“Everything we do is about streamlining our processes and being efficient, and making sure the care we provide seniors is forefront,” says Lucy Boxrud, President of Elysian Senior Homes, Minnesota-based senior housing management company.

That positive, can-do outlook is one of the many reasons Elysian Senior Homes is among the most highly-regarded senior housing companies in the state. The organization has a strong reputation for offering a comfortable home and using technology to provide best-in-class support for residents.

Elysian was the first senior living community in Minnesota to install Caavo’s TV-based communication system for residents. The organization first installed Caavo in its Downtown Plaza location in Red Wing, MN. 

As an active adult, independent living community, Downtown Plaza operates with extremely limited staff. Elysian’s leaders wanted a way to support residents in maintaining their independent function, while preserving its staff ratio. 

Deploying Caavo achieved this goal and more. Using Caavo’s TV-based system, Downtown Plaza residents can now request non-urgent assistance from the comfort of their own apartments using familiar TV technology. No more waiting for office hours, or submitting slips of paper to the office manager.

After the success at Downtown Plaza, Elysian was excited to introduce Caavo to residents in its Senior Homes of Lake City assisted living community. 

“When we really looked at what residents [in Lake City] were needing, it was things as simple as…TV issues and other non-emergent calls,” Lucy shares. 

Melissa Greene, EVP at Elysian, also saw big potential for better using the biggest screens in her resident’s apartments — she envisioned TV as a way to connect with residents and better support their needs.

At Lake City, residents often relied upon their pendants to alert staff of any issues or needs, even if it wasn't a time critical emergency. Whether they wanted to lower their TV volume and couldn’t figure out how, or their sink was dripping too loudly, these constant non-emergent pendant presses took staff away from other vital community tasks. And it was taking its toll on care and wellness staff members, who were constantly on high alert from responding to so many pendant presses.

Elysian sought out Caavo as a solution to help alleviate staff’s pendant fatigue while helping residents remain independent. The result has been a big win for Lake City’s staff because they’re able to shift non-emergent requests to less busy times. 

Residents are happily adopting the new tools as well. “Our residents have embraced technology. We encourage them to be a part of technology to help streamline the care they receive,” said Lucy. 

Equipped with Caavo’s all-in-one voice remote, Lake City’s residents can now request assistance from various staff and departments, like the front desk or maintenance. The requests are automatically routed to the appropriate staff or manager, saving unnecessary room visits. 

Caavo’s built-in communication features give residents more visibility into the status of their requests, which gives them peace of mind (and reduces calls to the front desk). Staff can use the Caavo system to check in with residents and get more details about a request by sending chat messages to their TV. They can alert residents that a request was received and will be handled shortly. Once the task has been completed, the request is marked “resolved” so staff and residents know that assistance is no longer needed, and everything has been handled. 

Pendants are now reserved for true emergencies, and staff can tend to non-urgent requests at less-busy times, leaving them to (happily) focus on value-added tasks. And residents can rest easies knowing that their non-urgent requests will be answered.

Watch Lucy’s interview to see Caavo in action and hear her talk about how Caavo has helped mitigate Elysian’s unbillable and non-urgent resident demands.