Expect the Unexpected in Seniors' Care
- Lee StJames
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Author: Lee St James
Date Published: May 8, 2025
2025 AI Showcase and Technology Adoption Planning
From April 30th to May 2nd, I was immersed in conversations with colleagues in the seniors’ care sector at the 2025 AdvantAge Ontario annual convention. The theme of this year’s event: “Expect the Unexpected” took on a life of its own as I listened with an open mind to new ideas, case studies and examples of best practices that are being deployed across the sector.
From pre-convention tours to the fascinating keynotes and the many workshops available I’m sure each attendee has a different story to tell about what they learned, what inspired them and what next steps they will take to transform their operations and the services they provide to residents in their care. Please read on to learn of the memorable moments from my experience at this year’s convention - including this interesting AI-enabled avatar that welcomed us to the convention!
Bridging IPAC Gaps:
Laura Matthews, Manager Clinical Practice in Niagara Region, led a panel discussion and presentation that included a surprising demo of a new Point of Care Testing (PoCT) technology that reduces the time to receive confirmatory COVID-19 results from ~ 96 hours to less than 30 minutes and a PoCT solution that is able to rule out urinary tract infections in less than 2 minutes. Awesome!
Their presentation also included a simple yet effective colour-coded labelling system to reduce the amount of time spent managing PPE Inventory. They have also implemented mini-storage rooms on each home area while limiting access to their central storage area to improve compliance with FIFO (First in, First out) inventory principles and reduce waste.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion:
Amorell Saunders N’Daw, Principal and Senior Advisor at Amorell & Co, led a workshop to develop a health equity plan template. Sagal Ali, Director, Communications, Equity and Experience at Kensington Health in downtown Toronto, answered questions and shared their experience with EDI initiatives including the use of an instant medical translation service to improve access to care for residents and patients for whom English is not their first language.
AI Showcase and Expo:
GlobalDWS had two products chosen for the AI Showcase: our VirBrix autonomous mobile robot and AI-enabled data analytics platform and our GraceBot social/greeter robot. I joined our team during the showcase hours to meet delegates and share the benefits of cost-efficiently monitoring indoor temperature, humidity and air quality along with noise and light levels using the VirBrix digital twin platform.
Of course, our humanoid robots – Grace and Timo – seemed to get most of the attention as people could enjoy the music, trivia, jokes and audio books available with a simple touch on their tablet. Social robots are now well accepted among people of all ages and are moving into the mainstream to enhance cognitive engagement and support residents 24 x7 with customized content in multiple languages.
Keynote: How we remember and why we forget
The first keynote of the convention featured author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova and it was a big eye opener for those of us concerned about our memories. If Alzheimers or other forms of dementia and cognitive decline have impacted your family in any way, this keynote was probably both enlightening and a relief. Thank you to Complete Purchasing Services, and Ontario/Eastern Canada regional VP, Angelo Colallilo for sponsoring this talk!
Lisa states that memory triggers are focused on things that are meaningful, emotional, surprising and/or new. We probably all know that reminiscing helps lock in memories by strengthening those neural pathways.
Lisa talked about the first requirement for our brains to form a memory is to pay attention – that means slowing down and getting less distracted in our lives. If you’ve forgotten where you put your keys or your sunglasses or your car in a parking garage(!) it is probably because you were on autopilot and you weren’t paying attention. She talked about the four most common types of forgetting that are ‘totally normal’ and gave us some tips for how to address each one. My personal favourite is to ‘outsource’ the job of remembering what we intend to do by creating reminders, checklists, and alerts on our smart phones.
Her TED talks on memory and Alzheimer's have been viewed over 11 million times. You can visit Lisa’s website for more information including how to buy her latest book(s): https://www.lisagenova.com/
Embracing AI: Elevating Seniors’ Care to New Heights
On Thursday morning, GlobalDWS’ CEO, Rami Wehbe, and I delivered a 90-minute workshop, sponsored by Cardinal Health, to over 100 participants. We were thrilled by the interest and the many questions that the audience asked. Our session helped to demystify artificial intelligence (AI), shared some real-world examples of AI in use in this sector, and encouraged people to start now with a technology adoption planning framework that aligns investments in AI with an organization’s goals, priorities and budget constraints.
There were numerous questions about the ethical, safe and responsible integration of AI. Our presentation included links to the Canadian government’s “Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA)” showing Canada’s leadership in responsible AI and ensuring that Canadians can trust the digital technologies that they use every day. https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/innovation-better-canada/en/artificial-intelligence-and-data-act-aida-companion-document
Rami has published a blog post about our presentation here.
After our presentation. I spent some more time at our AI Showcase tables and at the Expo with Complete Purchasing Services where we had a delivery robot and social robot on display. (GlobalDWS is a technology partner with CPS offering special bonuses and discounts to those who are CPS members).
Intergenerational Community Adopting the Small House Model
I then rejoined the educational part of the convention by attending a session titled: LTC Reinvention: The Small House Model.
Why do people die in LTC? The session started with a provocative statement that people die in LTC because of “loneliness, helplessness, and boredom”. The St. Clair O’Connor Community was represented by Aldred Neufeldt, Chair of the Board of Directors and Catherine Schalk, CEO, St. Clair O’Connor Nursing Home. They shared their progress in working with the Ministries of Health and Long Term Care, along with other groups to redevelop and nearly double its LTC spaces alongside regular rental housing.
Final Day
After an entertaining Nashville-themed evening that included a delicious BBQ and line dancing to a Shania Twain impersonator, I was back at the convention bright and early on Friday morning for the final keynote and two workshops focused on ... can you guess? Yes – I'm passionate about ... technology and how much progress we are making in implementing great solutions to improve quality of care and reduce the burden on staff!
Can AI Really Care?
Friday morning’s keynote speaker was Claudia Del Pozo, CEO of EON Institute. She offered five recommendations to help guide our ethical use of AI:
Cybersecurity – ensuring vendors comply with health data protection laws, conducting staff and resident training, being proactive instead of reactive...
Transparency and Communication – creating AI strategies, policies and guidelines, clearly explaining when and where AI is being used, creating feedback channels to continuously improve and ensure compliance...
Strategic application to increase face time – start with back-office applications first, use predictive tools and measure success by including increased time spent with residents
Human-in-the-Loop – AI should be advisory/suggestions vs. mandates; train staff to challenge AI recommendations and document where AI is over-ridden to help the system learn and improve
Monitoring and Auditing – Set up regular audits to assess accuracy, bias, safety and ethical compliance, collect feedback, have escalation processes and have a committee to oversee all AI deployments
Sensors and Smart Homes Changing Dementia Care
Danielle Sinden and Kerry Tubman from Perley Health joined Chad Holliday from Esprit AI to share their progress on a pilot project and clinical study to assess the impact of deploying bed sensors and other connected IoT devices on resident safety and reducing responsive behaviours. The key lessons from their pilot project are summarized in the image below:
Connecting Through Technology – Leveraging Family Portals
For my last workshop of the event, I was delighted to hear from one of GlobalDWS’s favourite clients, Monica Klein-Nouri, Executive Director of the Salvation Army Meighen Health Centre. She presented her experience deploying a new family portal solution (Engage+) with Varsha Chaugai, CEO and Co-founder of Evoke Health.
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