Please see Lessons Learned and Advice Drawn from the Case Studies for a consolidated list of lessons learned and advice from all of the case studies.

2023 Case Studies

• Data Delivers on the Promise of Meaningful Resident Engagement: Acts Retirement-Life Communities collaborated with Linked Senior to train team members outside of the enrichment department, such as certified nursing assistants, to bring residents meaningful engagement. Acts now provides more than twice the daily average of resident engagement, reducing social isolation by 94%.
• Increasing Resident and Staff Engagement at Ingleside Through Technology: Cubigo, a digital platform implemented at Ingleside communities, brought enhanced resident satisfaction, increased engagement, better communication, improved data tracking, payment tracking, simplified payment upload, and convenient access to services.
• Increasing Resident Engagement, Satisfaction, Social Networks, and Quality of Life Through VR Technology: Rendever delivered virtual reality programming and experiences to Burcham Hills to reduce pandemic-related social isolation and loneliness. More than 400 individual sessions, and over 1,280 experiences and 3,300 unique moments, increased residents’ social networks and quality of life.
• Leveraging Engagement Technology to Increase Social Networks in a New Continuing Care Community: Christian Health partnered with Wellzesta, a LeadingAge CAST Associate Business Partner, on a phased onboarding to support communications with staff as residents moved into a new community. Weekly engagement rates are high. Residents also give high ratings to the life enrichment and wellness programming and its positive impact on their well-being.
• Personalized Soundscapes Enhance Quality of Life for Residents Living with Dementia: Garden Spot Communities has incorporated Composure, which uses disposition assessment and personalized soundscapes to meet resident well-being needs, into its skilled nursing and memory support areas. Outcomes include reduced loneliness, depression, and use of antipsychotics, plus increased resident engagement, satisfaction, and quality of life.
• Senior Centers Without Walls Using Social Connectedness Technology: In pioneering the ”senior center without walls” model, the Sowega Council on Aging conducted virtual activities with Claris Companion, an easy-to-use tablet and software solution for older seniors. Within a few months, the number of clients receiving meals rose from 500 to 1,500, and the number of virtual programming options increased from 25 to 100.
• Social Connectedness and Engagement Technology Case Study Care Resources and Care.coach: By partnering with care.coach to create a technology-based service delivery model, Care Resources observed reductions in participant anxiety and depression, a 40% decrease in falls, improved medication compliance and utilization of emergency services, and fewer hospitalizations.

2022 Case Studies

• All In: Enabling Meaning for All Elders and Team Augmentation with Technology: At Presbyterian Senior Living in Dillsburg, PA, staff members are using Linked Senior to offer research-based engagement opportunities that are fun and person-centered and that improve team members’ efficiencies. Outcomes include up to 5.75 days of staff time saved per community per month, a 3%+ improvement in resident and family satisfaction, and reduced social isolation and loneliness. 
• Combating Social Isolation and Enriching Activities Through Virtual Reality Technology: Ohio Living at Breckenridge Village deployed Rendever’s virtual resident engagement system, which enabled residents to “leave” their community through virtual worldwide travel and live programming, connect in new ways, and share meaningful experiences. Monthly sessions quadrupled from 2020 to 2021. Two more communities have now deployed Rendever’s systems, and it is part of a traveling marketing campaign.
• Engagement Technology for Senior Care: Timberhill Place in Corvallis, OR, used Quiltt to establish regular, reliable, and timely messaging with family members. Quiltt delivered over 5,000 messages to family members during nine months. Family members use the Quiltt app the most; they look at daily menus and activities, as well as pictures and videos of their loved ones. The 64 family users have had 74,000 page views, reducing demands on staff to respond to inquiries.
• Facilitating Connection: The Power of Equipping Seniors with Devices to Broker Social Engagement: To keep older adults connected during COVID-19, 2Life pioneered a Digital Device Lending Library of Chromebooks and tablets preloaded with wireless internet, Zoom software, and a way to access coursework over Zoom. Since the start of the program in the fall of 2020, devices enabled 76% of participants to socialize with family, friends, and others; 74% have socialized with the 2Life community.
• Project VITAL: Impacting Loneliness and Well-Being through Engagement Technology: Project VITAL (Virtual Inclusive Technology for All) is a public-private partnership in Florida to mitigate loneliness for older adults. It provided easy-to-use Wi-Fi enabled tablets with content from iN2L at 300 senior living communities. Residents experienced more engagement (4,140 monthly tablet sessions of 34 minutes each), less loneliness (1,995 monthly video calls to friends and family), and better mood.
• Reaching New Residents: Technology as a Culture Tool: Presbyterian Village Athens in Athens, GA, was one of the only life plan communities to open during the pandemic. Wellzesta Life brought resident engagement and connection: In the first six months, 90% of residents used Wellzesta Life, 46% used the app daily, and the app facilitated 3,922 friendships. Wellzesta Life also increased staff efficiencies through departmental and resident communications.
• Using Technology to Socially Connect and Engage Meals on Wheels with Clients: When Meals on Wheels Rowan (MOW) in Spencer, NC, limited frozen meal deliveries to weekly during the pandemic, clients became isolated. MOW then delivered clients the Claris Companion®, an easy-to-use tablet and software solution. Three months into the pilot program, depression and social isolation surveys found a 40% decrease in depression symptoms and a significant increase in social interactions.

