In elderly service counselling in Päijät-Häme, the goal is to make high-quality, timely decisions based on the client’s actual functional abilities. The pilot launched in 2021 using MariCare’s activity sensing system demonstrated that the solution provides new, reliable data on the daily lives of older people to support decision-making. MariCare’s Elma and eLsa activity monitoring systems have become significant decision-support tools and represent a new application area within the assessment work of elderly service counselling in Päijät-Häme.

How Elma solution works?

The solution is based on radio waves and intelligent software and does not use cameras. This ensures a high level of privacy and reduces ethical concerns. An Elma sensor is installed in the bedroom to monitor time spent in bed, and, in Päijät-Häme, eLsa sensors are installed in different rooms at home.

Data is securely transmitted via a gateway to MariCare’s cloud service. Client accounts are created anonymously in the cloud service, ensuring data protection.

What information can be obtained using the Elma system?

The solution provides information on, among other things:

• overall movement and activity or inactivity
• the logical patterns of movement
• daily rhythm and nighttime activity
• number and timing of toilet visits
• time spent in bed
• kitchen activity, such as refrigerator or microwave use
• times spent outside the home
• fall alerts (not in use in service counselling in Päijät-Häme, but available for services such as home care)

How is the information obtained from Elma system utilized?

In Päijät-Häme, Elma/eLsa system is primarily used for home assessment periods, arranged as part of service needs assessment processes. Remote monitoring provides a broader and more reliable overall picture of a client’s functional ability rather than individual home visits or subjective evaluations.

Elderly service counselling team examines, for example:

• whether movement is purposeful or aimless
• whether the client is inactive, restless, or wanders around
• how much time the client spends in bed
• how is the client doing at nighttime in general
• how daily activity reflects the client’s overall functional capacity

Long-term, measured data supports well-founded, careful decisions also when assessing the need for 24-hour assisted living in a care unit.

The reliable and visual information produced by the Elma/eLsa system has proven to be valuable in cooperation with those close to the client as well. Concrete data reduces conflicting interpretations and increases trust in the decisions made.

Is the Elma system easy to install?

Service counselling professionals can independently install the devices and create or remove client accounts.

Towards more impactful and data-driven service counselling

The goal of elderly service counselling in Päijät-Häme is to improve the quality of decision-making and better align services with clients’ actual needs. Elma/eLsa system supports this goal by providing continuous, reliable, and ethically sustainable data on the everyday lives of elderly people in their home environments.

With MariCare’s solution, service counselling has gained a new perspective on clients’ functional ability, enabling services to be targeted in a timely and client-centred manner and supporting more impactful decisions in elderly care services.

“Without MariCare’s system, a service counselling professional, conducting a service needing assessment, would rely solely on information from a single assessment visit and the client’s situation at that moment. The Elma/eLsa system provides a different perspective on the client’s functional ability It is unobtrusive and discreet, while respecting the client’s privacy.”
- Riikka Leppäkorpi, home assessment team, Päijät-Häme Wellbeing Services County, Finland

Päijät-Häme home assessment team and the MariCare Home user interface.

Cooperation with Päijät-Häme has progressed in a long-term and results-driven manner. In March 2021 a pilot scheme was launched in five elderly clients’ homes, demonstrating that the solution provides genuine decision-supporting data. Based on the pilot scheme, cooperation has expanded and become a fundamental part of their home assessment practices.
– Mervi Peltonen, Business Development Manager, MariCare Oy

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