We are so excited to get the SMARTech project up and running! It has been a long time coming and we can't wait to see where things go from here.
We have hit a few snags over the past year due to COVID-19 restrictions. We originally wanted to enter Northwood in April 2020, however COVID shut down those plans very quickly. We spent the rest of the year restructuring our plan to allow the research to happen despite the pandemic. We could see the importance of providing SMART technology to Northwood Continuing Care residents especially during a time of isolation and loneliness.
In January we were able to get our Rehab Team on the floor to help participants connect virtually to our research team for interviews and surveys. They have also been helping our Long Term Care Participants learn how to use the Google Nest Hub Max devices.
We are also working with Northwood's IT department to ensure proper internet infrastructure to allow the SMART devices to work without interruption. There have been a number of difficulties in this area which help us understand how important the infrastructure is to the success of older adults and technology. We were able to officially start our recruitment of Northwood Long Term Care Residents in March 2021, and participants began receiving their technology in mid-late May. Due to some of the fore mentioned internet problems the full roll out of the technology has been delayed, however this has allowed the participants the time to get used to using the Google devices before learning additional technology.
Our next goal was to build the website to provide the most up-to-date information on what is happening with the SMARTech project! We hope you will be able to use this website to follow the SMARTech project as we charge forward into a new direction for continuing care!