3 Ways Assisted Living Security Keeps Loved Ones Safe

As CEO & Director of Development at Goodworks Unlimited, Gary Keckley knows the importance of safety and security when choosing residential care for senior family members.

Thousands of families trust Goodworks Unlimited to care for their senior family members at one of their 26 assisted living facilities across Tennessee and Kentucky. That’s why Goodworks partners with ACT to ensure the safety of all of their residents.

Keckley always follows the advice of ACT Security when planning for a new facility. That was especially true for their newest facility, Carrick Glen, in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. As a transitional care facility, Carrick Glen includes independent living, assisted living and a memory care wing — all on the same property.

For this project, ACT had to consider how to design a unified but flexible security system that considered the varying needs and abilities of residents across multiple assisted living settings.

Integrating Security Across Multiple Assisted Living Settings

Here’s a look at how ACT addressed the unique security needs for the varying resident populations at Carrick Glen:

Independent Living

Carrick Glen’s independent living facility includes 30 separate townhouse-style residences on private streets called “villas.”

Because residents live on their own and have control over their own cooking and laundry facilities, ACT provides residents with security features that keep them safe while maintaining their independence:

• Wireless pendants with call button. Residents wear a call button on a pendant around their necks. With the touch of a button, residents can get immediate assistance from nurses in the assisted living facility.
• Comprehensive fire alarm systems. To keep residents safe from fire, each villa is equipped with smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. When the detector alarm goes off, it triggers a low frequency audible message in the villa and sends a wireless signal to the staff pagers in the assisted living facility. The staff at the assisted living facility check on that resident to determine if it’s necessary to notify emergency responders.

Assisted Living

In the assisted living facility, some residents are ambulatory, some use wheelchairs and others have very limited mobility. Because of this diverse population of physical abilities and medical conditions, ACT installed a wide range of technologies to keep residents safe:

• Door contacts on perimeter doors. All doors that open to the outside have a door contact that connects with the nurse call system. This system notifies staff when a door opens or closes after hours.
• Wireless pendants. Residents at risk of injury or who are prone to wandering wear wireless pendant transmitters around their necks so they can send a nurse call from anywhere, anytime. Staff members receive notifications on their pocket pagers and central computer so the closest staff member can respond.
• Emergency Pull Stations. Emergency cords mounted to the walls in all bathrooms allow residents to call for help if they slip and fall in the bathroom or shower.

Memory Care

Many residents of the memory care wing are physically healthy and may not need as much access to specialized medical assistance. However, the biggest concern for memory care patients is controlling their ability to leave the facility unsupervised.

If they exit on their own, they may face danger outside of the building or forget how to return. That’s why access control was our biggest goal for this population.

We incorporated the following security measures for residents in the security wing:

• Access control. The memory care area is a secured wing inside the assisted living building. Staff members can gain access to the wing through a card reader. For visitors to gain admittance to the area, they enter a pin number into a keypad that unlocks the door.
• Motion Detectors.  Patient rooms also include motion sensors to track movement at night. These motion detectors can help staff respond to patients who need to use the restroom or may fall in the darkness.
• Separate entrance and emergency exit. The memory care wing has a secure entrance and a secure exit with delayed egress to keep residents from leaving unattended.
• Digital network cameras. The memory care area has cameras viewing this part of the facility to make sure that the residents are being well cared for and kept safe.

Why Goodworks Unlimited Trusts ACT for Assisted Living Security

Carrick Glen is just one of the Goodworks Unlimited facilities ACT has support with specialized technology and security.

Contact us to create a customized security plan to meet the unique needs of your assisted living, retirement, skilled nursing or long-term care facility.