A famous economist, Robert Boyce, said, “Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied”. These words, perhaps more than any others, explain why communication during the Covid-19 crisis is more than necessary, it is critical.
In long-term care – along with illness, fear, and despair – Covid-19 has brought a constantly shifting landscape and ever evolving protocols. The frequency of communication has increased significantly, as has the number of people who must receive those communications.
Emergency communication systems, like CareQ, make communication with staff and families faster and more efficient. A single message can be sent to unlimited recipients simultaneously. Communications and their responses are tracked with time-date stamped reporting. Staff and families receive timely updates by phone, email and/or text. These updates, for many people receiving them, ease fear and stress.
Consider the experience of a North American care facility, hit particularly hard by Covid-19. With the need to keep staff updated with ever-evolving protocols and families informed about the loved ones they could not visit, this care facility invested in more communication staff as part of their reach-out efforts. Armed with family and staff contact lists, the communication staff spent days (that turned it weeks, that turned into months) on the phone calling all the stakeholders with information updates. Hundreds, if not thousands, of phone calls made only to be repeated each time the situation and protocols changed. As this facility prepares for a possible second wave of Covid-19, staff have begun to analyze and cost those communication efforts. In a time period of only twelve weeks, the costs associated with that communication effort came in at over $15 000. Those communications, while critical, provided only a list of who was contacted and when; not what was said, nor any responses to the information.
Annual subscriptions for a CareQ system come in at a fraction of that cost, providing more communication channels, increased efficiency, and time-date stamped records. If knowledge is power and knowledge shared is power multiplied, CareQ empowers staff and family with information when they need it the most. The dollars and the sense of it are clear.