2021 Case Studies

• Addressing Social Isolation with Staff Augmentation through Digital Technology during COVID-19: The Linked Senior platform enabled Kendal at Oberlin to attain 165+ hours of staff efficiency per month; deploy 250+ hours of volunteer time, remotely and safely, despite lockdown; and increase the number of one-to-one interactions with residents by 4.2 times during lockdown with Linked Senior compared to normal times. Residents reporting feelings of isolation dropped 50% over five months. The average engagement of residents observed from March to August 2020 increased 272%; year-over-year engagement increased by 240%.
• Connecting Homebound Older Adults Through Technology: shares the benefits of a Virtual Senior Center (VSC) platform that is open to anyone.
• Decreasing Antipsychotic Medications through Engagement Technology: After implementing the Birdsong tablets as an engagement tool, Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury found the results were evident in medication management, residents’ behaviors, and overall happiness among residents and staff. A 76% reduction in the use of antipsychotics was found in the months after tablets were introduced to the community.
• Increasing Social Engagement through a Digital Avatar during Covid-19: The care.coach avatar system helped West PACE reduce social isolation and feelings of loneliness; encouraged self-management of health and wellness, prompting participants to take their medication, wash their hands, and put on their PERS/fall devices; and increased staff efficiencies by enabling staff to provide immediate assistance remotely to triage incidents and reduce staff travel time.
• Increasing Resident Engagement and Staff Efficiencies through Technology during Covid-19: Connected Living’s enterprise communication platform helped Ginger Cove improve occupancy, health and wellness, and retention as well as staff efficiency. It also increased resident and family engagement and satisfaction, reduced feelings of loneliness, and increased quality of life.
• Using Virtual Reality to Drive Engagement: After rolling out Rendever, Oakmont Senior Living saw reduced social isolation, increased resident engagement and satisfaction, and increased staff confidence and efficiencies.

2020 Case Studies

• Connecting and Engaging Residents through Customized Technology: By working collaboratively with Viibrant and integrating voice technology, Ingleside Engaged Living, a multi-site family of senior living affiliates, was able to provide access for all residents, including those with mobility, dexterity, vision and/or cognitive challenges. The community saw an adoption rate of over 75%.
• Improving System-Wide Communication with Connected Living Enterprise Platform During the COVID-19 Crisis: During the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, an enterprise communication platform from Connected Living that incorporates mobile push notifications led to improved customer experience and staff efficiency at Waterman Village Retirement Community.
• Improving Resident Independence and Satisfaction Through Smart Voice Technology: Friendship Village partnered with Caremerge to roll out a campus-wide voice technology platform called Caremerge Voice, which leverages Alexa’s natural language listening capabilities. The solution increased residents’ device use by 30% and demonstrates the benefits of Alexa’s Name Free Skill Innovation (NFSI).
• Increasing Resident and Staff Engagement Through Technology: HumanGood, a housing and healthcare nonprofit, piloted a resident engagement platform by Cubigo. Now, 61% of residents have an account, two-thirds of accounts are used weekly, and residents use the technology to directly make 55% of requests. More than 10,000 requests have been made and team members are saving 10 hours of work per week per community.
• Reducing Social Isolation Through Virtual Group Activity: Well Connected and Well Connected Español, Covia Community Services, are a community of participants, staff, facilitators, presenters, and other volunteers who value being connected. 365 days a year, groups meet via phone or web conference for 80+ weekly activities.
• Staff Augmentation and Increased Engagement through Technology: By using Linked Senior to increase meaningful engagement among residents, Westminster-Canterbury Shenandoah Valley achieved a 60% reduction in staff research and preparation time for engagement, increased staff efficiency and satisfaction, and 100% visibility of resident engagement in real-time.

