How do you put a value on that? If you ask a family member, it’s infinite.”

Taking safety to the next level, ESC integrated the Vocera system with the communities’ resident safety solution, which enables alarms and alerts to go directly to the right staff member’s Vocera badge or mobile device. Because every senior community is different, facility leaders worked closely with the service team at Vocera to design specific workflows to meet their needs. An alert might go to security in one community and skilled nursing in another. Each alert is delivered as both a voice and text message that include the resident’s first name, last initial, location, and the type of event.

“The integration of Vocera technology with our life-safety system is like having our own 911 center,” said Karen Kemp, application support manager at ESC. “By eliminating the delays once caused by manual dispatching and unreliable radio links, it lets us respond to resident needs faster and more intelligently. When I talk with staff in different departments across the communities, I’m told over and over by employees there is no way they’ll ever give up their Vocera devices.”

While workflows may vary, users do not. Every staff member at every community uses the Vocera solution, including the clinical team, security, maintenance, housekeeping, the IT department and executive directors. Improvements in staff communication and collaboration have made it much easier for employees to coordinate resident activities, exchange information, and get assistance.

With Vocera, team members can locate each other no matter where they are or what they’re doing, from one end of campus to the other. They no longer need to walk to the nurses’ station to check messages or drop what they are doing to pick up a phone or a radio. Additionally, the Santa Rosa location plans to integrate its nurse call with the Vocera system.

“It’s exciting to see a multi-level senior living community using mobile technology and robust integrations to improve the safety and well-being of its residents,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “Episcopal Senior Communities is an inspiring example of how Vocera solutions can help improve the lives of many people in many different environments.”

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