Finding meaning and purpose is a basic human right every Senior Living resident should attain daily. This fundamental principle has always been key to the Validation Training Institute (VTI) and its partner, Linked Senior.
The key to enabling purpose with people living with cognitive change is quality engagement. It is long proven that engagement is key to quality of life and positive outcomes for our nation’s Senior Living residents. This was never more apparent than in recent years, as we saw first-hand the detrimental effect of loneliness, helplessness, and boredom and the positive impact of our efforts to increase connections, purpose, and joy.
Linked Senior has long been committed to supporting person-centered care through life enrichment and dementia engagement using simple technology and non-drug therapy. Our partnership with VTI is incredibly valuable to this work, both in staying connected to thought leadership, research, and best practices in dementia care.
Charles de Vilmorin founded Linked Senior in 2006 and has had a lifelong passion for older adults, starting with members of his own family and experience dealing with loved ones who had Alzheimer’s disease. He firmly believes and spreads the word that “old people are cool!” He and his team at Linked Senior are working to change the experience of aging, enabling the model of social prescription, designing technology solutions to bring purpose to every elder.
The Linked Senior platform is simple, scalable, effective, and affordable. It helps communities engage all residents and meet their needs, no matter where they are physically or cognitively. Residents, family, and staff have access to unlimited and constantly refreshed evidence-based content delivered through a touch-screen app.
It’s use has proven to enable care partner to spend more quality time with older adults enabling longer and better time spent together – often use towards Validation goals!
Real-time reports enable engagement management and staff support, and data analytics provide a clear view of resident needs and how to address them. Additionally, each client gets their own Relationship Manager for personalized support for technical assistance and engagement best practices.
Every Story Speaks Volumes
Because each community—and each resident—is unique, the Linked Senior platform enables meaningful customization. For instance, clients can use music to help improve a resident’s mood or as part of entertainment programs for a group of residents. Linked Senior also can be used to enable residents to enjoy reminiscing, religious cognitive and many other person-directed programs, ultimately allowing care partners to meet the older adult wherever they are.
Knowing what programming, events, and activities will resonate with each person requires knowing that individual and their story. Linked Senior recently introduced its Life Story tool to help staff, family, and volunteers see people holistically, beyond just their medical needs, which enables care to be individualized and person-centered. For instance, someone who showed championship Welsh Corgis for many years may love programming that involves videos of dog shows and corgis playing and going through agility courses.
Anyone who works in senior living knows how important life enrichment is to residents. At any age and in any situation, people have basic human needs—companionship, a sense of purpose, and things that bring them quality of life. Numerous studies have documented the value of engagement. For instance, Linked Senior received funding from Baycrest in Toronto to research resident engagement. The study found that being highly engaged in recreation activity is associated with increased cognitive functioning and social engagement as well as decreased aggression and antipsychotic medication use. The researchers also found that involvement in these activities resulted in a 20% decrease in antipsychotic medication use, an 18% decrease in aggressive behaviors, a 20% increase in social engagement, and a 3% increase in cognitive function.
Linked Senior is honored to partner with VTI and is excited to bring the third Validation World Congress titled “Connecting Heart to Heart with People Living with Cognitive Change,” which will take place on Feb. 20 from 12 to 4 PM Eastern. This special event will bridge the gap between the person living with cognitive change, their care partner and support VTI in continuing the legacy of its founder, Naomi Feil.
Here is the link to more details and registration: https://activitiesstrong.com/validation-world-congress-2024/