Glenn Maxwell is only 76, but with a health condition that includes profound hearing loss and dizzy spells, he wasn’t sure he would be able to keep living independently in his Victoria condo for much longer.
Maxwell choked up as he spoke at Veterans Memorial Lodge this week, describing how his condition has affected his life — missing his daughter’s wedding in Vancouver, falling and injuring himself, and withdrawing from social circles.
The event was the unveiling of a provincial pilot program that offers seniors technology to support independent living, from Wi-Fi-enabled medication dispensers to fall-detection sensors.
Maxwell is one of 15 seniors participating in a federally funded B.C. pilot project through the Broadmead Care Society in Saanich, along with 11 people in KinVillage in Delta.
“A year ago, I was thinking I wouldn’t be in this condo another two years. I was thinking I had to get out of here because I’m not safe here anymore, but I don’t feel that way anymore,” said Maxwell, a former teacher and administrator in the Greater Victoria School District.
Over 18 months, the program is expected to expand to other B.C. communities through home and community care programs serving a total of 130 seniors — with a goal of enrolling 2,700 and their caregivers over four years.
The program is geared for seniors who qualify or are waitlisted for long-term care or assisted living — a few thousand of whom are now in acute-care hospital beds — and are at higher risk of isolation or falls, or in need of having their vital signs monitored or medications dispensed for them. The devices on offer range from iPads to smart plugs for voice-activated lights, video conferencing screens, automated medication dispensers filled by pharmacists, and thermal and radar movement-detection sensors.
Health Minister Adrian Dix, who announced the pilot project at Veterans Memorial Lodge, said the technology — some of it similar to monitoring used in long-term care residences — will be monitored 24/7 to detect falls, activity levels, medication adherence, home temperature, wandering and vitals signs, based on the individual client’s needs.
Chirp motion sensors, for example, establish baseline movements and detect sudden changes, so when a person falls, both a care-team member — family, caregiver or support person — and Broadmead Care are notified immediately.
The device is similarly activated if the participant calls “help” twice. In either case, a 10-second audio is taken at the time of the unusual movement and sent to the care team.
Broadmead Care president and CEO Derrick Bernardo said the B.C. pilot project builds on a successful one that Broadmead began last year with 10 veterans who live in the community, providing fewer but similar technologies backed with 24/7 contact with caregivers and staff, while a physician focused on medication management.
“These are little changes within our health-care system that can really promote a huge impact in how we serve our community,” said Bernardo.
In the Broadmead Care Society pilot protocol, if the first point of contact does not respond immediately — within about 30 seconds — Broadmead Care staff will determine the response, whether it’s standing down, going to help, or calling 911.
Where needed, program participants and caregivers are provided with training in using the technology, co-ordinated by the long-term care facility.
Maxwell, who was diagnosed at age 35 with progressive hearing loss due to nerve damage, has worn hearing aids ever since, and in recent years has experienced dizziness and falls due to inner-ear damage.
One day, he fell backward into his 50-inch TV. As the falls increased, his concern “morphed into outright fear.”
This week an automated medication dispenser —which beeps at a scheduled time and spits out the prescribed amount of pills — and three Chirp cloud-connected radar and thermal sensors were placed in his condo. Maxwell said he has purchased his own smart watch with fall detection for when he ventures outside.
He said he tried an alert system on a lanyard around his neck, but when he fell one day and his hearing aid fell out, he couldn’t easily access the device or hear the instructions.
Just days after having his home outfitted with the fall-detection sensors, Maxwell said he’s felt a “tremendous sense of courage.” He now hopes to be in his condo until at least age 85.
He’s expected to receive the rest of his equipment — an iPad, virtual monitor and WiFi robotic disc vacuum — in the middle of the month.
The health minister said the program is similar to the successful Hospital at Home program that started in Island Health, which provides monitoring and home visits to eligible acute-care hospital patients who opt to recover at home.
Dix acknowledged that gadgets can fail and WiFi can go down, but said the technology is monitored, adding the province needs to make such advances to help seniors, many of whom want to live independently.
“This is not done in this way anywhere in Canada,” he said. “We are going to learn as we build it out. We’re going to learn every day about it. We’re going to make it better. But I think the proof of concept is strong. I think people are going to love it. I think families are going to love it.”
Dix said the province is building long-term care homes at such a fast pace that their openings barely attract public attention, but many people want to stay in their own homes — something the pandemic drove home, when visitors’ access to long-term care was severely restricted.
The program, with staff monitoring, is estimated to cost up to $30,000 a year per client, about a third of the approximately $90,000 it costs for an individual in public long-term care each year. In future years, participants could be required to pay for the program.
In February, federal Health Minister Mark Holland and Dix announced the province would receive $733 million over the next five years for improved access to home and community care and long-term care.
The $47 million over four years for the B.C. program dubbed LTC@home will go to long-term care partners to support implementation and operating costs, including hiring staff, acquiring technology, contracts for program monitoring and evaluation, and renovations and equipment.
Dan Levitt, B.C.͛ s seniors advocate, said the initiative will extend services typically only available in long-term care homes to older adults living in the community, while potentially reducing pressure on other areas of the health-care system.
Lana Popham, who was also at the launch, said she recalls the night she was phoned by a neighbour after her mother, who had early-onset dementia, was found, soaking wet, having wandered from her Brentwood Bay around midnight intent on going to the grocery store. Her mother died in 2017 at age 72.
“When I hear about the ways that this program is going to support people at home, especially the monitoring side, to me that resonates so deeply because I know that would have really helped my mom,” said Popham. “I would have been alerted, or somebody would have been alerted that she had left the house at an inappropriate time.”
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