ALEXANDRIA, VA - The "American Boomers" series on the NBC Nightly News last night featured an assisted living community that uses wireless technology to enhance resident safety and quality care, while also allowing family members to monitor their loved ones via a secure Web site 24/7.

Oatfield Estates, near Portland, Oregon, utilizes resident monitoring technology that includes an extensive system of cameras and sensors throughout the community. Residents may opt to wear a badge that allows their families and Oatfield Estates care staff to monitor and track their whereabouts and what they are doing at all times. When residents take off their badges at night, sensors attached to beds, sometimes referred to as "bedbugs," alert care staff that the resident is out of bed. Approximately two-thirds of the residents at Oatfield Estates have dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

"The technology will help us manage the community but also give residents freedoms that they might not otherwise have," said Lydia Lundberg, the owner of Oatfield Estates. One resident interviewed for the segment said she credits the monitoring system with saving her life after experiencing a serious fall.

"Oatfield Estates and other assisted living providers around the country are demonstrating the positive role that technology plays in the delivery of quality care for America's seniors who reside in assisted living communities, said ALFA President & CEO Richard P. Grimes. In addition to being an innovative approach toward achieving quality care, this technology provides families with new ways of staying connected in the lives of their loved ones who call assisted living communities home." 

ALFA applauds Oatfield Estates and the many ALFA members around the country that are employing the latest technological advances to enhance quality resident care and family relations.

Assisted Living Executive, ALFA's member-only magazine, featured resident monitoring technology in assisted living in a recent issue ("Safety First," October 2005). Members can access the article in the Publications & Reports section of the ALFA Web site.

About the Assisted Living Federation of America
The Assisted Living Federation of America drives business excellence, ensures an informed public, and influences public policy to advance the business interests and operational excellence of companies leading professionally managed assisted living communities for seniors. ALFA advocates for choice, quality of care, accessibility, and improved state regulations for assisted living and for the seniors and families served by the assisted living industry.