Service helps ‘Connect’ loved ones in long-term care By Chris Bournea in ThisWeek Community Newspapers-Upper Arlington - July 8, 2009
Service helps ‘Connect’ loved ones in long-term care
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:33 PM
By CHRIS BOURNEA
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Four former school buddies from Upper Arlington have formed a service that makes it easier for families to receive regular updates about loved ones who are in long-term care facilities.
Connect for Healthcare is a subscription-based Web service that uses Internet, e-mail and text messaging to help family members track the progress of parents, grandparents and other relatives in nursing homes and other facilities, said co-founder Neil Moore of Upper Arlington.
“Most lawsuits in long-term care are triggered by the failure of the providers to communicate with the family,” said Moore.
Before launching Connect for Healthcare in February, Moore spent 17 years developing information technology systems to improve patient safety in medical facilities. Moore said he was inspired to create Connect for Healthcare after witnessing numerous encounters in which family members would call for patient updates, only to be given little or no information.
“I sat there and I watched this happen and I thought, ‘This is a problem,’” Moore said. “I’ve been the guy on the other side of the phone.”
Recognizing that many long-term care providers are often overwhelmed, Moore and his business partners set out to create a structured system to provide regular updates to concerned family members.
Moore teamed up with old friends who grew up with him in Upper Arlington — Jason Long, Jim Davis and Craig Gordon — to design and market Connect for Healthcare. Through the service, subscribers pay a monthly fee to receive weekly electronic updates about patients from long-term care providers.
The software enables providers to quickly fill out electronic forms tracking patients’ eating, sleeping, temperament and other indicators and send updates to families.
“If the family gets regular, documented updates from the provider,” said Moore. “The care for their loved one is better.”
Lori Storey, operations manager at Upper Arlington-based home health care agency Right At Home, said Connect for Healthcare makes it easier for her to keep families informed about how patients are doing.
“I think it’s a wonderful service,” Storey said. “The clients that we have on it, their families really appreciate that extra touch.”
Connect for Healthcare saves families the trouble of taking time out of busy schedules to call and check in on relatives, Storey said.
“It makes connecting with family members just a touch away instead of trying to get phone calls while they’re at work,” she said.
There are 3.2 million people in long-term care and an estimated 35 percent of Americans age 65 and older will receive some form of nursing-home care in their lifetimes, according to AARP.
With an increasingly mobile society and more people living farther away from parents, grandparents and extended family, Moore expects a growing demand for services like Connect for Healthcare.
For more information, visit Connect4healthcare.com.
