Beatitudes background
Beatitudes Campus is a vibrant senior living community committed to helping seniors and retirees enjoy healthy, fulfilling and happy lives. In 1965, Beatitudes Campus began as a unique kind of retirement living community, combining senior living, healthcare and a holistic approach to wellness. They are located at 1610 W. Glendale Ave., Phoenix, Arizona.
Beatitudes’ goals
With multi-denominational spiritual offerings, healthy living opportunities and frequent community activities, Beatitudes’ mission is to provide opportunities for all of its residents to find everything they need to live a mentally- , physically- and spiritually-fulfilling lifestyle.
But as with any neighborhood, there can be gaps where neighbors are sticking with the same social circles, feeling disconnected during “off-hours” or simply not finding activities or lessons they truly want to engage with. Beatitudes was in need of a solution that met three main goals:
- Increase overall resident engagement
- Stream internal activities to members and non-members
- Offer programs and activities during times where staff resources are minimal and residents are bored
Televeda’s solution
Beatitudes’ hope was that Televeda’s diverse digital streaming solutions would help them meet all three of these goals and ultimately elicit high resident ratings in their independent surveys (Halloran). With that in mind, we kicked off our pilot program at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday – this is a peak “dead zone” time for the campus during which residents aren’t occupied with other community activities and typically keep to themselves.
Beatitudes elected to move forward with our flagship Empowered Living program, a class that combines music fitness, brain games and group activities for a total of 60 minutes of interactive engagement. Our easy-to-use streaming platform makes it possible for individuals to virtually join classes and interact with their peers through video.
To that end, Televeda and Beatitudes started a pilot program on April 25th, 2019 to study the impact realtime communications could help augmenting resident engagement.
Outcome and success
A total of 44 residents participated in our program, and after 9 weeks, participants reported feeling exponentially more engaged and more interconnected.
The average difference between baseline mood and follow-up mood recordings over the 9-week period is 2.14 (56.94% improved mood). The average baseline mood was close to 3.75 which was “mildly happy mood” on the scale, while the average follow-up mood was 1.61 which was “moderately happy mood,” indicating organic improvements in moods and engagement after every class.
This exceptional resident satisfaction was only multiplied by the resulting staffing efficiencies, cost savings and competitive advantages for the campus as a whole. To top it all off, the mood scores and survey results were glowing – so much so that Beatitudes ultimately made the decision to partner with Televeda long-term.
The success of the pilot program resulted in five key outcomes:
More efficient staff
As previously discussed, one of Beatitudes’ main pain points was a staffing shortage on weekends that limited their ability to offer any programs or activities on Saturdays and Sundays. With the introduction of Televeda’s Saturday program, residents finally had something to look forward to during their typically slow afternoons.
Memory Care staff, who are traditionally overworked, especially felt the positive impact of Televeda. While MC residents were busy enjoying our programs, staff were freed up to focus on other issues. It was seen that one class at Assisted Living could be streamed and participated simultaneously by members in Assisted Living, Independent Living & Memory Care facilities alike. This efficiency provides more care-giver respite and ability to focus on other core functions.
Inter-mingling of residents from different communities
Historically, Beatitudes residents from different communities haven’t frequently co-mingled – Assisted Living residents would stick with each other, Independent Living residents would keep to themselves, and so on. That finally changed with the introduction of Televeda. For the first time, AL and IL residents were sharing a space and connecting with each other in ways staff simply hadn’t seen before.
For instance, two people of Polish descent who had been living in Beatitudes for over a year (one in AL and the other in IL) were able to connect with each other for the first time in class and became fast friends. This is just one of many interactions that Televeda’s programs initiated between different communities, and Beatitudes staff is excited to watch this progress.
Cost savings
In the past, Beatitudes’ programs would be facilitated in each of the three different communities by three different instructors. Now, one single class can be streamed at all three locations simultaneously. This saves significant time and money for the campus while simultaneously increasing resident satisfaction and engagement – a win-win for all parties involved.
Engagement on and off campus
The impact of Televeda on resident engagement on-campus is undeniable – as discussed, residents began co-mingling, participating in activities during historically slow times of the week and feeling happier overall. But this satisfaction also trickled into their lives off-campus – for instance, we saw one resident joining a class from a friend’s house while he was out on a break. We predict that this type of effortless off-campus engagement will have a huge impact on Beatitudes’ long-term retention and resident satisfaction.
Competitive advantage among similar communities
The introduction of streamed programming puts Beatitudes at a significant advantage over competing senior living communities. Most communities offer a limited amount of basic in-person activities, but Televeda enables Beatitudes to offer more diverse programming options, more easily. In fact, friends and family members of residents have even popped in to check out our classes and have been impressed by this innovation.
But of course, the ultimate marker of success is resident satisfaction. Community members were thrilled to have been able to participate in an activity that strengthened their minds and bodies all while creating opportunities for them to build positive relationships with their neighbors. Resident Betty D. said she “loves the interactions and camaraderie that Empowered Living brings” as well as “the energy of the class,” while resident Helen H. raved that she loves how it keeps her moving.
Conclusion
Televeda is excited to continue working with Beatitudes as we strive to empower even more of their residents to reap the social, personal and health benefits of our programs. With this new long-term partnership, we will continue to release even more innovative content that will help the campus exceed more and more of their goals.
“Televeda’s classes have been a rousing success from the get-go,” says Jon Schilling, director of Life Enrichment at Beatitudes. “Residents are looking forward to the classes every week. They love the energy of the instructors and are most excited about challenging their mind through the brain games. They feel a sense of accomplishment.
“Most importantly, the platform has made socialization more accessible to our residents, as they are now able to participate virtually from anywhere on the Campus,” he continued. “This helps us provide maximum resident engagement. The platform is easy-to-use and Televeda’s team provides all of the tech support, onboarding and training to the residents, which is very helpful because it makes adoption easy for residents and shifts the burden away from our staff. Televeda earns my highest recommendation.”