Wishing a Life at Home as Long as Possible
80 % of the persons in need for care in Austria (more than 500.000) currently receive care services in their own home, by their own family. This number will increase up to 800.000 by 2011.
At the same time, there is desire for being able to stay as long as possible at home. Especially in this situation, these persons and their caring relatives require individual attendance, advice and support.
The cooperation between care service provider Volkshilfe in Styria, Telekom Austria and the manufacturer Zydacron is now enabling people in need for care to connect to the Volkshilfe service central and to their family at the push of a button.
Modern Technologies Create Networked Care
„Information- and Communication Technologies open the door for a new approach to care and support for elderly people. Intelligent technical solutions are a valuable add-on in individual care situations. Therefore Volkshilfe started this innovative project with her partners.”
(Franz Ferner, CEO of Volkshilfe in Styria)
Care and Support via TV
Volkshilfe in Styria offers videofon in combination with mobile care services. Clients receive advice and guidance via their TV. The care service central assists in all-day activities such as taking medicaments, measuring blood pressure, and answers questions of family members concerning care related topics.
Bidirectional video communication makes gestures and facial expressions visible. It enables the clients to understand more easily topics and explanations of higher complexity, and it avoids misunderstanding. This technology is a support and helps to bridge distances to a talk partner - no matter if he/she is situated in the neighbouring village or in another country.
Lessons learned
Staff nurse Andrea Raab, head of the videofon-central, is also involved in videosessions with the clients and describes her experiences as follows:
„The age of our clients varies a lot, from 33 up to 93 years! It was a surprise to us, that there is a high demand for mental training, coming from people outside of our original target group. These are mainly seniors of the generation 60+. They are not adverse to new media, and they love the memory training sessions offered by us.
We also receive a strong positive feedback from our clients regarding our advice and guidance services. Favoured topics are all-day-management, care coordination, home modification and safety measures.
Additionally, we offer our clients to share their sorrow and distress. Every day, we can feel how thankful our clients are, that there is someone who listens to their worries and gives advice.”
