Senior Healthcare Guide to Personalized Video
The senior healthcare industry continues to multiply at an unprecedented rate. As the U.S. population continues to age, more individuals require senior care than ever before. A reduced number of caregivers are straining to support these needs. Whether aiming to increase occupancy with senior living sales at a community, connect more home health caregivers to new patients, supporting workers within hospice, or just attempting to recruit and retain talent, the industry’s current landscape is nearing a tipping point.
In this article, let’s explore the differences between senior living communities, home health, and hospice. We’ll also investigate the communication practices that provide the deepest impact to your team. This article will provide you specific outreach strategies for your senior healthcare goals. We’ll present tangible use cases for how senior video messaging can move the needle on your most valued metrics. Finally, we will give you best practices for asynchronous video messaging in senior care.
- What’s the difference between senior living communities, home health, and hospice/palliative care?
- Communication practices that have the deepest impact
- Outreach strategies and senior healthcare video use cases
- Senior healthcare video best practices
1. What’s the difference between senior living communities, home health, and hospice/palliative care?
What is a senior living community?
Senior living communities are sometimes referred to as retirement homes, 55+ communities, assisted living, and more. They are intentionally crafted facilities designed for varying levels of senior care. Individuals who work within these communities, from staff (chefs, groundskeepers, orderlies, and more) to sales and leadership, hope to cultivate a vibrant living space for seniors to thrive in.
Some communities have heightened levels of specialized care, including memory care, physical therapy, and other medical offerings. Many cater to seniors who want fewer responsibilities (lawn care, driving, etc.) while continuing to live a social lifestyle.
What is home health?
Home health care offers a wide variety of services for individuals dealing with an illness or injury. According to Medicare.gov, home health caregivers assist with wound care (often post-surgery), specific treatment education, intravenous or nutrition therapy, injections, and monitoring serious illnesses or unstable health statuses.
Additionally, some home health providers aid with cooking, cleaning, errands, transportation, and more day-to-day needs for elderly clients. Home health also brings personalized care directly into real-world implementation for patients.
What are hospice and palliative care?
Hospice and palliative care share much in common with home health providers. However, the nature of the care is defined by the patient’s current circumstances. The Hospice Foundation of America defines hospice care as “medical care for people with an anticipated life expectancy of 6 months or less, when cure isn’t an option, and the focus shifts to symptom management and quality of life.” Much of the caregiving activities are the same as home health. The prognosis for the individual receiving care, however, is predetermined to be unsuccessful.
Palliative care, on the other hand, is “specialized medical care that focuses on providing patients relief from pain and other symptoms of a serious illness, no matter the diagnosis or stage of disease,” per the Mayo Clinic. This can include individuals with less than six months to live, but is not limited to this population. The focus is on quality of life, pain management, and even family assistance.
2. Communication practices that have the deepest impact
When working within senior healthcare, whether that be through senior living communities or home health and hospice, there are certain communication practices which have the deepest, most successful impact—from senior living sales to home health follow-ups.
Building empathy, trust, and connection through senior video
Due to the highly intimate nature of this industry, establishing trust and connection are essential. By not only displaying empathy, but finding intentional ways to incorporate this into your continued interactions, your ability to develop meaningful, trust-based relationships increases. A study out of the University of Michigan found that video communication rivaled face-to-face in establishing trust and was “significantly better than text chat.”
In fact, for those working in senior living sales with a focus on increasing occupancy, these attributes are essential. Acting with empathy, building trust and rapport, and developing virtual facetime with leads can make the difference in finding a new community member.
Kim Burns, Senior Lifestyle Specialist at American Senior Communities, leveraged the power of video messaging to achieve this. Check out her experience in this video:
Resonating strongly with personalized senior video
Nothing is more personal than the health and wellbeing of ourselves and our loved ones. When exploring that next stage of life in retirement, recovering from a major surgery, or facing an end-of-life diagnosis, it’s vital to ensure those individuals are seen for their unique circumstances. Sure, the process their going through has been trod before; however, this is their first time going through this. Working to speak to the newness of their individual circumstances benefits everyone.
Personalization can come in many forms, from the communication method you choose, to the words you use. Alongside establishing trust by demonstrating empathy, reaching out to establish contact in a personalized way sets an understanding, caring tone for the nature of this new relationship—and can work to calm and reassure the individual receiving care (and their family) of the road ahead.
There are a variety of ways in which personalization can be incorporated into your team’s process. Remember, by leveraging empathy you can spend some time considering the experience through your patient or potential new community member’s eyes and use that as guidance for how best to personalize your interactions with them (and their family).
Personalized senior video allows you to tap into the emotional and logistical elements of the process without sacrificing clarity. With top-market video messaging tools, your videos never disappear, allowing them to be referenced at any point in the future. Viewers can see how your specific introduction, pitch, instructions, etc. fit into their circumstances. Plus, with real-time analytics, you can even see how viewers have engaged with your video. This includes number of views, heat-mapping, and CTA clicks.
