You can listen to Episode S3E1 right here!
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Hello, and welcome to the Third Age Design podcast, sharing essential information on senior environments. I’m Lori Pinkerton-Rolet. You know, magic wands are pretty hard to come by, But this month, you’re going to find that exclusive tool that you’ve been waiting for. If you live with, design for, or work with people with dementia, I’ll be speaking with Dr. Junjie Huang, of University of Stirling in Scotland, about the environments for ageing and dementia design assessment tool, or EADDAT. This truly is essential information. And sticking with the ;why didn’t anyone think of this before’ train of thought-what about a low-rise profiling bed with assistance for standing up? We’ll have more on this in this month’s innovation spotlight from Germany later in this podcast. Peter Kropotkin was a Russian historian, philosopher, scientist and activist from the late 19th to the early 20th century. And one of his many profound musings is this: “Competition is the law of the jungle. But cooperation is the law of civilization.” So here at Third Age Design, we research and share international information on senior environments for the Third Age. Now I run a company in the UK called Park Grove Design, and if you’re a designer or an architect, even if you’re working in the UK, we’re not in competition. We’re all working to improve environments for older people. And we’re going to take the same information and all of us are going to interpret it differently within our own cultures or within our own school of thought. The key is to get the information to begin with. It’s the kind of cooperation he’s referring to and indeed a civilised way of moving design criteria forward in a very thoughtful manner. Now you can be part of this by hitting the ‘Join Us’ button on our website at Third Age.Design. And when you do you’ll also receive this quarter’s ‘A TAD Extra’ –exclusive information for our community members, and it’s free to join. The Third Age Design podcast is sponsored by Innova Care Concepts whose mission is to enhance quality of life through innovation. From hydrotherapy pools to furniture, you’ll find quality, aesthetics, and functionality in all unique Innova products. innova Care Concepts- the leading edge of healthcare. Okay, let’s get started… My guest today is Dr. Junjie Huang, or Huang Junjie, senior design consultant to the DSTC, which is the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling in Scotland. Now prior to this post, he was at the School of Architecture at University of Sheffield, UK, where he was a Research Associate. He’s an affiliate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a member of the Ageing and Society Research Network, a member of the International Association of People Environment Studies, as well as being a member of the Asia Pacific Regional network for early childhood. Dr. Huang Hello…
Dr. Junjie Huang
Hello, Lori.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Thank you very, very much for joining us today. I had the opportunity of meeting you at the Care Show in Birmingham last year. And before we get into discussing the EDDAT design assessment tools, I’d like to find out what inspired you personally to work in this particular field.
Dr. Junjie Huang
I recently came across to a phrase called accidental gerontologist, which is quite interesting and match where I came from very well. So my background is actually an architect. I work in China for a couple of years before I came to the UK to study my PhD, I particularly interested in a human environment relations, because when we do design, we always try to find out what is the best for us to create an environment that can help people to live better. And that’s where my interest sits on. And then in my PhD, I looked into children’s social interaction in childcare environments so far away from ageing environments. So as you can guess, but the principles are quite similar because we all look into people or people’s behaviour, people’s activity within the environment. Now how and think about how environment can better support those people.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
at whatever age so whether it was the early childhood or…
Dr. Junjie Huang
Yes, is early early childhood preschool age. After I finished my PhD, I joined several research projects. One is called Odessa, optimise care for, for people to ageing better at home. So that’s the research project I built upon my knowledge and my skills in the age, age, age friendly environment area. And after that, I also joined the ‘ageing hood’, which is the project collaborate with Thailand partners. So we look into the vulnerable people in a poverty area, and help them to balance life and their livelihood. So this is also very interesting work. We look into a friendly environment as well. And then after these, I got the chance to join DSTC where this is the most exciting chance for me. And also this is the world’s leading research centre and knowledge exchange centre to share their skills in age friendly design, dementia friendly design. So this is where I am.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
They’re lucky to have you. And it’s a place with a remarkable reputation all around the world, really, the DSTC and University of Stirling, their website for the University of Stirling and the DSTC specifically states that research tells us that age friendly environments can help foster healthy and active ageing that’s made as a statement. Are there any specific examples of that research that says you can be healthy or you can be more active? And we’ve proven it within the research?
