Many of us are grappling with providing care for aging parents or loved ones. Due to a profound demographic shift with an aging boomer generation, families and professional care providers are facing a significant shortage of caregivers for an exploding number of older adults.
This is a problem that Jessica Yang, Co-founder and CEO of Tochtech Technologies, was experiencing in her life, as she was trying to support and care for her aging parents from afar. Realizing this would become a global challenge, she used her tech and AI experience and co-founded Tochtech. The innovative, award-winning solutions Tochtech has designed and built focuses on supporting seniors’ independence and enabling remote caregiving through better communication and connection.
We sat down with Yang to learn more about Tochtech and how their innovative technology – which has been implemented in Trellis Seniors’ care sites in North Vancouver, Kamloops and Sechelt – will help enable personalized and improved quality of care, which will contribute positively to the wellbeing and quality of life of residents.
There are a lot of seniors’ technology products. Tell us about why Tochtech is different?
JY: While it is expected that the caregiving environment will be rich in technology, along with that there also needs to be an emphasis on human connection, privacy and ethics. Additionally, concerns are often raised that the use of technology in caring for seniors could add to an unintentional increase of isolation and loneliness.
With these concerns in mind, Tochtech’s solutions have been designed and built with a number of factors in mind. We focus on non-invasive, non-contact and non-wearable innovation. We want to make technology as easy and as seamless as possible, not expecting the older adult user to change their behaviour when using the technology. We understand wearables are a challenge because older adults often forget to wear the device when they may need it most such as when they fall, or may forget to charge the device.
Our solutions also focus on better connecting caregivers with seniors and, keeping caregivers informed of the safety and wellness of their loved ones when they cannot be with them. Family caregivers more often than not are remote, and so enabling the feeling of connection helps reduce the feeling of isolation for older adults which is today a major issue faced by seniors. It is also important to us that our solutions are developed without compromising privacy and ethics concerns.
Last but not least is the value of the information we are able to provide from the data collected by our innovative solutions. Take for example our Toch Sleepsense bed exit and sleep monitoring device that sits under the leg or wheel of the bed. It is a non-invasive device yet provides valuable and critical information to caregivers that can make a significant difference in the safety and wellbeing of seniors. Clients who are using Toch Sleepsense in long term care homes have been able to improve the quality of sleep of residents by 35% and reduce falls of their resident population by 38%.
Why was the company founded?
JY: Tochtech which was started in 2014, was founded based on a problem my business partner and I were experiencing in our lives. Like many of the people we knew, we were trying to support and care for aging parents from afar. Realizing this a global challenge we decided to use our tech and AI experience to start Tochtech. The technology solutions Tochtech has designed and built is focused on supporting seniors’ independence and enabling remote caregiving through better communication and connection. While we recognize the human touch will always be important in caregiving, technology can play an important role.
Why is this sort of technology so important right now?
JY: As we know the world is experiencing profound demographic shifts where the boomer generation with fewer children than parents, are altering our capacity to care for our older loved one. Families and professional care providers are grappling with a significant shortage of caregivers for an exploding number of older adults. In the US alone, 10,000 seniors reach the age of 65 each day, with more reaching this threshold every day for the next 19 years. This, coupled with longer life spans, families that are more geographically dispersed and more women in the workforce, has led to a growing care gap with the ratio of caregivers for each senior reducing from 7.2 to 2.9 per senior.
The eldercare industry has been highly dependant on labour and is now at a crossroads. To help fill this gap, innovation and technology can play a role. Technologies like sensors and apps are helping family and professional caregivers support and care for seniors. The IoT and advances in artificial intelligence are offering enhanced safety and a preventative care approach in the eldercare market.
What are Tochtech’s growth plans?
JY: We are currently in a major growth phase and feel extremely fortunate. We are working with eldercare and healthcare businesses in North America, UK, Australia and namely Japan, China and Thailand in Asia. We are always looking for partners to help grow our markets and who are as passionate as we are in transforming the eldercare industry.
You recently announced that Trellis is implementing Tochtech’s “bed exit and sleep monitoring platform” across three sites in North Vancouver, Kamloops and Sechelt, which will provide the technology to more than 430 long-term care beds. What is the significance of this announcement and do you have other partnerships in development?
JY: Trellis’ investment in Sleepsense for every bed at their homes, 438 in all is a strong signal from a premier care provider of their confidence in the Sleepsense solution. It is also a strong indication that the industry is realizing the benefits of technology and innovation and their willingness to accept new ways of doing things. Trellis is one of the largest clients in our growing portfolio of Sleepsense users, and represents a milestone in our growth. We have a number of exciting partnership at various stages of development, but I am not able to offer specifics at this time. I can say that these partnerships in development will be key in the growth of the company.
What inspires you and keeps you innovating?
JY: What inspires me is how much there needs to be done to better support older adults as they age and to support caregiver who are overstretched. This is not just a local issue, it is a global issue that all government are struggling with. Technology and innovation is new to the eldercare industry and we are at this time just scraping the surface. The eldercare industry has been highly labour dependent, and based on routines – all seniors are treated at the same level of care. We now have the ability to provide valuable data and insights to help caregivers personalize care for seniors. This is especially critical when we are grappling with a shortage of trained staff
I am passionate about making a difference in the transformation of the industry. Caregivers will never go away, they are key. However, technology and innovation can make a difference in supporting them.
What is Tochtech’s long-term plan for supporting the government’s goal to help seniors age in place?
JY: Our currently products align perfectly with the government’s goal to have older adults age in place, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with all levels of government. Our Vericare platform, a remote monitoring platform is sensor based, with AI algorithms able to learn the activities of daily living of a senior in the home. When the system detects something out of the ordinary it will issue alerts to caregivers so that they can check in on the senior. The data from the platform also provides caregiver with health insights, allowing them to be proactive in their intervention reducing the risk of a major health event. This platform was piloted by a prominent senior home provider last year with much success. 90% of the senior participants surveyed reported that they felt confident that they got the care they needed with this project. Pilot participants were very interested in their data and felt more empowered in their health outcomes. I feel this is exactly what the government is looking to achieve.
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