2019 Case Studies

• Enhancing Resident & Family Engagement Through Technology: Cascadia Senior Living and Development had been tracking its resident engagement for group and individual activities on paper. After implementing LifeLoop, staff could better capture and share resident activities and behaviors. Year-over-year comparisons show a substantial rise in resident attendance and personal activities.
• Improving Participant Satisfaction and Quality of Care With Engagement Technology: At Element Care, a pilot program used 12 care.coach™ avatars to provide psychosocial support and health coaching in the home for high-risk older adults. See how the program saved costs, decreased evening and weekend companion and nursing visits, diverted unnecessary visits to the Emergency Room, and decreased participants’ anxiety.
• Increasing Engagement, Satisfaction, Physical Performance and Team Efficiencies through Social Engagement Technology: Presbyterian SeniorCare Network demonstrates how technology can improve quality of life for residents living with dementia.  Presbyterian SeniorCare Network partnered with It’s Never 2 Late (iN2L) to provide the engagement technology platform.
• Increasing Resident Engagement through Person-Centered Technology: Silver Bluff Village is using Linked Senior, a digital engagement platform, to optimize resident engagement and enhance person-centered care. Outcomes include reduced social isolation, reduced use of antipsychotics, and increased resident engagement and satisfaction. In one year, its engagement of long-term care residents rose by 172%.
• Reducing Social Isolation in Affordable Senior Housing using Voice Assistant Technology: AARP Foundation initiated a recent pilot of voice-activated technology that brought senior housing residents more social interaction, more perceived availability of support, and less loneliness
• Streamlining Services and Increasing Resident and Family Engagement Through an Integrated Platform for Senior Living: Brookdale Redwood City, a premier senior living community, was largely paper-based before Cubigo. Now it tracks which residents attend what activities, how residents use transportation, and which excursions residents prefer. The data is improving services and increasing resident engagement and satisfaction.
• Transforming Daily Life at a Life Plan Community through Digital Wellness and Communication: Using the Wellzesta Life app, Bridgewater Retirement Community streamlined its communication in one easy-to-use digital platform. Residents gained equal access to sign up for the community events, improved connections with others and with community groups, and gained motivation to pursue new wellness programs.
• Using Innovative Voice and Smart Home Technologies to Enhance Resident Engagement and Staff Efficiencies explains how Asbury Methodist Village partnered with Connected Living to achieve the following: Connect Asbury staff, residents, and families with “best in class” resident and family technologies.
• Using Robotic Pets to Improve Interactions, Behaviors, and Quality of Life, While Reducing Anti-psychotics in Hospice Dementia Patients: At Alacare Home Health and Hospice, a Companion Pet Pilot Study found that hospice patients with anxiety due to dementia and patients at risk for social isolation reacted well to animated, robotic pets. Agitation, social isolation, and expressions of sadness dropped among the study participants.

2018 Case Studies

• Creating a Real-Life Video Experience for Individuals Facing Memory Loss:  A video project with IN2L and Evangelical Homes of Michigan Senior Solutions fosters positive relationships.
• Implementation of The BirdSong Tablet in a Skilled Nursing Setting:   Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay implemented a social engagement tablet based solution in its Skilled Nursing Setting.  Th technology platform was provided by TMM Software.
• Increased Resident Engagement, Quality of Life, Staff Efficiences and Safety and Security through Social Connectedness and Engagement Technology: Inniswood Village is a senior living community in Westerville, Ohio, that offers seniors carefree living, engagement, and everyday convenience in senior apartment homes, assisted living, and memory care. It is a community of LeadingAge Provider Member National Church Residences, based in Columbus, Ohio.  To streamline communication and improve the day-to-day lives of residents and staff, Inniswood Village leverages CATIE, an in-room portal solution that delivers digitized content and endless self-service options.
• Reducing Antipsycholtics and Depression through Person-Centered Engagement: Kendal at Longwood, part of LeadingAge Provider Member Kendal-Crosslands Communities, a nonprofit life plan community in Kennett Square, PA, has implemented person-centered engagement strategies that have decreased residents’ antipsychotic drug use and depressive symptoms. Its strategy includes an interdisciplinary behavioral health team, support groups and monthly Memory Cafés to combat the stigma associated with memory loss, robotic pets, Linked Senior, and art-based therapy.
• Using Technology to Reduce Social Isolation and Depression in Homebound Older Adults: Nonprofit Care at Home New Jersey (CAHNJ) has reduced social isolation and depression among study participants who used a touchscreen Telikin computer to communicate with family, friends, and CAHNJ personnel.