Leaning into the convenience of asynchronous video communication
For effective communication, ensure that both sides are able to communicate in a timely but convenient manner. There are certain times where synchronous communication gets you the immediate information you need (face-to-face, phone calls, etc.). However, asynchronous communication is often a vital, overlooked piece of the puzzle. Especially when dealing with individuals who are unfamiliar with one another, creating the time and space necessary for one side to digest information before responding is helpful.
Email or voicemail can accomplish this, but both lack the important empathy-based personalization we’ve already noted above. Video messages can straddle the pros of synchronous and asynchronous communication—creating a personal, trusting connection while still allowing the other party to communicate back in their own time. With features like Video Reply, both sides can communicate at their own convenience while continuing to improve rapport and connection.
3. Outreach strategies and senior healthcare video use cases
Effectively reaching and engaging your audience is crucial, no matter what part of senior healthcare your team operates within. Below, we explore important communication strategies to consider when looking to increase engagement and, ultimately, reach your team’s goals.
Senior living communities
Whether your team is concerned with reaching full occupancy, creating resident testimonials, or building out holiday-based events, your communication strategy needs to be clear, relevant, and effective. There are numerous ways to leverage the power of senior video messaging to accomplish your senior living sales and community goals.
Pull back the curtain
Let your prospective new residents get an idea of what life at your community is like without ever having to step foot on the grounds. With video messaging, you can have the head chef explain tonight’s menu and his philosophy toward dining at the community; grab a quick video of the grounds crew keeping the landscape in top condition; maybe even have a fitness instructor share a few tips for ways the viewer can tone and condition at home between sessions at your community’s facilities.
Dig deeper
Bring empathy into the sales process by introducing yourself and, using the Video Reply feature, asking inquiring parties to share what they’re hoping to find in a community—or even voicing specific concerns they may have. Not only does video messaging allow you each to put a face with a name, it also allows both parties to express themselves fully—you get a better sense of a potential resident’s personality and they get the opportunity to see your genuine care and commitment.
Utilize current residents
Bring empathy into the sales process by introducing yourself and, using the Video Reply feature, asking inquiring parties to share what they’re hoping to find in a community—or even voicing specific concerns they may have. Not only does video messaging allow you each to put a face with a name, it also allows both parties to express themselves fully—you get a better sense of a potential resident’s personality and they get the opportunity to see your genuine care and commitment.
While your care and commitment will be on full display, the reality is that current members of the community are one of your greatest resources for authentically selling the experience. Compile video testimonials using the Video Reply feature, interview members about their favorite amenities and experiences at the community, and grab firsthand footage of special events—from holidays to birthdays to resident weddings.
There are so many ways to delight and engage those who are interested in joining your senior living community. The more creative you are, the more you’ll stand out from your competitors and emphasize the best features of your senior healthcare community.
Home health
There are multiple points where senior video messaging can elevate the experience your home health team is providing; however, the most crucial point for most will be the introduction point with new patients. As caregivers, your ability to quickly form a trusting, compassionate bond can often be the gateway to effectively providing care. There are many other opportunities, both during the caregiving process, as well as internally with your team where video messaging can play an important, impactful role.
More than hello
Leveraging the power of video messaging, you can introduce yourself in a kind, genuine, and unobtrusive way, establishing the first point to put your patient and their family at ease. By demonstrating patience and compassion in your first video message, you’re not only showing the nature of care which can be expected, you’re also reinforcing the importance of the human, interpersonal connection which is being formed. A powerful combination of information, connection, and intentionality can set both parties up for success.
Updates get updated
Are you assisting your patient with a run to the grocery store? Maybe picking up prescriptions at the pharmacy? With a quick, unscripted video message, you can inform a patient’s family of their whereabouts—this is next-level updating, and is the type of action that can differentiate your care from your competitors while also reinforcing the importance of your assistance for the patient. These quick videos can even be a fantastic way to inject you and your patient’s personalities, even serving as a distraction from some of the more difficult elements of recovery.
Rally the troops
While we often think of how we can best create videos of ourselves that the individual being cared for will see, you can also utilize the functionality of video messaging to compile “get well soons” and well-wishes from family and friends and share them with the individual in your care. This kind of encouragement can not only be an uplifting opportunity for your patient, but can also serve to promote your senior healthcare team’s care and attention-to-detail when these friends and family members see you and your team going above and beyond to support their loved one.
Recruit and retain top talent
Much of what we’ve explored deals directly with patient communication; however, your team has a variety of pressures and issues which are present on most days of this taxing role. The need for in-home caregivers is skyrocketing, without enough professionals to meet the demand. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 700,000 openings for such workers are projected each year, on average, over the next decade. It’s never been more difficult to recruit caregivers. With this in mind, differentiating your team is essential. Use video messaging to really sell what makes your team unique, pull in other faces to build enthusiasm, and demonstrate a personalized excitement for a prospective hire to join.