Dr. Junjie Huang
Well, yes, those lots of research has to come from different sources, not just within the design area, but also from house area. Lots research works, particularly to look into, for example, looking into the light environment or the sound environment. There’s a couple of these examples shows the evidence that different light level and different environments sound, we will say the stimulate environment can give people different results of their health. So for example, if you have, for people living with dementia, if you have too much stimuli in the room when they are dining together, for example, and they will feel over-stimulated. And they will feel it’s difficult for them to focus or difficult for them to enjoy the the activity when they do in that room. So this is particularly putting the barrier for them to enjoy the daily life. And also, there’s some other research, for example, from the thermal thermal environment research, there is lots of evidence that different thermal level the environment can provide to protect their health at home, which can help them to keep them warm, and home during this cold winter. And also during the hot summer there is heat waves. And a better designed environment can provide a very good help for people to just to live better. There’s lots of evidence in existed in the literature that you can easily search on the library, you can find lots of evidence that can help with this particular issue.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Yes, and we know that as people get older, their circulatory systems become less efficient very often. And so as you said, getting the right level of heating, making them feel warm very often in interiors, we will even use colours to visually warm an atmosphere. You mentioned that the control of stimuli is important. And there are other schools of thought, such as the butterfly model by Dr. David Sheard on University of Sheffield, where there’s almost a lot of stimuli. And so there really are two entirely different schools of thought on this one issue of stimulii, is there not?
Well, particularly if you talk about dementia friendly design, I think most of the thoughts were focused on how to reduce this and stimulate to keep them in the calm status. But of course the women in a different level of course will provide a different understanding for them to to recognise the environment. So it depends on the level and the range of this activity, where it goes to , some of the researchers shows the evidence that if you keep the stimuli in more familiar way to the people living with dementia in a stable way, rather than changing a lot, are putting too much too many stimulus in the environment, that can help us a lot for the people living with dementia and to feel the environment is friendly to them. While they’re right.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And and known, if there aren’t a lot of a lot of changes, this becomes a familiar thing. I’m speaking about the specifically about the EDDAT tool, which is really remarkable, I am making my entire design team be incredibly familiar with all of all of these. And we would like to use the tool on our projects almost as a tick list, I believe that is its intention to make sure we’re meeting all of these requirements, but it has three tiers, from what I can see there’s an entry level called Aware. And that’s more for small changes to homes or small businesses, tier two called Supportive, which is primarily domestic environments. And then it further becomes a further variation in tier two related specifically to Care environments. And I believe you call that one Inclusive. Let’s start with Aware that entry level, and just picking out one of the fundamentals from this checklist. Why is the notification of time, such as clocks and calendars, so important when people tend to use phones and digital watches? It’s, it’s becoming rarer and rarer, in my experience to see large clocks or large calendars? Is it necessary in this kind of environment?
Dr. Junjie Huang
Yeah, when you’re talking about the time element, in the fundamentals, it actually refers to the fundamental four core be familiar, really helps people to orientate to the time when they need. So when we talk about this, we actually refer to that generation of this ageing population at this moment, and the people with dementia at this time, because back to their age, they will be more familiar with the tools that been used, for example, the analogue clock, and also the calendars. So if you give them digital clock or like perform, they tend not to be so familiar, because at the age then these are some of the forms, maybe the form of smartphones hasn’t been invented.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right? Because of if people with dementia are referring back, let’s say to their 30s. Yeah, a that wouldn’t be so do you think in sort of 20 years from now, we may be taking a different view as designers and architects on this issue.
Exactly. All these criteria, or the standards set out for dementia friendly environment, actually will, you know, change with the population as well, when the population developed to next generation, we need to altered the criteria to match their, you know, their experience. And this is very important for this principle, and very, very important for our our suggestions, and our design work in this area. So everybody should bear in mind that things are change, times change, what our design will also need to reflect those change.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right, that makes that makes a lot of sense. And do you think so I’ve just touched on one of the one of the tick boxes for this aware entry level? Do you find in your work that most architects and designers and indeed operators are already aware of entry level principles, or are you sometimes surprised at the lack of knowledge?
