Technology Pavilion -- Hopes to Reinvent Senior Living

“TECHNOLOGY PAVILION” HOPES TO REINVENT SENIOR LIVING
By Melanie Jongsma, Director of Communications
Providence Life Services

Chicago, Ill. (March24–26, 2010) – “Obviously, we’re passionate about technology,” says Carl Goodfriend, CIO of ProviNET Solutions, a technology and service provider headquartered in Tinley Park, Illinois. “But it’s not just the technology itself that gets us excited. It’s what technology can do for people. Technology is a tool to enhance relationships.”

Goodfriend is bringing that spirit of relationship-building to the Technology Pavilion his company will be hosting with Life Services Network (LSN) at this year’s conference on Navy Pier, March 24–26. The LSN Conference is an annual opportunity for people in the senior living and senior healthcare field to re-connect with colleagues, visit vendors, and attend seminars that help them sharpen their skills. The Technology Pavilion will offer similar opportunities, with a technology focus.

Christopher Laxton, President of LSN, expressed enthusiasm for this new venture. “Our new Technology Pavilion will showcase emerging and existing technologies that can improve the everyday lives of seniors,” he said.

“There are a lot of new, emerging technologies that promise to reinvent the way seniors can live independently,” agrees Goodfriend. “The Technology Pavilion is a place for senior care providers to become aware of these options. It’s also a forum where technology providers can build relationships with each other — which sometimes inspires more new technologies!”

ProviNET Solutions is the technology division of Providence Life Services, a company celebrating 50 years of senior services. For the past four years, ProviNET and Providence have put special emphasis on researching technologies, conducting pilots with technology vendors, and hosting forums where such vendors can learn from each other and keep developing solutions that will enhance the lives of end users and their families.

One result of these forums and pilot programs is that ProviNET Solutions is now beginning to introduce various technology components in the Providence Life Services communities they support. “Our perspective is that these are ‘technologies for life, for living,’” says Goodfriend. “There are many existing technologies that are specifically designed to help seniors age in place, allowing them to remain socially connected as well as remotely and discretely monitored, for example.”

Richard Schutt, CEO of Providence Life Services, is also familiar with both the science side of technology and the human side. He got his start in healthcare at Providence Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Palos Heights, Illinois. He has never forgotten his face-to-face interactions with residents and their families, and all the emotions that are part of the aging process. As CEO now, he continues to draw from those emotional, human interactions, and he allowed those influences to inform his vision as one of the co-founders of Centers for Aging Services and Technologies (CAST).

“The technologies we’ve embraced today are truly advanced,” says Schutt, “but the spirit that drives them is very human. If technology is not relieving anxiety, improving health outcomes, increasing safety, or enhancing communication, we’re probably not interested in it.”

Goodfriend hopes the Technology Pavilion, which is co-sponsored by GE Healthcare and Intel, will make people aware that many beneficial technologies already exist today and can be implemented immediately. “There are 2,700 expected attendees at this year’s LSN Conference,” he says. “We hope that many of them will visit the Pavilion and see for themselves how existing products can improve the lives of the people they are serving right now.”

Providence Life Services and ProviNET Solutions are headquartered at 18601 North Creek Drive in Tinley Park, Illinois. For more information, Carl Goodfriend can be contacted at carlg@provinet.com or 708-342-8100. Or visit www.providencelifeservices.com or www.provinet.com.

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