One night, a 90-year-old woman with dementia wandered out of her room at a long-term care facility in South Carolina. No one noticed her missing for seven hours. The next day, they found her body. Worse, the woman had been attacked by alligators. That didn't have to happen.
According to a 2022 research study by The Lancet, approximately 50 million people live with dementia worldwide, and it’s projected to increase to 152 million by 2050.
"Our ageing population has increased dramatically," said Julien Bertheuil, Managing Director EMEA, Spectralink Corporation. "And that has dramatically increased the cost of care, putting extraordinary demands on healthcare and nursing homes," he said.
Dementia care requires a combination of supportive therapies. And freedom of movement is one of the most important. It helps the patient mentally and physically. Care facilities are increasingly challenged to meet demands like this.
Tools For Care, With Compassion
Cicero Zorggroep, a healthcare provider in the Netherlands, supports people with care requirements to live more independent lives. Today, they use unified communications tools to achieve that.
The company wanted to provide patients with freedom of movement while keeping dementia patients safe from the dangers of "wandering behaviour."
But, until recently, patients at risk were prevented from wandering by keeping doors secured at the Cicero care facility. Staff were unaware when patients suddenly started moving in their rooms or required immediate attention. So, Cicero adopted Spectralink's easy-to-use handsets to handle these challenges.
For example, with Spectralink's wireless handsets, Cicero care staff today receive notifications of a patient's movement and can instantly call the patient to determine if there’s a problem.
