Case Study: Helping Social Workers Better Monitor People with Disabilities (Part 3 of 3)

[Part 3 of 3. Part 1 and Part 2 are posted in this blog on 1/29/2007 and 1/20/2007, respectively]

In summary, caregivers felt that the Alarm.com system as implemented by Innovative Services, Inc. gave substantial improvements in cost effective support and oversight in a minimally invasive manner to residents, using the absolute minimum amount of time in their over-crowded schedules, but allowing for high fidelity electronic alerts anytime, 24/7, for real problems which required a rapid, certain response.

If you are interested in hearing more... call Allen Ray of CMI at 828-684-8441.

Who was Helped, and How?

Adolf J is in his early sixties, and for the past quarter of a century—-since his parents were no longer able to have him live in their home-- he has lived in an institution, along with thirty-one other disabled men. At the institution, his daily routine was dictated down to the hour. Everything was scheduled given the large number of residents in a relatively small space, from meals to showers to going outside for a walk. Adolf yearned for some independence, in regards to his mundane, daily routine-- tasks that those who have no disabilities take for granted everyday.

Now, with an all-wireless Alarm.com system quietly working in his apartment at the Valley Green complex in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Adolf lives by himself. Moderately cognitively disabled and not able to drive, Adolf has a full-time job in light assembly to which he can walk every Monday through Friday. Given the Alarm.com web dashboard, and its real-time email and cell phone notification capability, social workers know that he is up and about in the morning, and when he returns at the end of the day. Adolf also has a panic pendant which is connected to his support team, which gives him an added sense of security.

Adolf’s parents are no longer around to provide support—- but the parents of Becky H are still in Green Bay, and with great hope and excitement had helped Becky move into her own apartment a few years ago. Becky has a mental illness, and is legally blind.

Becky had been doing well in the same apartment complex as Adolf-- Valley Green-— until early last year. It was then that her parents began to suspect Becky was going in and out at odd hours, and perhaps also having “friends”-— potentially some of whom did not have her best interests at heart—- into her residence very late at night. Thus, her parents endeavored to move Becky back to an institutional setting, with great disappointment all around. However, with the installation of an Alarm.com system, Becky instead was able to remain in her apartment, and keep her nearby job in the packaging industry, which is the key source of her socialization.

Becky’s caregivers are using Alarm.com’s “Custom Threat Alerting” feature to set rules such as this one: If her front door opens after 9 pm, or before 6 am, they get an email and a cell phone message. Further, Becky lives in a basement apartment where flooding is potentially an issue, so one of the up to twenty-three wireless sensors with the Alarm.com system is a Flood Sensor, that can alert the team via email/cell phone messages.

Parents and social workers alike in Green Bay are using Alarm.com to help protect people like Adolf and Becky, who have a far higher quality of life living independently than if they were in an institutional setting. Further, the total costs of living independently are far less than those associated with an institutional setting.

With Alarm.com, the power is in the real-time messaging—- the system gives parents and other caregivers “exception data” that they can react to—-like a door open when it shouldn’t be, a stove left on too long, etc. Safety, peace of mind, and the accurate data to determine exactly what should be done when for the resident—- the Alarm.com system as implemented by Innovative Services has proved to be a powerful assistive home technology that provides all this and more, where the “home” is not an institution, but the resident’s very own apartment.