Virtual support for people with dementia

People with dementia and their carers will be able to connect to health practitioners through direct video connection on a tablet.

Amana Living has partnered with Telstra Health to use its MyCareManager eHealth platform to deliver the new service, Amana Living eConnect.

“The world of a carer of a person with dementia often shrinks as the caring role takes precedence, and they can become isolated,” says Maria Davison, Amana Living’s General Manager Home Care and Housing.

“Video conferencing and telemonitoring allow more one-to-one support for our clients and their carers, whether that’s providing counselling, helping them to access services or managing their health.

“We will also use the portal to deliver regular information updates by our McCusker Nurses (nurses specialising in dementia ed.) and to facilitate an informal network connecting carers to encourage an alternative support via sharing of experiences,” she says.

Amana Living is the first provider in the country to implement the service with people living with dementia, and the first to use all four elements of MyCareManager in aged care:

1. Video conferencing – This enables practitioners, such as GPs, Amana Living Home Care Coordinators, counsellors and McCusker Nurses (dementia specialists), to participate in joint video calls with the carer and client.
2. Remote health monitoring (telehealth) – Home care clients are provided with devices like glucometers, weight scales and blood pressure cuffs that send vital sign measurements directly to Amana Living staff. This helps staff to remotely monitor and manage chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, asthma and hypertension.
3. Online portal – The secure portal enables clients or their carers to be more involved in their own healthcare by giving them access to their health records, appointments, Consumer Directed Care budget, and care plans.
4. Integration with home care service – Amana Living eConnect integrates telehealth with ComCare, the mobile system currently used by Amana Living home care staff to access a client’s record. Linking this with telehealth monitoring means data is updated in real time so staff can respond more quickly to changes in health needs.

The service is part of a wider program, which will eventually see all Amana Living home care clients able to use Amana Living eConnect in their own homes.

Thilan Perera, General Manager, MyCareManager, says: “This is a great example of how MyCareManager is helping make health care easier and letting carers deliver it in a way that is more efficient, inclusive and accessible.

“This validates our vision of creating unique and innovative offerings – bringing together various but related digital capabilities into a single integrated solution to enable easier health care delivery.”