Well, I’m very glad you mentioned this. And recently I’ve been involved in a research project called dash cam Designed for Housing for Cognitive Ageing, so please this project was led by Professor Allison Bowles at University of Stirling and we got the chance to interview a number of stakeholders in this sector, including like architects, or designers, or planners. From the result of the interview, we very surprisingly, find some of the people work in this area actually rely on others to have these knowledge. I’m not sure whether you know what I mean, for example, there’s a planner—when we ask them, whether you know, any kind of standards or design principles that can help to build a dementia friendly environment, the response is that they are not the architect, they are not the designer. So what they need is just to ask, designer and architect for advice, and then they would that they will be able to, you know, just follow those advice. They tend to focus on their own, you know, area, and then because they are planners, so they, they, they prefer to look at a more macro view, to see the whole setting, whether it fits into the local community or in the city. So, they’re speaking from that area. But, of course, they don’t have very specific knowledge in this area. And therefore, they can’t really necessarily interrogate the people that they’re asking for the information, because they don’t have a guideline base for knowing the knowledge level of the people that they’re referring to, for this kind of information, which I think makes your programme even more important. Because if you know that somebody, yes, we, we meet, we use the dEDDAT toolkit, and we have that as a baseline for the decisions and the advice that we’re giving you, then that provides a baseline of knowledge going into any one individual project, does it not?
Dr. Junjie Huang
Yes, yes, exactly. That’s also why it’s so important to have some media like your podcast channels, to be able to, you know, promote these kinds of tools to general public people, or maybe wider area, who work in this sector. And for those who we interview, have previous experience working with the STC, for example, yes, they are quite familiar with some of the tools we develop in the past. And so, which is quite exciting. When we do the interview with them. We heard about they are using these tools. That’s exactly make our day.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
It comes, it comes back back around. Let me ask you about the next level, the tier two, which is the supportive checklist, which is another one like the initial one, which is entirely free to download. It’s very detailed, it’s very helpful. And I’ve been working in this sector for decades. I’m not going to say how many, but there were some new ones on me. And I research this all the time. So I you know, I can’t stress how helpful this is. One was a checklist box item number 12 (for anyone that’s going to look this up). Is there a transitional space between outdoor and indoor spaces to temper light levels? Well, now that you mentioned the question, of course, when you go, you know, even into a movie theatre, and it’s darker, your eyes take a moment to adjust. If you’re having perceptual problems and you’re coming from a very bright outdoor into an indoor, of course, you would need an adjustment but I’ve never thought of that it’s never come up in any discussions, it never come up in any design work that we’ve done. What an amazing thing to point out that it can be a consideration as to how you manage that transitional space. Is it just lighting? Do you find that you just do that with the lighting itself?
