How to Accomplish the A/V Needs of Your Assisted Living Facility

Lead the way in the assisted living industry by incorporating the latest technology trends that enhance the lifestyle of all your community members. There will be 77 million people over the age of 60 by 2020, according to a study from the Administration of Community Living, significantly raising the demand for independent living and assisted living spaces. How can you optimize your property to embrace this growing demand?

Invest in technology that facilitates residents’ day-to-day lifestyles and ensures they’re as comfortable as possible. Before going for high-tech health monitoring or telemedicine solutions which may be more intimidating, get started with a few simple upgrades to your property's audio-video installation. Encourage better well-being and communication by implementing some of the features we outline below. 

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Add Some Music

Adding audio throughout your property can have a massively positive effect on residents. Studies have shown that music helps with memory recall—especially if you’re able to play personal favorites for residents—and with aiding relaxation at the end of the day. Often, music plays a particularly important role with any patients struggling with dementia since it helps to calm them while placing them within a familiar setting.  

Start by adding music to your general common areas through in-ceiling speakers. Through our A/V distribution systems, it's easy for you to choose content and share it throughout the building. For each residence, include a basic audio setup where they can listen to a standard music collection or connect their digital libraries or favorite streaming services for quick access to their favorites. Though audio is usually the more popular medium, we also recommend adding televisions and basic cable or in each room. Hard-of-hearing residents particularly benefit from having visual stimulation available to enjoy.

Boost Community Communications

For your assisted living facility, this audio-video installation also serves as a foundation for communication systems property wide: All you have to do is integrate intercom stations throughout the building. Reach out to individual rooms through these stations or broadcast messages to the entire community through your in-ceiling speakers. 

Make it simple for residents to reach out to the front desk and call rooms from a central hub to let residents know when they have guests. Allowing them to then speak with these guests through their personal door stations—with audio and video integrated—will give them added peace of mind.

 Seamless Control Options

All your audio systems—both for common areas and individual residences—need to be as simple as possible to use. For our assisted living installations—along with traditional remotes—we recommend also including tablets and voice assistants for day-to-day management.

In cases where residents struggle to move around or deal with arthritis that makes normal manual controls difficult, hands-off voice assistants are lifesavers. Every time they want to pull up a specific song or adjust the volume, they just ask Alexa or Google Home to take care of it for them. Likewise, they can take advantage of these voice assistants to check the news, their schedule or even call for help.

Despite the common misconception that seniors hate technology, tablets are one of the best tools for them. Brightness and font size are easily changed to match their visual needs. User interfaces include simple layouts with large graphics. Tablets even adjust over time to older adults who may have tremors or who may touch the screen much harder or softer than others.

 

Want to learn about how to improve the A/V system in your assisted living facility to enhance your residents’ comfort? All you have to do is give us a call at (248) 841-8500 or fill out our contact form.