Christ’s Home

By Susan Saldibar, Senior Living Foresight

Five years or so ago, my husband and I signed up at our church to take a holiday gift basket to a resident of a local senior living community, here in Southern California.

Basket in hand, we walked through the front doors and up to the desk. The receptionist pushed over a clipboard with a photocopied “visitor” sheet attached for us to sign in.

It Wasn’t a Good Look

I’ll be honest. It sort of cheapened the place for me.

Across the country, in Warminster, Pennsylvania, it wasn’t a good look for Jim McGovern either. Jim is the chief operations officer for Christ’s Home, a not-for-profit, faith-based CCRC. One of the first things he did as COO was to replace their outdated paper check-in sheet with Accushield (a Foresight partner).

But little did Jim know that his Accushield visitor management kiosk would end up doing a lot more than correcting a “bad look.” More about that in a minute.

A Bit About Jim’s Amazing Community

There’s a really cool story behind Christ’s Home, but, in a nutshell, it was founded back in 1903 as a safe haven for disadvantaged children. Over the years, it expanded to include cottages, apartments, and personal care, giving older adults access to services that let them age in place.

Today Christ’s Home CCRC is at 100% occupancy with a waitlist. Chatting with Jim McGovern, I’m not surprised. His passion for providing a great lifestyle for seniors is authentic. Jim, himself, goes on missions to underserved countries, like Kenya, to provide supplies, education, and loving care for its disadvantaged citizens. His daughter has even joined him. Pretty amazing stuff.

Win, Win, Win

Accushield streamlined a key process and added safety and security.

As I mentioned earlier, Jim had the Accushield kiosk installed for a lot of great reasons, including:

• Unshackling receptionists from their desks so they can be up and greeting visitors
• Catching individuals who should not be in the building
• Tracking frequency of guest visits to residents
• Creating a printed log to be used for record keeping
• Sending a strong visual message that resident safety and security are key

And Then …

That was back in 2017. Jim had no idea what was coming through their doors in 2020.

Who could know just how critical the Accushield system would become in 2020 when COVID began sweeping the world? Accushield was more than ready.

Within weeks, it intercepted 10 visitors who had 100 degree+ fevers … and COVID. 

Think of the damage those 10 infected individuals could have done! How many residents would they have infected? How many would have ended up in the hospital on ventilators?

How many lives could have been lost?

How many lives did Accushield help save?

We’ll never know. But it isn’t hard to imagine. And Jim McGovern was glad he had the foresight to install Accushield well in advance of the pandemic.

I can’t help but wonder how many senior living communities were still muddling through with paper sign-in sheets when COVID hit. Yikes. Doesn’t exactly give you a sense that health and safety is a priority.

I’ll go further. I don’t think in today’s world I’d even go into a building that didn’t have an Accushield-style kiosk to check visitors.

Why?

If you don’t yet have automation like Accushield, I have a question for you. Why?

Who knows what future health and safety concerns may crop up in this industry. What else (or who else) is around the corner that you don’t want coming into your community?

Accushield is an easy fix that will solve a lot of issues for you.

So, for those of you who are still pushing paper at your visitors, I have one question. … Why?

The best way to learn about how Accushield works is to see it for yourself. Click here for a 15-minute demo.