Commercial Integrators Need Us

Commercial integrators are poised to enter the Aging in Place technology market.   An article in this week’s “Commercial Integrator” online magazine, Healthcare Goes High Tech says that this is a market sector with “unlimited potential for growth”.  The article provides a good overview of home monitoring systems and some of the issues that technology integrators face when adding this market sector to their business.

The key that I hope that integrators do not miss is the point that was made by Stacy Pierce, director of the Peace of Mind Alternatives (POMA) division of The Oaks, an independent and assisted living community in Orangeburg, SC.  Stacy is a pioneer – background as a Certified Occupational Therapist with an extensive background working with seniors – delved into the home monitoring market a few years back and has developed a unique business installing Grand Care systems and providing other aging in place technologies.   She says she has so much work at the moment that she is thinking of using a commercial integrator to do the installations for her but expresses concern that integrators don’t completely understand this market.  She says:  “what integrators really need to understand is that this is a caregiver business” and “A lot of [integration] companies may be looking at this market because their business in other markets is off, but what they have to understand is that you’re not just installing and walking away. You’re becoming part of the family. You’re with them till death.”   I hope that Ms. Pierce’s guidance is heard by commercial integrators as working with seniors and their families is not a simple install and walk away proposition.

What does this mean to me?  I believe that this speaks to an opportunity for both integrators and those of us who are in the senior care field.  A team approach is needed where a specialist in care issues and family systems (like a care or case manager – a professional with extensive experience working with seniors and their families typically with a background in social work, nursing or gerontology) can do an assessment and work with the integrator to get a system installed and running.  The case manager can then work with the care team to make sure that the system is working well.  As the research shows, technology for aging in place is not a set and forget proposition. As I have suggested before, new business models need to be created, so that the consumer is the one who ultimately wins.