THE INSPIRATION COMPILATION A FRESH LOOK
These innovators turn traditional expectations, assumptions, and limitations upside down—and emerge with inspiring new approaches and practices.
BY TOM GRESHAM
Andrew Carle, executive director, The Virginian, and adjunct professor, Georgetown University
Andrew Carle says he’s not a technology guy. “I crash my computer once a month,”
Carle says. “I don’t know a lot about how a lot of this stuff works.” “But I do understand an 85-year-old
widow and what is going on in her world. And I understand that technology can help her.” The senior living industry veteran proves
that you don’t have to be a code wizard to make a difference in technology. In 2004, he coined the term “Nana” technology to describe tech tools that can be used to help older adults. “I was just trying to get it out there,”
Carle says. “In strategic planning and marketing, one of the ways you do that is to brand something. And by calling it ‘Nana’ technology, then people started writing about it, and people started talking about it, and then that helped lay out and define where the opportunities were.” At that time, Carle remembers, the great divide between “the Grans and the Geeks,” as he describes it, was unproductive for both sides. “It was about bridging this divide and
saying, ‘There's a huge market opportunity here for technology, and there's a huge need for senior housing,’” Carle says. “So how do we get together and begin to speak the same language and pay attention to each other?” Carle splits efforts into two categories: the resident side and the operations side, with
Residents play Obie, an electronic game promoting coordination and socialization that Carle has brought to The Virginian.
predictive analytics vital to both. Growth has been swifter on the resident side, he says, where mobile devices and smart tools can make older adults’ lives easier, safer, and more engaged. For instance, Carle helped develop the first GPS shoe, to help memory care residents. From the operations side, Carle says the
greatest need for technological solutions are clear: “We don't have enough labor,” he
says. “All industries are facing this crisis. We need to automate because we need to make one nurse's aide in the future as productive as three today.” As more young professionals enter the se-
nior living field, Carle, who has also helped establish senior living programs in higher ed, expects they will push for an increasingly ambitious approach to adopting technology. In the Georgetown program, tech’s role and effects are part of their curriculum. “The next generation of leaders are
TIP: Sometimes a newbie sees things the experts can miss. Develop diverse sources and teams when you’re looking for new solutions.
10 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
going to come in the door already talking about this,” Carle says. “They’re going to be ready to adopt, and they’re going to be wondering why everybody else hasn’t done it already.”
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