Dr. Junjie Huang
A transitional space between the outdoor and indoor actually is some area we also refer to grey space in some contacts, you know, it is an intersection area between the outdoor and indoor. And it usually has a overhead canopy or sometimes maybe a drought lobby some something like this provide a sheltered area. So in your quotation, you mentioned about the impact of light and yeah, it specifically give lots of strong points to you know, temper the light levels. We know a sharp change light environment will give you probably temporary blindness. I don’t know whether you have, yes, like you said about going into cinema, or during the night, when you walk into a dark room from a very light stream, and you’re, you barely can see anything. So it’s quite difficult to cope with that situation. Sometimes some people also feel dizzy during that situation. And for an ageing i that particularly that will be more difficult because they need longer time to recover their eyesight. So, light, of course, is very key point to give these smooth transition from outdoor to indoor from indoor to outdoor wear, but only other side, it’s not just about light, a transitional space can provide more than that actually, it create a space that can encourage people you know, to enjoy the the outdoor space, during different type of weather, for example, if it’s rainy, but you got a canopy over there, so you will be able to stay in the outdoor space, while semi outdoor space run prevent you from the rain, but you can still feel the outdoors. So it can encourage you to go out to enjoy the outdoor life in in different kinds of weather. So it can become an invitation, [yeah], to another part of another part of life than just what you’re experiencing in the building. Yes. And also, besides that, they also create a very introducing a welcoming feeding, for example, if you turn it back from the garden or from other area, the liquid space or the transitional space can give you a feeling gradually lead you back to indoor environment. And this kind of physical environment change can, it’s not that sharp change, it’s not the sudden change. So you are not going from completely open outdoor to a completely enclosed indoor environment. And that feeling will give you some you know, gradually reduce your moods and change your your feeling, still the way you walk back into something like this.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
It’s informative, it becomes informative, even if you’re not stopping to think I’m now in a transitional space, you feel the transition sort of organically in that in that circumstance. Can you advise us of the difference between the tier two checklist and the Supportive one and the next level, which I think is more for professionals, care providers, etc. And that is called Inclusive, what are some of the differences between those offers…
Dr. Junjie Huang
Well, Supportive tier, is actually is aiming for care from providers or designers, architects, for them to build up their knowledge and check whether their design or the environment feeds the dementia friendly design principle, [yes], lists also it’s it’s designed in a way that you can focus on different types of the building, from the outdoor environment to care home to restaurants, to sports centre, as well and also some shops as well and also domestic environment. So these are very specific focus on different types of building. And it gives you a long list that you can check on each item whether your environment feeds the knees, and it also integrated with essential pack which can provide lots of essential requirements for for every type of the environment. And that was that was designed to be used by those by those professionals in care home, a local manager of a restaurant or something like that. Inclusive, that’s another level that we are currently developing this tool and it’s not yet come out and we hope this can come out the next month. We are working on that and this is a very, very intensive level That includes like planners, like stakeholders, for example, the policymakers or developers at that at a bigger scale on a bigger scale of projects. So what we are looking into is whether the whole procedure of the project will mean it’s the dementia friendly design, it requires not only the design of the environment, the physical environment, but but also require the training of the staff.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right. So that’s very all encompassing global. And so I think I may have missed directed earlier. So the Supportive is really the detailed checklist now for everybody. Yes, including care providers, etc. But then there will be this other level and this other level has accreditation to it. Is that is that this content? Can you explain that for a moment?
Dr. Junjie Huang
Yep. It I’m not sure whether you mentioned about which you’d be misleading….but well…
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
I think I was saying that I was saying that Supportive, you know, is free, and it will help with all sorts of, you know, different types of work. And I was kind of thinking that maybe the Inclusive was more for professionals. But I certainly as I, as I already explained, Supportive, I was finding things as a professional that I hadn’t really considered before anyway. So I was just trying to come back to that and say, actually, that is a usable tool for everybody right now. So this further tool that will develop in the future, which is called Inclusive, you’ve explained involves planners and operations and some other facets, but it will also be accredited. So is that accredited through the University?
Dr Junjie Huang
Yeah, accredited through DSDCC at the University of Stirling so that, also the scheme is still under development for inclusive level for tier three. So we are not very sure the final procedure, how it gonna take, but it will be a similar procedure like in tier two, the accreditation in tier two. So there will be formal DSDC auditors to visit the project, maybe regularly, and to to assess the progress, improvement and everything. And to see whether they meet the criteria mentioned in this in this tool. So the accreditation level actually, now is set up in three different levels of the first level is aware, which is a set of accreditation, which means people can use this to assess their own home or a small business, for example, a cafe or a bookshop. Whether that meets the dementia friendly design for supportive is they can be the accreditation is do away. So there’s one way you can do a self assessment for supportive tier two level,
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
which is the checklist going through the checklist yourself and making sure that you’ve met the criteria, or you’ve at least discussed them with client.
