Idea
The RaMo System is a simple yet effective infrastructural tool that - within the context of an elderly home - directly links the needs and choices of the residents to the staff. It also instantly serves important information, activities and opportunities that the elderly home provides for the people who live there.
Context
Our field research shows that the communication between the elderly home, residents and the outside world is generally poor. The elderly should be able to choose between all the opportunities the elderly home provides (e.g. food, activities, events) as they are complaining that they able to control their situation.
Currently, the caretakers communicate and coordinate shifts, specific residents’ needs and activities via oral messages and paper. This consumes a lot of time and is not an effective use of manpower.
Design Process
After brainstorming, we interviewed the elderly people and staff, then created storyboards, paper prototypes, a video prototype and a video scenario.
How does it work?
We wanted to create a system that would optimise the information flow between residents and staff, but also between the elderly home itself and the ‘outside world’.
The RaMo System is composed of 3 main tools:
1. Resident Agenda Planner
- Answer to memory loss and autonomy issues
- Social connection with the outside world (family and friends) and the inside world (elderly home). It allows the elderly to choose food menus, activities, in a simple way - and allows them to keep the date/time context under control
2. Staff Portable Device
- Constantly updated with the Resident Agenda Planner data so it provides the right information at the right time
- Improves the staff workflow to allow them to focus more on the residents
3. Central Hub / Elderly Home Database
- Implementation of elderly choices about food, activities…
- Up-to-date caretaker knowledge of a residents’ habits, needs, therapies
- Better coordination between the staff
- Better coordination between the organisations that work for the elderly home