In addition to recruiting new talent, retaining your current team is perhaps one of the most vital actions facing the industry. Leveraging the power of video messaging, you can encourage team members, find ways to speak to their impact, and highlight their efforts and care. Additionally, you can pass along relevant changes to senior healthcare regulations, company updates, and other need-to-know information. Plus, with real-time analytics, you can stay abreast of who on the team has viewed these updates, as well as provide customizable CTAs where relevant.
Hospice/palliative care
Many of the use cases which exist for home health will also apply to those caregivers in the hospice and palliative care space. If you haven’t checked that section out, you can get a redirect here. Additionally, due to the parameter differences that exist for hospice caregivers, there are important use cases where senior video messaging can help you and your team to provide the best care possible.
Important reminders in one easy place
Especially for hospice patients and their families, there are a number of important actions necessary to have affairs in order before that patient passes. Not only can video messaging reinject an important level of humanity into these proceedings, you can actually tap into technical features to make the process even easier for those involved.
With screen recording, you can walk patients and/or their families step-by-step through important documentation, removing the guesswork from often-complex tasks. As there are often many pieces to these requirements, you can also utilize a “chapters” feature to break your video up into sections that the viewer can jump to depending on what stage they are.
End of life celebration
Uniquely to hospice care, you and your team will be helping the patient and their family and friends transition to their inevitable passing. With your uniquely intimate window into their life, you can harness video messaging as a heartfelt way to capture important messages. Those video messages may be a compilation from family and friends curated for your patient or you may assist your patient in recording videos for family and friends. This process creates lasting memories during an emotionally vulnerable and difficult time for all involved.
4. Senior healthcare video best practices
When leveraging the power of video messaging as part of your senior care, there are certain aspects you can control to ensure your video is creating the resulting engagement you’re looking for. Here are some technical and emotion-based pointers, as well as helpful resources to utilize.
Lighting
The reality is that you don’t want your video messages to appear over-produced. Part of what establishes a level of credibility and connection with these videos is the somewhat extemporaneous feel of the experience. With that being said, if your video is poorly lit or your background looks dungeon-like, it can throw off the entire feel of your otherwise cheery, positive senior video message.
Opt for natural sunlight when you can; however, since this isn’t always available, look to position soft lighting in front of your face and consistent lighting behind you. Test the appearance before recording an entire video message to ensure your face is showing up consistently and your surroundings have the right ambience.
Background
What you have to say and how you choose to say it should be the star of your video messages. When you have a messy, chaotic, or just strange background experience occurring, that can draw attention away from what you’re saying. When possible, look to keep well-organized, somewhat nondescript backgrounds behind you unless you’re at a particular event that is the highlight of your video. Are you showing off the Valentine’s Day dance at your senior living community? In situations like that, it’s fine to let activities play out behind you.
What if you can’t get away from a distracting background experience but you really need to put that video message out? Virtual backgrounds can save the day. Much like a normal background, it’s prudent to be strategic in the virtual background you choose. A traditional office setting can be clean, remove distractions, and let you get your point across far better than choosing a “rollercoaster ride” feature or something else equally attention-grabbing.
Emotion
One of the top reasons that video messaging outperforms traditional email is because video allows for a far more dynamic experience which you can control and pass along. Just as you want to work to highlight yourself by removing distracting backgrounds or poor lighting, you also want to make use of the medium’s strengths—including your ability to communicate your emotions effectively.
Let your genuine excitement come through when celebratory moments are in order. Allow for the solemness and seriousness of difficult conversations to be evident in your tone and your body language. By leaning into the appropriate emotional response to the nature of your senior video, you can more effectively ensure that your message resonates accordingly with your intended audience in senior healthcare.
Scripts
In addition to the right visual conditions, your message can be highly impactful if you’re intentional about what you’re saying. The right call-to-action or thank you message at the right time can make a deep, lasting impression on your audience. Whether you’re looking to show gratitude and articulate next-steps in the senior living sales process to a potential resident who just toured your community or you’re introducing yourself for the first time to your next home care or hospice patient, it can be vitally important to capture the right words. We’ve even put together some helpful resources for senior living scripts to get you started.
Conclusion
Senior healthcare, from senior living communities to home health and hospice, is deeply rooted in empathetic, care-driven communication and action; however, for far too long antiquated and obsolete communication strategies have actively worked against those efforts. With video messaging, you, your team, your residents, your patients (as well as their family and friends) can bring empathy and care back to the center of the experience.
Looking for more ways to tap into the power of senior video messaging to engage your audience, empower your team, and achieve your goals? Reach out to one of our senior healthcare experts today to learn more about Covideo or download our 2023 Personalization Playbook for Senior Living.