Dr. Junjie Huang
Exactly, yeah. But there was another way in tier two as well, you can request the DSDC to do a formal audit on your project. So the SEC will send two auditors to your project and review the environment and complete the checklist and calculate the final result. And then we will be able to see whether this environment meets the DSDC systems are not so supportive, provide two different ways before Inclusive, that will definitely be the formal way the DSDC will get involved and it will be a formal accreditation.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
It’s It’s so wonderful to have just as a designer, it’s so wonderful to know that there is that level of support. I mean, certainly the the Third Age Design podcast, we’re all about sharing information and and learning new things. And I can’t think of a more useful tool where you’re thinking, you know, I wish this had always existed because everyone’s out there doing their own their own research. And DSDC’s known for this, so to have it consolidated is fantastic. Obviously, we could do an entire podcast on any one individual checklist item. I mean, you could very easily I’m sure you could give lectures on just, you know, one each each item. So we’ve just taken a little dab as a general overview, and we will have links to this information. on the Third Age. Design website so listeners can engage directly and download these documents and, and make sure that they’re looking out for for the of the new development when it comes. But I have one final question for you, if you were to envision the future of dementia care environments, and I know we already touched on the fact that, you know, clocks and calendars may change as environments change in the in the future, but in a perfect world, how do you think they would differ these environments from what is currently being developed…
Dr. Junjie Huang
Thinking about future is always a difficult one, I think many things may change, like, we may have new furnitures, we may have new material, we may have new toilet design or garden design that can you know, provide better support for people living with dementia. And also like the mobility aids, though, there were lots of developments on that as well. But, from my point of view, I think technology, especially the smart technologies, will put dementia care to another level. Most of these new tools mentioned earlier, they tend to wait dementia people to use them, but for smart technology, they really to look into the dementia people and based on their feedback, they can provide a very interesting, responsive environment to people living with dementia. And this is a kind of a very automatic way, we will say, for example, you using AI to analyse the data you collected from individual people, and then you will be able to provide personalised solutions to them. And this is putting the dementia care to really the next level. And we looking forward to the demand development on this. Secondary, I will say that the public awareness about the dementia care and design is very, very important in a perfect world, like you said. So I think how to increase the public awareness is our task and our goal. If we will be if we could have, I mean, when we talk about the perfect dementia care environment, we should not just limit it, you know, to only the physical environment, it should always be a combination of both the physical parts and the social part. So we need to make sure the social environment around people living with dementia are supporting them. So this will require the public awareness, not just the carers looking after them, not just that their family members, but also people around them know about these Dementia Friendly principle dementia design principle and care principle. So that then they will be understand how to how to support them. I mean, like your podcast channel is a very, very good example and good way to promote this to why the general public people and to different, you know, to people who, who are not in this sector as well, that people will be able to equip with these knowledges will be able to understand, oh, there is a tool available for them to use. And these education process have to say the media, that knowledge exchange knowledge transferring system is very, very, very important for the future perfect word for that. So I really like to thank you very much for doing this. And you have been doing for already two series now. And you’re doing more series in the future. So I really, really hope this series can be a very, very successful way to get more people aware about what they should do to support people living with dementia, …and engaged. Thank you very much for your time for your input when we can be of assistance in spreading that word…So when you have, you know, the next stage of development is is is completed, I’d love to have you on again to discuss how that has, how that has developed and why and what the feedback is, etc. Because I think it’d be very, very interesting for all of our listeners as well. And thank you so much for your input today. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And as I just mentioned, you’re going to find direct links to the EADDAT toolkit on the podcast pagefor this episode at Third Age. Design you know, sometimes the simplest ideas can make the biggest difference. And while there are many many profiling or hospital type beds on the market, Germany is often held up as an example of excellence in engineering. And here is yet another example. In today’s innovation spotlight, I’m speaking with Uwe Deckert of the German firm Wissner-Bosserhoff. I did pronounce that correctly?
Uwe Deckert
Absolutely correct.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. My German is about as good as my French and Japanese, I’m afraid. Wissener-Bosserhoff specialises in nursing and hospice care solutions. And you seem to do an awful lot of research and development work in your company. But today, we wanted to specifically focus on your new Sentita SC low nursing or profiling bed. What makes that so different from other options currently on the market? Because obviously, there are other low rise beds. So what what is different about what you’re doing with this?
