Rochester, N.Y. – Jewish Senior Life (JSL) had the rare honor of receiving both silver and bronze awards in McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards for Dignity through Technology, which recognizes a facility or community that harnessed technology to improve the level of dignity its residents enjoy.
The silver honor was given to JSL’s Scan-Dent system, which uses radio frequency embedded in dentures, eyeglasses and hearing aids to track when these often-lost items end up in the trash or laundry. Scan-Dent was implemented at the Jewish Home of Rochester, where an alarm sounds whenever a tagged item comes into the central trash room or laundry room, allowing it to be located before it can be thrown out or run through the washer, saving the user hundreds or thousands of dollars to replace the items. Additional technology allows residents to employ a handheld transmitter to locate the misplaced tagged item in their rooms.
JSL’s dining program received bronze honors for its revolutionary use of aesthetics in presenting puréed foods. As an organization with many residents who keep kosher, JSL developed its own kosher molded and puréed food program for observant residents who need a puréed diet. The culinary team used the Alto-Shaam Combitherm CombiOven to prepare kosher, nutritious, molded and shaped puréed foods. The combination oven and steamer allows the molded and shaped items to be cooked thoroughly and maintain moisture while being presented in an aesthetically pleasing assemblage that makes mealtime an enjoyable experience. Using the organization’s electronic medical record system, JSL staff was able to track data relevant to those in the puréed foods program. Results thus far have showed a 30 percent
increase in stable weights for residents.
“Jewish Senior Life is focused on providing the best quality of life to our residents. Situations in which essential items are lost, or residents are required to eat only puréed food, can lead to feelings of anxiousness, discomfort and a loss of dignity,” said Travis Masonis, Chief Information Officer at JSL. “We aim is to utilize the most state-of-the-art technology to keep our residents comfortable so they can turn their attention to enjoying their time in our residences.”
McKnight’s Long-Term Care News is a business news magazine serving the institutional long-term care field. Its Assisted Living magazine presents articles and departments that offer assisted living managers strategies to improve operations, based on the regulatory and business changes occurring in the marketplace.
About Jewish Senior Life:
Serving people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds, Jewish Senior Life is guided by the values of honoring family and emphasizing aging in place—allowing people to remain in the place of their choice longer. Jewish Senior Life is a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), offering all levels of care from independent living to skilled nursing care on a single campus:
- The Summit at Brighton for independent living;
- Wolk Manor for assisted living;
- The Lodge at Wolk Manor for assisted living memory care;
- The Jewish Home of Rochester for long-term, transitional, and memory care;
- Transitional Care at the Jewish Home for short-term rehabilitation;
- Atkin Center for Outpatient Rehabilitation;
- Marian’s House daytime retreat for those with memory loss; and
- a variety of community programs and services such as Living Well Companion Care and Physician House Calls that enable people to age and live safely, either on campus or another place that they call home.
Jewish Senior Life is the only senior care provider in the Rochester area to offer Life Care, a program which eliminates worries about unforeseen care needs and medical expenses throughout the full continuum of care.
Jewish Senior Life is CARF accredited for its high quality and customer satisfaction, and has been named a 2017 Top Workplace by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Jewish Senior Life is a member of the Alliance for Senior Care of Greater Rochester, Leading Age, Leading Age New York, and the Association of Jewish Agency Services.
For more information, please visit www.jewishseniorlife.org.
