The Case for investing in Paraglide in Nova Scotia’s Continuing Care sector

 

With increasing demands and workload challenges in the continuing care sector in Nova Scotia, all hands are on deck to find innovative solutions to help reduce the burdens placed on caregivers while maintaining or improving the quality of care offered.

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Paraglide offers a technology-based solution to some of the continuing care sector’s challenges. We believe an investment in Paraglide could offset costs immediately and down the road – while also making the workplace safer for staff, offering new data to inform care decisions, and making daily life more comfortable and dignified for Nova Scotians receiving care.

 

Paraglide aligns with several recommendations in the Minister’s Expert Advisory Panel on Long Term Care report (Dec. 2018)

 

How Paraglide aligns with the report's Key Themes

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• Dignity & Privacy of Residents
  If someone is able to use the remote control on their own, Paraglide gives them the independence to reposition in their wheelchair, whenever they want, as often as they’d like, at the touch of a button. No waiting for someone to come reposition them. If someone is unable to use the remote control on their own, the repositioning is still more dignified than current methods of being hoisted up in an overhead lift or being pulled up by the armpits or belt loops. Paraglide offers dignity and independence to anyone who spends time in their wheelchair.
   

• Well-being of Residents
  Imagine being stuck in an uncomfortable position, waiting for someone to help move you into a more comfortable position -- every day, multiple times per day. Our test users repositioned themselves 8-15 times per day, meaning they were able to relieve their discomfort every 30-60 minutes on their own.
   

• Complexity & Individuality of Residents
  Do you have someone whose skin integrity is in question? Worried about pressure injuries forming? Paraglide allows you to set customized alerts on the remote control, allowing visual and audible alerts to reposition someone every hour, as recommended by the Mayo Clinic as a best practice to prevent the formation of pressure injuries, or at an interval decided by the care team.
   

• Prevention
  The repetitive, awkward task of repositioning residents is a leading cause of musculoskeletal injuries in the health care sector. Paraglide offers an automated solution that completely eliminates the risk of injury to staff. We’ve also been told by folks in the continuing care sector that they believe Paraglide could help prevent pressure injuries by allowing continuous movement and shifting of pressure throughout the day, help improve digestion by improving someone’s posture while eating, reduce pain and the need for pain medication… all things we can’t yet quantify, but would love to find out once Paraglides are out in the community and care facilities for a period of time.
   

• Accountability
  Paraglide’s technology offers a built-in ability to track how long someone spends in their wheelchair, the number of times a person is repositioned in their chair and how long they spend in one position between repositions. This data, never before captured, gives care teams new information to help manage skin health programs and provide transparency within the teams and to families about the resident’s repositioning throughout the day.
   

• Safety
  Paraglide helps you manage risk for residents in a compassionate way.

 

 

We also believe Paraglide can be a tool to address some of the report’s specific recommendations, specifically:

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3.1 Implement the recommendations from the Nova Scotia Long Term Care Pressure Injury Prevention Strategy (2018)

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3.3 Establish a “train the trainer” multidisciplinary bedside program (e.g., wound care) to ensure staff have the practical training needed to observe and respond to resident needs.

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5.5 Acquire better data and information to drive system action and decision making.

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5.6 Invest in equipment and technology to ensure safety and security for residents and staff

Paraglide offers never-before-captured data and alert systems to meet the need for increased surveillance to prevent pressure injuries, contributing to a more informed and responsive wound care management program. It improves resident quality of care and of life, supports the workforce to provide the best care, and improves system accountability.

 

Contact us to find out more about how Paraglide can:

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• Help your facility or home care service improve the quality of life of your residents/clients
   

• Offer new data, surveillance, alerts and transparency in your wound care management programs
   

• Offer your workforce a better way to reposition residents and clients, eliminating their risk of injury

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