About Ozcare

Ozcare is a leading not-for-profit organisation of professional and caring individuals. It supports Queenslanders with a range of aged care, retirement living, disability care, respite care, nursing, allied health and dementia advisory and support services. In July 2021, they will proudly celebrate 25 years of caring for the Queensland community.

The Project

In 2019 Visionext assisted Ozcare Day Respite Centres at Burleigh Heads, Clontarf and Townsville by supplying and installing SMART Boards as part of a pilot project that aimed to improve digital literacy amongst aging Australians.

We thought we would check back in with Sharon Guarnaccia, Diversional Therapist & Kylie Jones, Coordinator at Ozcare’s Day Respite Centre at Burleigh Heads to see how they were using their SMART board, the effectiveness of the boards to achieve their aims and to investigate the change in use during the COVID crisis.

Sharon was initially inspired by a presentation at a Diversional Therapy Conference in Melbourne on SMART boards and how the introduction of technology-based activities into Residential Care Facilities had so many potential benefits.

Sharon was intrigued and enthusiastic about introducing the technology into their Day Respite CentreInitially she saw the potential for having more technology-based activities for their younger clientele as they provided services to NDIS clients, and younger clients with early-onset dementia.

Sharon and the team soon appreciated there were no age barriers to using this technology, and in fact “many of our older clients (our octo/nonagenarians) are just as adept with their social media platforms, smart technology devices/gadgets, and keen to explore all the possibilities SMART boards can offer.”

She outlined how “We endeavor to incorporate equal doses of physical, mental, and socially stimulating activities into our daily programs- and the SMART boards can help us do all three (with a good measure of spiritual stimulation too).”

What challenges you were presented with & why the need for a new solution?

Before purchasing the SMART Boards, activities were broadly the same, but required significant research and preparation, and often a specialised skillset to facilitate the activity. Sharon explains an example, of a music session and what is required. “You may need an instrument, the ability for the program leader to understand musical theory and even play an instrument, purposeful direction of the activity, and a method of engaging the clients in the process of the activity. Because of the limited time available to prepare for each activity, programs were readily “recycled” and repeated with minor/little variation, to enable staff to get on with the facilitating part of the activity. Much of the work and resources were paper-based, book-based or video/DVD/CD.

Although a Diversional Therapy team must have a comprehensive knowledge base on a very broad and ever-increasing range of activities, no one can be expected to be an expert in every aspect of a constantly evolving Diversional Therapy program.

Couple with this, the clients are such a diverse group of people, with individual needs and preferences. Small groups of clients with divergent views, personas and it can be very challenging to meet everyone’s goals. With the introduction of NDIS, and potentially catering to many new clients from a younger demographic, there was the increased challenge of bridging a generational gap between our clientele groups.

Sharon explained further, “we had been operating under the same model for more than 25 years, that is, clients generally attending only one or two days per week. With the introduction of the Qld Health Extended Respite program initiative in 2016, clients were now attending 5 or 6 days per week to enable their carers to return or go to work. This meant we had to re-think how the activity program could be run- we had to offer more variety, be more resourceful, and planning and programming increased exponentially.”

What goals you were trying to achieve?

The role of a Diversional Therapist is an extremely important and busy one. The team at Ozcare have to find a balance between planning and delivery, so it made sense that staff should be thinking smarter, not harder. Centre Coordinator, Kylie Jones discussed “how they wanted to expand their creativity, break the old mould and broaden our knowledge base without copious amounts of time spent training, and ultimately improve our efficiency.”

Outcomes – How did the SMART Board help?

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to review the results of using the boards over a 2-year period and also during the difficult time period of the COVID pandemic.

Prior to COVID, the team used the SMART Board for a number of activities including:

Music therapy
Quizzes/puzzles/board games
Reminiscence therapy; Time travel activities
Arm-chair travel, exploring cultures, other languages
Theme Days/Weeks/Seasons/Wallpaper
News, human interest stories
Movie days
Meditation
Exercise therapy

At this time, clients were able to use the touchscreen to interact, respond and participate. The use of the boards encouraged physical movement to approach the board, rather than staying seated. Activities were immersive, and clients were active participants.

The Centre also caters to clients who are living with dementia who may experience loss of memory, loss of language, changes in perception, personality, judgment & problem solving, mood disturbances, agitation, aggression, and pacing. One of the benefits of the SMART Board is that it is such a tactile device. It can be used to soothe (music, imagery), stimulate, promote communication, reduce social isolation, and generally improve mood.

“We are what we remember”

We found the SMART Board to be such an accessible tool for connecting clients with memories and a very sensory experience when used in conjunction with conventional sensory stimuli (smell, touch). Our clients found it an immersive experience, and often commented on their enjoyment of the shared experience.

Sharon discussed how clients started bringing along personal photos, stories, images, artwork to share, and requested for the staff to put on the SMART Board for the group to see. “They were initiating conversation and making requests to staff to “find a particular article” and check the spelling! What flower is that? What did that car look like? What does my hometown look like now? Who sang that? Can we listen to them? What movie did that song come from?”

The service was forced to close for a few months due to Covid however, since returning the SMART Board has been in daily use once again. The activities conducted are almost identical, except that clients can no longer touch the screen and must stay socially distanced.

The team were delighted that the Clients returned to the Centre with a sense of gratitude for what they have, a renewed vigour for learning, and of course, sharing their personal experiences. Not being able to play regular board games, card games, or any activities where the equipment can’t be sanitised between use, means clients are turning to the SMART Board for a contactless way of playing games.

What measures do you have in place to gauge the SMART Board’s success?

The Ozcare Team have daily evaluations of all activities and record level of participation for each client. The SMART Board activities are always popular because it is a group activity and there is a sense of inclusiveness, of belonging.

Many factors determine the success of a particular activity including:

The expertise level of the facilitator
The enthusiasm level of the facilitator
The planning for the activity
The clientele: what barriers need to be overcome to maximise enjoyment, awareness of disabilities/abilities/preferences; allowing clients to have input
Using complementary sensory stimuli
Comfortable environment
Is it a teacher/student atmosphere or a “team” atmosphere?

Highlights and Future Plans

The Ozcare team is so pleased with the positive impact that the use of the SMART Board has had on their Client’s wellbeing and engagement levels. The program has also enabled the team to learn new technology skills. The team would like to start using the Skype function to enable interaction with other facilities and potentially clients at home.

The SMART Board has enabled many shared, happy times for the team and their Clients. Sharon described how Clients have “visited” their hometown, “walked” down the street they were born and share a bit of their history with the group. On another occasion, a Client brought her artwork to the Centre as images on her phone and staff were able to share it on the Board with the group. Other highlights for the team included when Clients who had lost verbal skills, sung, clapped and smiled at images on the screen.

The Board has really helped engagement with other Clients requesting a topic/image that is special to them. One particular Client requests images/videos of “miniature trains” when he arrives at the Centre and is content to watch and will even discuss trains if prompted, as it is one of his passions.

Visionext is so happy to have worked with and helped the dedicated Ozcare Teams with the delivery of this amazing service that brings so much to the lives of their Clients, their families, and the wider community.

How an Ozcare team used SMART Board technology to create social connection, engagement and happy times with their clients.