Uwe Deckert
Yes, well, probably because I’m responsible for marketing and product management, I would find 10 of them, but let me focus on the most for four important differences that I would highlight. The first is the design. So, the design for nursing home bed in my opinion is very important for us, it means it has to be home-like and it has to be cosy. So that the resident is not feeling like in a hospital or here he is not stigmatised. So he really feels like at home. And therefore we also together with our standard line, we offer a hotel design collection, which was textile fabrics and leather imitation designs, which is very cosy and home like looking. That’s the first point the second would be the beds and Sentida SC is ready for SmartCare what does it mean? Yeah, it is prepared for the intelligent care assistant safes and three, which offers a wetness detector to avoid skin masuration, when there is humidity or in sweat in the bed, when it helps for for prevention. It means when when the resident is going at night to the toilet, and he doesn’t come back after a certain time this time can be fixed individual and when he doesn’t come back, the bed sends an alert. So only when he doesn’t come back when it comes back no alert nobody is embarrassed or everything is okay. Then it has some motion monitoring it means it detects whether the resident is moving enough to be protected against the comatose pleasure so on yes means it only shows an alert and alarm when he is not moving a certain time. And this can also be fixed individually because the response of the COVID was precious or is individual. [Yes of course]. So that’s the second so the bed is will say is prepared for SmartCare and some in intelligent functions that make the process for the nurse easier. The third function is we talked about antivicovitos it’s a typical under the covers function it is the double retraction of backrest backrest and leg rest of the bed. It’s a constructional feature, I can tell you what it what it what it is like so, while performing the auto contol setting, so backrest going up leg rests going up, [yes], there is some double retraction on both sides. And this way the bed is creating more space in the pelvic sector section for the for the resident means it reduces shear for shear and friction forces so that there is a prevention for the antivicovotos while doing this movement.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
So it’s not it’s not like the other beds where it’s sort of in a w this is actually creating more space as it’s making those adjustments because anyone who’s been in a hospital bed, it you can move the bed but You still have to do quite a number of adjustments to the body to go with that movement. And if you’re not really mobile that can be difficult in and of itself is that what you’re this is…
Uwe Deckert
Exactly, when you do the auto contour which is like this, normally you get entrapped somehow, but the double retraction makes it this way, it gives more space to the pelvis at the same time, it extends in both directions. So that the pelvis is really without shear and friction forces, [right]. So, this would be the third, third difference. And last, but not least, I would highlight also less restraint and more mobilisation. So under that headline, I would say we have a variety of mobilisation tools, and also vary by authority or split and short side guards solutions. So that at the end, the nursing home can decide which level of mobilisation and protection is is required. And then for this, we have a big, big flexibility,
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right? So the sides are not either just up or down, they can they can be used as as necessary for an individual. And the other thing, which I I really thought, Why did no one think of this before is this very simple Mobi-stick tool that is basically like almost the top of a cane set into the bedframe that you can sort of it looks as if you can swivel and use to assist yourself in standing up from the bed. Should that be required for a particular patient? Is that correct?
Uwe Deckert
Exactly. The mobile mistake is made for more autonomy for the resident. So it can be pulled out by himself to assist him getting up easily. By night, when there is no buddy, you can do it himself using the Mobi-stick but also during the day, to to become more autonomy to get in trained and to get mobile by himself.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Yes. And also using our muscles. And it just it’s overall a mobility assistance from from the look of things. Now the low position on this bed appears to be about 23 centimetres or for our American listeners, that’s about nine inches. So would you still use a crash mat with these? Or would that become a pinch point? Do you do not use them with a low profiling bed? What’s your advice on that?
