An app for the elderly
For 70-year-old Venkatarayan, who had worked in Mumbai for more than four decades and is a resident of Covai Soundaryam for the last six years, a smart phone is not new.
Apart from using apps for purchases, banking, etc, he now calls for services at the retirement community through an app.
Covai Property Centre:
Covai Property Centre, which maintains and provides services at the community, developed a mobile app for its residents last year through its IT partner, Innovative Solutions.
The Soundaryam project has 130 villas and 156 residents. The average age of residents of Soundaryam is 75 to 80 years and there are three above 90. Venkatarayan is among the 30 regular users of the app. At its retirement community at Annur, there are 81 houses and 150 residents. The app will be introduced there too shortly.
Technology:
According to B. Prajosh , vice president – services of Covai Property, an entire IT infrastructure has been developed including QR codes, the app, and a database of the residents’ details.
Though the residents have the option of calling up over phone for services such as food, housekeeping, carpentry, etc, they can also download the app and send out alerts.
The app has categories such as billing, transport, events, kitchen, and residents’ profile. If a resident had asked for food to be served at home, the personnel doing it will have to scan the QR code at the entrance of the house and it will indicate the service provided, time taken, etc. The number of follow up calls by residents has come down and all alerts are attended to in a day, he says.
The profile of the residents is stored on the cloud and it is easy to call up their relatives or friends if there is an emergency.
The services and processes involved in providing the services have been integrated through the solution.
Mr. Venkatarayan says it is now easier to ask for maintenance or dining service, get a confirmation, know the schedule, and the completion alert. The management has been taking the feedback of the residents on the app, he said.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/an-app-for-the-elderly/article23507518.ece?utm_source=tp-tamilnadu&utm_medium=sticky_footer