Real-time positioning impressed Treili – a genuine partnership with Iiwari was born

"I even wondered if it could be true!" is how Elina Häivälä, Head of Elderly Care Services, describes her first encounter with real-time positioning. Round-the-clock residential care home Treili was looking for a new nurse call system, and when it discovered Iiwari through the health and wellbeing technology directory Wenla, its interest was piqued immediately.

Everyday challenges called for a new kind of solution

Treili is an ambitious organisation that constantly strives to develop its care work. Its previous system no longer served its needs: alerts arrived with a delay, the system only operated at night, and it gave residents no way to actively call for help. Eventually, Treili found itself without any nurse call system at all – until the wellbeing services county required a new solution.

"We don't settle for less – we wanted to explore what the world of health technology could offer us."

Wenla laid out the options on a platter

The search for a solution led to Google – and from there to Wenla. Wenla's directory made mapping out the available technology straightforward.

"When I know what I want, Wenla hands me the solutions on a platter."

It was through Wenla that Treili found Iiwari's solution, which stood out from the rest. Real-time positioning and an easy-to-use nurse call function made Treili stop and think: could this really work?

Why Iiwari?

Treili saw that Iiwari's system adapts to their everyday work – not the other way around.

"Positioning is the number one thing, and it's extremely important. Being able to see the location of colleagues and residents makes work much easier. In many other solutions, a resident's alarm always directs staff to the resident's room. In some others, positioning only works in a limited part of the building. That kind of system doesn't work for us, because our residents move around a lot and we try to organise plenty of shared activities in common spaces."

• Positioning covers the entire care home, including common areas.
• Nurses can see in real time, on their mobile device, where residents and colleagues are.
• Alerts are simple: a resident's button press, an urgent or non-urgent call from a nurse, and automatic acknowledgement upon arrival at the location.

At first there were doubts about whether all residents would be able to use the safety wristband. "That worry turned out to be unfounded – many have been able to use the wristband perfectly well", Häivälä says.

"Iiwari's nurse call has lived up to its promise. A resident's call for help is important, but on top of that, distinguishing between a nurse's urgent and non-urgent call makes everyday work easier. It also helps enormously that a nurse's arrival at a room or space automatically acknowledges the alert. There's no need to touch your phone when a situation is actually happening."

Cooperation grew into a partnership

Treili doesn't see Iiwari as merely a technology supplier, but as a partner.

"We've been happy – working with Iiwari has gone well. In fact, we see the cooperation as a genuine partnership. We tell Iiwari about our development wishes, so that the system can serve our needs as well as possible."

One of the decisive factors in choosing Iiwari's system was that it was developed together with nurses. "There's no other way we could have found out what really matters", Häivälä emphasises.

Kaarina Päivinen, responsible for marketing and communications at Iiwari, agrees that the partnership benefits both sides:

"This is a genuine win-win situation for us. Effective cooperation and dialogue support the development of our products and allow us to meet our customers' wishes. At the request of nurses, we are currently developing voice connectivity for our products. This will let a nurse immediately ask the resident for more details about the reason for an alert."

Results and the future

Iiwari's system now makes everyday work easier, brings safety to residents, and frees up nurses' hands for what matters most: interacting with people. Going forward, Treili also plans to adopt the system's statistics and care measurement features.

Treili's story shows that the right solution can be found when a customer knows its needs – and finds a partner that develops the product together with them.

Main photo: Elina Häivälä, Head of Elderly Care Services at Treili Oy, is pleased to have found a product that suits their needs. Photo: Juha Laakso, Treili Oy.