Uwe Deckert
Well, first of all, thank you for the question, which is really a very good one. And I think in the practical use, the habits are different. Honestly, we would not recommend the crash mat. Because in my opinion, it doesn’t really provide more safety. Plus, it can also become an additional fall risk for the resident.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Trying to stand up on it., it’s too soft…
Uwe Deckert
…it’s too soft and when at night he goes to toilet it can really become kind of a trap or an additional fall risk, let’s say but why I’m sure that it is not necessary is we provide today so many functionalities to keep to keep the residents safe at night already the 24-23 centimetres or nine inches are so low. So, when you have additionally some some some side guard protection or some some even a mobility aid and that area which is besides the shoulder would would not make the resident fall dangerously he could cut just slip out of the bed but not not really fall with this whole body down from the bed. Therefore, I think the risk with a bad like a low bed like this is not given plus there are additional tools like I said the movie stick or a side guard which can help to prevent any risk plus there is the intelligence system with the out of bed alarm for example, which helps to signalise when somebody is going out of bed and to be there on time to protect him. So therefore my answer would be probably this kind of crash mat is not state of the art today but it is still used and in some cases CES, maybe it still makes sense. It always depends on the individual. Yes, given facts.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Well, that’s what this bed seems this is why we wanted to have it on the ‘Innovation Spotlight’. It seems like it’s so customizable, that for example, let’s say you had somebody with advanced dementia, you might always leave the sides up, you might, you know, you might use use the bed in a different way. You might not want them trying to figure out what the buttons are doing, for example, so you you could still customise what you were doing. It’s not just as a standard bed, as I understand it, what would you say is the cost differentiation on just a percentage basis, not an actual cost? If you say, you were to take one of this Wissner-Bosserhoff basic beds, and compare it to the cost of this one, how much more expensive would this one be? I’m guessing it would be more expensive, because there is a lot more going on here.
Uwe Deckert
Yeah, it’s true. I mean, it’s clear that quality has its price. But the difference is not that that highest or the difference is or let’s say around 20% between a basic bed and high quality Sentida bed. Plus, you have the possibility, as you said before, the flexibility to have many choices to have the bed, depending on your let’s say your policy or your your needs and individual needs. It means in the middle, it would be like 20%. But at the end, you can choose a bed from a big variety of options, which is really fitting into your needs. And there of course, a Sentida bed has more possibilities and options and simple basic bed.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
So, if you had a budget, you might do a certain number of sub Tita if you couldn’t afford to do all of them and sentido. But you could still have them in the mix of what you were offering.
Uwe Deckert
Yes. But also also the Sentida’s, we have we have a basic price, I have them in a basic price range, and then you you only choose the options that you really need. So you decide what is your preference. So for example, only head end side a side guards and only Mobi-sticks…this is a preference but other other options. You You don’t take it. So there’s a big choice. And at the end, there’s also within the Sentida range. That’s it a basic price segment, which enables economic compromise.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right. Okay, so you’ve obviously thought all of this through I’m not throwing you with any of my questions, which is a good sign. I really want to thank you very much for introducing us to this product. And just to say that we’re going to put direct links to it. More information on the Sentida bed and the Mobi-stick on the podcast page of this episode at Third Age.Design. Thank you so much.
Uwe Deckert
Thank you very much.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Just a quick look then at our TAD International Events Calendar for 2023. In February, the care show in Tokyo, Japan will take place from the eighth to the 10th to early for cherry blossoms, but not for saki. In fact, it’s never too early for saki, or too late. The Senior Living Executive Conference will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA from the eighth to the 10th of May. And in Antwerp, Flanders, the International Conference of Integrated Care will take place from the 22nd to the 24th of May. You’ll find more listings on the events page at Third Age. Design and let us know via the contact page if you have an event you’d like to see listed there. Thank you today’s special guest Dr. Junjie Huangof the University of Stirling in Scotland, to Uwe Deckert of Wissner-Bosserhoff, to our producer Mike Scales, to Valerie Adler of The Right Website to Peter Thorne, who composed our theme music and is playing the piano with Mary Blanchard on flute. And to our sponsor, Innova Care Concepts the leading edge of health care, finally, to you. Thank you for being part of a community who believes we can improve senior environments together. I’m Lori Pinkerton-Rolet and I do hope you’ll join me for the next one.