July/August 2024

July/August 2024 Issue

The Last Word: The Benefits of AI Tools in Assisted Living Communities
By Dusanka Delovska-Trajkova
Today’s Geriatric Medicine
Vol. 17 No. 4 P. 32

In recent years, the buzz surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has prompted a mixed range of perspectives. Some AI-enhanced innovations have been met with ethical concerns that outweigh optimism, while others have picked up widespread adoption.

The senior living industry is no exception. While some may question AI’s ability to offer older adults a personal, human exchange, the benefits of those tools in life plan communities have been pivotal in aiding the industry as a whole through some of the most complex challenges.

From assisting with health monitoring, fall detection, and mundane tasks amid industrywide staffing shortages to streamlining social programming and scheduling, AI tools have become transformative in helping improve efficiencies and the quality of life for many residents in assisted living communities.

AI’s Capabilities in Improving Operations
In many ways, AI has taken on a more evolutionary role in completely shifting the way senior living communities operate. In fact, those that have adopted AI have reported a 40% increase in operation efficiency, according to a recent Gitnux market study.

One of the primary reasons assisted living providers are turning to AI at increasing rates is to automate a variety of functions within their operations, especially across areas that rely on repetitive processes. Tools such as Servi Plus, from Bear Robotics, the AI-enabled dining robot used for bussing and serving meals; CenoBots’ SP50, the AI-enhanced cleaning robot that provides extended cleaning services hours after staff has finished their shifts; plus automated sensors and virtual chatbots like Amazon’s Alexa, have all afforded senior living workers the ability to do away with routine day-to-day tasks—giving them the flexibility to scale their time, their talent, and the quality of care they’re able to provide to residents.

For example, after successfully introducing remote temperature sensors at Ingleside at King Farm’s assisted living community, its sister campus, Ingleside at Rock Creek eventually adopted the same technology. This example of digital transformation spares employees in senior living facilities the daily labor of having to manually check and note temperatures of every cooling unit in the community twice a day. Instead, the automated sensors significantly enhance the monitoring and documentation of temperatures in dining and medication refrigerators and freezers, a mandatory task that helps prevent food and medication from going to waste.

Enhancing Resident Independence and Social Activity With AI
Rapid advancements in AI—and the data AI provides—have contributed to senior community leaders’ ability to make better informed decisions, improve response times, and upgrade the quality of care for residents. More popular AI-voice assistance tools can also offer older adults more autonomy and independence, serving as a substitute in areas that once required human interaction.

Alexa-enabled devices and virtual chatbots assist today’s aging demographic with simple tasks like making a phone call to a relative, checking the weather, or receiving news updates—all things that may be more difficult using a smartphone or laptop.

Additional ways AI-enhanced tools can support resident care in senior living communities include the following:

• personalizing residents’ activity schedules and aiding in nutritional planning, using residents’ health data to customize meal plans;

• increasing security measures that help senior living providers know who is coming and going into their communities;

• detecting unusual behaviors with advanced sensors that track resident activity patterns, and alert care workers to a patient’s needs; and

• training staff members effectively in caregiving protocols that meet a person’s particular needs, such as in dementia care.

Increased Adoption of AI in Assisted Living
Overall, the benefits of AI in senior living are evident, and its pervasive use throughout the sector is here to stay. In fact, Gitnux market research predicts AI in the senior living industry will surge to $12.86 billion by 2026. As the industry continues to find new ways to leverage automation to improve personalized care, enhance operational efficiency, and promote overall resident well-being, adoption by assisted living providers will increase, making a stride toward becoming AI-driven communities that can better cater to the older adult population.

— Dusanka Delovska-Trajkova, chief information officer (CIO) at Ingleside in Rockville, Maryland, has more than 25 years’ experience in computer science and automation in various corporate, government, educational, and nonprofit environments in Macedonia and the United States. Her tenure with the Ingleside family includes four years leading IT for Ingleside at King Farm at Rockville before accepting the CIO position for Ingleside in 2012. As CIO, Delovska-Trajkova’s focus is on data-driven sustainable growth and developing technologies that will be part of the business and life strategies for the organization, including all Ingleside communities, the Foundation, Ingleside Headquarters, home and community-based services, their staff, and clients. She coordinates efforts across the Ingleside family of brands to assess performance and maintain business intelligence systems, focusing on helping each entity adapt to new organizational innovations and develop and execute new business strategies.