Shaun Alexander from Pluss Communities sat down with Andrew George, Operations Manager for TriCare’s retirement village portfolio and Stafford Lakes Community Manager, Andie Lambie to talk about the experience of introducing the Pluss Communications app to their retirement living residents and staff. 

TriCare have now introduced the app to the majority of their communities, and in this interview share valuable lessons on how to make the process as seamless as possible for both residents and staff. 

Tell me a little bit about TriCare and your retirement communities? 

TriCare is a proudly-family run organisation that started over 50 years ago. We have around 1380 residents across 9 retirement villages in Queensland, NSW and Victoria. We also have a number of aged care facilities. 

The villages are a mix of older communities that were built in the 1980s as well as newer ones. As you would expect, the residents in the older villages tend to be older, often 80+ as many of these residents have been there for 10, 15, even 20 years. 

The newer communities such as Stafford Lakes attract a younger demographic who may have just retired and are attracted to the incredible amenities such as our two beautiful pools, fully equipped cinema and fantastic gym. 

How tech-savvy are your residents? 

There is actually quite a range. We have some residents who are very tech savvy, but we have had many who aren’t. During Covid we saw an increase in residents using their phones, when they had to use the mandatory covid check ins app.  Often our staff team became the first point of contact on downloading apps and giving instructions on how to use the many different types of phones, so we built a lot of trust with residents, providing support.  

Have you found that some of the more tech-savvy residents have helped your less capable residents become comfortable with the app? 

Absolutely. There are several residents who are always supporting others with technology: setting up people’s TVs, logging on to the Wi-Fi network and even those who will help others buy mobile phones just so they can use our app. 

How did you go about introducing the app to your residents? 

When we launched our TriCare Bubble app we started with a group info session and then followed up with support sessions.  Giving one-on-one lessons seemed to be the real key to residents engaging with the app.  Some residents wouldn’t attend a group session as they didn’t feel they were tech savvy enough and didn’t realise the value of the app to them.  We would target residents who popped into the office, or who rang up, and would ask “Can I help you get started on using the Bubble”? We found that the key is being patient and offering a lot of encouragement.  We were also approached by residents after they had seen another resident put in a maintenance request and wanted to learn how to do it themselves. 

We would then sit down with them and go through the process together. I would say “Okay, let’s log this request together.”  It was always pleasing to hear the ‘ding’ of the email when a Maintenance request had been received.  I could then jump into the Community Manager admin system and show the resident how the request is received instantly, and how we are able to accept the request, and communicate directly back that their job is in progress.  The ability for the resident to see the system and the process gave them confidence that their request will be actioned. It is also surprisingly easy to talk through the process of how to log a request while on the phone with a resident.  

A typical conversation goes like this: “Open your app. See the blue ‘plus’ button down the bottom? Press that.  See how your name and phone number are already there?  Click into the heading and type “Heater Bulb”.  In the comment type “Heater bulb in ensuite not working” Don’t worry about spelling mistakes!  We can fix it up on our end if you like”.  

So how has the app improved your maintenance request process for the residents? 

Before we introduced the app, all maintenance, gardening and cleaning requests were handwritten. Residents would have to come up to reception and manually write the details onto paper sheets and there was little room for details or comments.  Many disliked this system as it was difficult to know when their job would be completed and it was inefficient as they would need to return to the sheet for updates or call the office.  Even the process of handwriting was very difficult for some due to arthritis and shaking hands. 

Since introducing the app, we haven’t received a single handwritten maintenance request.  We are removing this process altogether and logging everything through the app.  Staff even log jobs that aren’t resident related as it is an efficient and easy way for tasks to be communicated and completed. 

 From a staff perspective, it is a proficient time saving system and a far more organised process than going back through handwritten sheets to ensure tasks have been actioned and completed.  We can now store detailed notes, purchase orders and work orders, put jobs into progress and complete tasks in a visually pleasing way for the residents.  We don’t ever lose track of an outstanding job now. 

Logging maintenance requests was the catalyst for making the app work. The residents could see real value in this feature, but then began to explore other aspects of the app such as news, events, and the photo gallery.

What are some of the other features of the app that have been successful for both your residents and staff? 