2017 Case Studies

• Enhancing the Lives of Seniors through Use of a Daily Life Management Platform:  Aldersgate United Methodist Retirement Community in Charlotte, NC implemented a Life Management Program for its Life Plan Community.  The Life Management Platform from Wellzesta helped the organization enhance the lives of their residents.
• Improving Medication Compliance, Quality of Life, and Peace of Mind through Voice Assistant Technology:  Libertana Home Health in Sherman Oaks, CA implemented a voice assistance technology to improve medication compliance, quality of life, and peace of mind.   The voice assistance technology was provided by Orbita.
• Increased Staff Efficiencies and Resident Engagement Reporting through Web-Based Activity Tracking:  Papillion Manor in Papillion, NE implemented a web based activity tracking technology to engage its residents in activities and improve staff efficiencies.  The web-based activity tracking platform was provided by LifeLoop.
• Increasing Engagement, Satisfaction, Physical Performance and Team Efficiencies through Social Engagement Technology: Presbyterian SeniorCare Network demonstrates how technology can improvie quality of life for residents living with dementia.  Presbyterian SeniorCare Network partnered with It’s Never 2 Late (iN2L) to provide the engagement technology platform.
• Increasing Engagement, Social Networks and Quality of Life and Reducing Social Isolation, Depression and Feelings of Loneliness through a Captioned Telephone: Life Care Services implemented a captioned telephone service to the communities they manage to increase engagement, social networks, and quality of life and reduce social isolation, depression and feelings of loneliness.  The captioned telephones were provided by Hamilton CapTel.
• Increasing Resident Engagement, Satisfaction and Quality of Life and Reducing Social Isolation, Loneliness and Depression through Hearing Assistance Technology: Commonwealth Senior Living based in Charlottesville, VA implemented Hearing Assistance Technology in all of their 22 communities to enhance resident engagement, satisfaction, and quality of life and reduce social isolation, loneliness, and depression among their residents.  The technology was provided by Eversound.
• Increasing Social Connectedness and Engagement through Multiple Digital Channels: Longwood at Oakmont a Presbyterian Senor Care Community in Pennsylvania implemented a social engagement and connectedness platform to provide information to residents, staff, families and prospects through a variety of digital channels.  The platform was provided by Touchtown.
• Integrating Innovative Technology in the Home to Provide Enhanced Continuity of Care and Decreased Healthcare Costs for Older Adults: Element Care’s PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) program in Massachusetts North Shore, the Merrimack Valley and northeast region of Middlesex County implemented a Digital Avatar with Voice Activated Assistant Technology and Captioning to provide enhanced continuity of care in the home.  The technology was provided by Care.Coach.
• Leveraging a Social Connectedness Platform to Improve Resident Lifestyle and Increase Operational Efficiencies in Independent Living: Galloway Ridge at Fearrington, a single site Life Plan Community, implemented a customized community management platform with the objective of eliminating various administrative inefficiencies and expand resident engagement.  The community management platform was provided by Senior Portal.
• Reducing Antipsychotics through Digital Engagement: Kendal on Hudson in Kennett Square, PA implemented a digital engagement tool in their Life Plan Community (formerly named CCRC) to reduce the usage of antipsychotics.  The digital engagement tool was provided by LinkedSenior.
• Reducing Social Isolation and Improving Health Status through Group Video Chat Activities: Selfhelp Community Services located in New York City implemented a group video chat program for isolated homebound older adults living on campus and offsite to reduce social isolation.  The group video chat was developed by Selfhelp and is called the Selfhelp Virtual Senior Center.
• Sharing Life Stories to Enhance Engagement and Improve Resident-Centered Care Using LifeBio: Front Porch’s Center for Innovation and Wellbeing located in Southern California implemented a life story program to enhance engagement and improve resident-centered care.  The platform was provided by LifeBio.