The Evangelische Heimstiftung is the largest operator of care facilities in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The residents’ independence is the core focus of the care. Various concepts are used to address individual requirements for safety – this is also the case at theHaus auf dem Wimberg facility in Calw in the northern Black Forest. The Lindera SturzApp has been a central component of the offer for fall prevention since 2019, and enables individual gait analyzes as well as group assessments across living areas that harness synergies in the interdisciplinary care of residents.

What does it take to motivate the elderly to move? The team around Monika Volaric, Facility Manager at Haus auf dem Wimberg, asked itself this question. They were looking for an innovative solution with which senior citizens can develop on a personal level and reach their potential. And they found it! The team met the Berlin-based health tech company Lindera for the first time at a start-up day in Nagoldtal. Since May 2019, the facility with its nursing staff of 60 has been using the Lindera Mobility Analysis and can thereby promote the residents’ mobility individually, based on the objective and precise analysis of the fall risk.

Take advantage of digital opportunities

Die Möglichkeiten digitaler Gesundheitslösungen in der Pflege erkannte Monika Volaric bereits vor Einführung der Lindera SturzApp. „Es ist der Zeitgeist der Pflege, sich stetig weiterzuentwickeln und am Ball zu bleiben“, sagt die HMonika Volaric recognized the possibilities of digital health solutions in care even before the introduction of the Lindera SturzApp. “It is the zeitgeist of care to constantly develop and stay on the ball,” says the Facility Manager. The Evangelische Heimstiftung Haus auf dem Wimberg already took part in the pilot implementation of the mobility expert standard with the University of Bremen in 2016/17. The team integrated the findings into their daily operations – not only to be able to offer the around 100 residents top-level care, but also to actively involve them in the care process. Since then, the employees catch up once a month to discuss the possibilities of personal mobility with the residents and to derive measures from this. With the introduction of the Lindera SturzApp, the facility took the next step on its path to digitized care. The goal: Maintaining and promoting mobility in old age.

To attain this goal, the employees create a 20 to 30-second video of the respective person on a tablet when a resident is admitted. In conjunction with a psychological questionnaire, the SturzApp provides a detailed gait analysis based on artificial intelligence as well as an individual catalog of measures to prevent falls. All residents have the opportunity to use the Lindera Mobility Analysis, but it is optional. The results of the Lindera SturzApp, which meet the requirements of the expert standard for fall prevention, are incorporated into further care at the Haus auf dem Wimberg facility.

Significant added value for everyone

The demand and the benefit are great – among both nursing staff and the residents. “In 2020 alone, we filled an entire folder with analyzes for each floor, in the last week of January 2021 we created 25 evaluations,” says Sonja Rößler, Head of Daily Support. While Rößler and Volaric presented the Lindera SturzApp independently in small groups when they started working together, and took over the implementation, the procedure is now running via internal multipliers. “There were still minor technical hurdles right at the beginning, but people get it now,” says the Facility Manager happily.

When it comes to the added value for the employees, the precision of the results comes first. “The app works far better than the human eye in geriatric assessments,” emphasizes Rößler about the field. “With the Lindera SturzApp, for example, we can see changes in step height that cannot be seen with the naked eye, and we can initiate measures quickly, before it’s too late.”

The objectivity and precision of the Lindera Mobility Analysis also supports the nursing staff in looking after and advising residents. They can rely on valid results of the analysis for recommended measures and exercises. This promotes a sense of understanding and acceptance among the seniors. “The Lindera App makes the analysis a lot more personal,” confirms Volaric. “It’s not about general measures here. Each analysis and the associated recommendation is specifically aimed at the respective person. The patients recognize themselves on the video and, that alone, makes the suggestions much more personal. A consultation is then a lot more valuable.”

The residents of the Haus auf dem Wimberg facility also recognize the enormous added value. They are curious to see what results the app brings and what supportive measures are suggested. Since autonomy and individuality are the focus at the Evangelischen Heimstiftung, the recommendations of the Lindera App are adapted to the person and their individual character.

Group prevention measures with the Lindera Dashboard

In addition to personal, preventive treatment, the Lindera Dashboard enables the nursing staff at the Haus auf dem Wimberg facility to recognize synergies in the care of the residents and to implement these in the form of group measures. Thereby, individual fall analyzes and their recommendations for fall prevention are not isolated for each living area, but are linked in the Dashboard. Nursing staff and physiotherapists get insights across all residential areas when similar exercises suit different seniors. The decision as to whether the respective measures are suitable is still a matter for the nursing staff’s expertise. The Haus auf dem Wimberg facility offers its residents, for example, the “Rollator dance”.

The Lindera Dashboard also creates transparency in interdisciplinary care by physicians. In this way, attending physicians can see the residents’ individual medication in order to avoid negative effects of mixing drugs and the associated increased risk of falling. With group measures that go beyond the expert standard of fall prevention, Lindera acts as a digital bridge across living areas and disciplines and enables new insights into the residents of a facility as a whole.

Progress and innovation in care

“We want to advance in care through digitization, and this development will continue”, says Monika Volaric. The Evangelische Heimstiftung is working on expanding the digital possibilities in its own facilities. They are currently in the planning phases of implementing a healthcare documentation system, in which the nursing staff can run the Lindera analyzes automatically, thereby relieving them in their documentation work.

With the use of the Lindera SturzApp, however, employees often face a new challenge, as Volaric mentions with a wink. “When we start video recording for the analysis, some patients realize that we are going to record them then and there. They want to pop over to the hairdresser first.”

About the facility

Evangelische Heimstiftung GmbH is a member of the Diakonisches Werk and, with its 145 facilities, is also the largest care company in Baden-Wuerttemberg. This includes eight WohnenPLUS residences, 86 nursing homes, 30 mobile services, 19 daytime care facilities, a rehabilitation clinic and a facility for people with disabilities. The focus of the facility is on the patient and the question of how to ensure motivation for mobility and how to maintain it. The 13,500 customers are supported by 9,200 employees and 830 trainees. The Haus auf dem Wimberg facility is surrounded by the Black Forest and located in the north of Calw. The facility has a total of 105 employees, 60 of whom work in care.