Darien Coronavirus: How One Assisted Care Facility Copes

DARIEN, CT — If there is one business sector, other than respirator manufacturers, that has gotten more than its normal share of attention since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, it's nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Maplewood Senior Living, which operates facilities in Darien, Bethel, Danbury, East Norwalk, Newtown, Orange and Southport, has not been in the headlines lately. They attribute their success at keeping residents virus-free to their technology programs that were enabling social distancing way before social distancing was cool.

"Our residents are not really feeling the change that those of us living outside the community are feeling," said Gina Saunders, Maplewood's director of memory care and programming.

For one, the residents are already in the habit of communicating with their loved ones via computers and iPads, Skype and video chat services. They are even in the habit of sharing "virtual meals" with their families.

"They feel like they are in the same room with them," Saunders said.

Maplewood has always relied heavily on technology, according to Saunders, but with the outbreak of the new coronavirus, she said the facilities have gotten "more creative" in their programs and applications.

Maplewood has implemented the 360 degree immersion Occulus technology. The virtual reality goggles and software allow residents to experience visiting places familiar and never travelled. They can also share the same virtual world at the same time with other residents. Saunders says her clients are taking the opportunity to visit locations long on their bucket lists that may have been out of reach, due to cost or their age. Tours of famous museums, art galleries, the White House, and inside Van Gogh's "The Starry, Starry Night" painting are all offered by the facilities' virtual travel bureau. Other programmatic partners have made live concerts and lectures available.

Lower tech, but more mobile, are Eversound headsets which allow residents to participate in exercise programs, enjoy lectures, and even play along in facility-wide BINGO games, all from their own apartments. Enormous IN2L screens are programmed with thousands of games; exercise, sensory, mental and spiritual wellness programs; and used for livestreaming of religious services.

Although its programs are normally optimized for distance, social or otherwise, Maplewood has added other protocols since March. Visitors are restricted from visiting any of the communities until further notice and all employees and essential medical providers are required to be screened for potential illness or exposure prior to having contact with any residents. Employees and "essential" visitors are required to wear masks at all times while inside the community as an additional precautionary measure to limit the potential risk of spreading infection.

Pre-virus outbreak, the facilities would host entertainers and educators who would present to the community, but now that engagement is done by interactive teleconferencing. "They are getting the same services in a different way," according to Saunders. The facilities have also increased their number of offerings designed to help reduce stress and anxiety, such as guided meditation, yoga, and outdoor walking groups.

Now Maplewood is looking to roll in some robots. In their current form, they are similar to anthropomorphized Amazon Echo devices that play music, games and host video chats.

Older people are not known for their speedy and gleeful acceptance of new technology, Patch pointed out, but Saunders said her experience was just the opposite."I have found that our older adults are intrigued by the technology and want to learn it and are interested when offered the opportunity to learn it."

Connecticut, like other states across the country, is particularly worried about the new coronavirus wreaking havoc at nursing homes and assisted living facilities that house people who have a higher risk of coronavirus complications.

All of these amenities are clearly more pricey than a deck of cards and a box of BINGO chips. But with Connecticut already imposing drastic changes on the elder care industry due to the COVID-19 crisis, will the expensive technology deployed in facilities such as Maplewood maintains move from a "nice to have" to a "need to have" list?

"I think that we are doing keeps the residents engaged, keeps them happy and not feeling the stress of the greater world," Saunders said. "I hope that others would follow suit... but every company is different."