INS LifeGuard service a very important part of operations at Live Life Villages

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Michael Fallon, the Managing Director of Live Life, begins his description of Live Life Villages observing the fact that they are a bit unique, a different flavour, and are very happy to be in that position.

"Our villages are not aged care but rather independent living units with supported services options for active lifestyle retirees." Michael says that this is where they differ from the common perception. "We provide independent living homes and communities and provide residents with the opportunity to take advantage of the Commonwealth funding for Ageing in Place. We promote initiate by providing support services as the residents may need them," he explains.

One of the important technologies that they have implemented to make sure that their residents can contact the 24 hour personal emergency services that Live Life provides is the INS LifeGuard system. "This system can alert staff to situations from falls to tap left running," says [Development Manager] Kent Fallon.

"We have implemented this technology in all of our new build and villages. We are also looking at ways to expand this service to include mobile phones and other devices in home, but right now, what INS provides for us is a very important part of our operations," he says. "The personal emergency call button allows us to monitor residents while they are in their units and at locations around the village. In time, this will be expanded to when residents are out in the broader community."

Kent says that Live Life are actively working with INS to identify how they can expand this service and develop new ones for their residents. He gives one example of how it is already used as a very smart non-intrusive way in order to passively keep an eye on their residents' safety. "Utilising the INS technology that is built into our Maleny units, there is a switch on our hot water tanks that acts as a timer. If the hot water is running for more than 20 minutes, it will send off a signal to the emergency response system and a phone call is placed to the resident to see if they are in need of assistance," says Kent. He says that resident falls are more likely in the bathroom, so systems like this are potentially lifesaving. He also believes this unitive is important as it cuts down the possibility of having to do spot checks and thus maintains the dignity and privacy of the residents in the villages.

(Excerpt from article "Living life after retirement never looked so good" - Business World Australia - March 2011 edition.)