The events feature has been very successful at Stafford Lakes. Previously trying to organise events such as our regular Thursday night dinner was a battle. Dinner would be cancelled with low attendance.  To increase numbers, we would often distribute reminder notes, and make phone calls back and forth to the chef and the residents.  Residents would have to come to the library area to RSVP, and if attendance targets weren’t reached, we would have to run around and chase up all the other residents whilst managing the chef’s time as well. Our community is set over 15 acres, so this is a very time-consuming activity for our staff. 

With the dinner scheduled on the app, we can now send out instant alerts reminding residents to confirm their attendance. The residents can clearly see the dinner event on the app, and the picture of the upcoming meal attracts more residents to come and we often don’t have to send out reminders at all.  The chef can directly see the attendee numbers, so knows how many to cater for. The app has saved us a couple of hours each week just trying to organise this one dinner. The residents have really embraced this and the dinners feel like a weekly club - it’s fantastic! 

We now have residents setting up and hosting their own events through the app.  We have given lessons on how to do this and the Residents Committee and social group have really embraced it.   

What impact has the App had on the community at Stafford Lakes? 

It has been really positive. We call our app the Bubble App as it’s like a virtual speech bubble. “Bubble” is now part of the language here. Everyone talks about it, everyone uses it. It’s stuck, it’s wonderful. 

If you look at the analytics behind the app, you’ll find that people are using it every day - for events, for news stories. More and more residents are coming up and asking to be ‘contributors’, asking to write their own stories and host their own events. Residents who we believed may be reluctant at using this app have absolutely embraced it which has been a nice surprise. The more people who are using it, the more people want to be involved with it. People don’t want to be left out and it really is simple to use. 

Even those residents who may never use the app themselves as they don’t own a phone or tablet, often pop into the office now to sign up for events with us, or they look at the news stories on the tablet we have on our counter.  

The analytics are beneficial to us as we want to be able to see who is using the app regularly and who is not so we can pinpoint those residents who may need more help with it.  

Speaking of analytics, Stafford Lakes has incredibly high resident engagement with 93% of your residents using the app every week. What is the secret to such incredible usage? 

We are so thrilled with the uptake of the app as we initially expected around 30% usage. We have obviously really overachieved that, mainly due to Andie, Stafford Lakes incredible community manager who has been a real champion of the app. 

You need to look at the app like you do social media - if the content is fresh and constantly being updated then people are going to engage with it. If it stays the same, then usage will stagnate. 

It also comes down to your processes. The first thing we do when we start our day is to log into the dashboard of the Community Manager back-end system so we can automatically see the comments on maintenance requests or events so we can respond straight away. This has to be part of the daily process of your staff as timely feedback and comments build the trust in the system.

Your staff need to embrace the app if you want the take-up from your residents. You need a staff champion who is constantly backing the app and encouraging them to use it by asking “Are you using the app, do you need help with it”. If you can get that engagement from your staff, then you’ll get that engagement from your residents. If your staff are not interested in it, or don’t see value in it, then you’ll not get anywhere. It doesn’t matter if your residents are 74 or 94, if your staff are pumping it up, you’ll get there eventually. 

Do you receive any feedback from your residents about the app? 

All the time. In fact, we just used the built-in survey feature to ask the residents how they were finding the app and any suggestions they might have to make it better. Here are some of the responses: 

“Such a pleasure using the app as everything is at your fingertips. Love the updates advising news and events as well as photos showing residents enjoying each other’s company.” 

Denis & Margie 

“I find the app very helpful and it’s really easy to use. That suits me as I’m not good with computers.” 

Pieta 

“Love the Bubble App and being able to easily see what is on or any news updates. Logging and tracking maintenance requests is now so easy and much better than filling in the sheets where items tend to get lost and disappear.” 

Sandra 

Tips for seniors living organisations looking to introduce communications apps into their communities 

1. Ensure that your staff are 100% behind the app. 

2. Have a staff and resident champion in each community to assist and inspire other residents. 

3. Demonstrate how the app makes the processes of booking events, facilities or maintenance requests easier for the residents. 

4. Encourage residents to contribute content to the app. 

5. Be patient with less tech-savvy residents. 

6. Look at the usage analytics to understand who is using the app and who is not. Offer one-to-one training to those residents who are not using the app or having difficulty. 

7. Run your processes through the app such as bookings and maintenance requests to ensure it is an active, rather than passive experience for the residents. 

8. Encourage people to comment on news and event posts to increase participation.