For sons and daughters

You should not have to wait until Sunday to know how she is.

VoiceRounds calls every resident in a retirement home, every day, hears how they actually are, and puts anything that needs a person into a named caregiver’s hands. Where a home chooses to, it tells you the call happened and how she was.

Built in Ontario, data stays in CanadaHer home decides what you seeNothing here is a real resident
A call, start to finish

It sounds like somebody asking how she is

Not a questionnaire, and not a test. It says what it is at the start, and it listens to the answer.

This is a made-up example, not a real person. We cannot show you a real resident.

Called this morning at 9:15Reached
Good morning, it's Iris calling from Maplewood. I'm an automated call, not a real person. Is this a good time for a quick chat?
Oh yes, I'm just having my tea.
Lovely. How did you sleep?
Not badly. The room's been cold again, mind you. I had the extra blanket on.
I'm sorry to hear that. I'll make sure the home knows about the radiator today.

What it heard

The room is cold again, mentioned before.

Who was told

Passed to the caregiver on shift as a task, with the earlier mention attached.

The small specific thing is the point. A family can tell the difference between “she is doing well” and somebody noticing the radiator for the second time.

How it actually works

Four steps, in the order they happen.

She gets a call, at a time she chooses

Once a day, from a number her home sets up. It says what it is at the start of every call. It is short, and she can end it whenever she likes.

It listens, in her language

How she slept, how she is eating, pain, mood, medication, and the sentence that does not quite fit. Where we cannot call in her language, her home is told plainly, rather than the call quietly happening in English.

If something needs a person, a named caregiver is told

Not a dashboard nobody has open. It goes to somebody on shift by name, and if they do not take it, it climbs to the Director of Care until somebody does.

Nothing closes until she has been told

If she raises something, the record does not close when the job is done. It closes when somebody has gone back and told her what happened about it.

And if she does not answer?

This is the part that matters, so it is worth being exact about it.

Silence is treated as a failure, not as good news.

  1. 1It tries again later the same day, rather than writing the day off.
  2. 2If she still cannot be reached, that is not recorded as a quiet day. It is recorded as a resident nobody has accounted for.
  3. 3Her home is told, and somebody goes and sees her in person. Confirming she is well requires a person, not a missed call.

What a day looks like, if her home shares it

This is a made-up example, not a real person. We cannot show you a real resident.

ReachedExample ResidentCalled this morning at 9:15

Slept well. Ate most of her breakfast. Said the crossword was hard today.

She mentioned something

She mentioned the radiator in her room again.

The home was told. Maintenance came Thursday, and she confirmed on Friday that it was warmer.

Five ordinary days before this one. We tell you when that changes.

This is a made-up example, not a real person. We cannot show you a real resident. An ordinary day on purpose: a demo built around a dramatic morning would teach you to read a quiet one as something going wrong.

The questions you actually have

Not the ones a buyer has. Every answer below describes something the system does today.

Will she find it annoying?

She picks the time, it is short, and she can say she would rather not talk today. If she brushes it off, the call ends politely, and it is not recorded as a check-in, because nobody actually heard how she was. Her home is told that, rather than shown a green tick.

Does it pretend to be a person?

No. It says what it is at the start of every call, every time. A system that lets somebody believe she is talking to a nurse has done something wrong no matter what it heard.

What if she is confused, or has memory problems?

It does not test her and it does not score her. It asks how she is and listens. If nothing was understood, it does not record a check-in, it tells her home that somebody needs to go and see her.

What if she says she is fine when she is not?

A reassurance at the end of a call never cancels a concern raised during it. If she mentioned pain and then said not to make a fuss, the concern stands and somebody is still told.

Can she say no?

Yes, to the call, and to having somebody sent up. Her decision is recorded as her decision. It is never quietly treated as an all-clear, and her home still sees it.

Does this replace the people who look after her?

No. It is a way of noticing, on the days when nobody has time to sit with all sixty residents. Every concern it raises is handed to a person whose name is on it.

We will not show you your mother’s information. That is deliberate.

It is the same reason we would not hand her details to somebody claiming to be you.

Why can't I just sign up and see how my mother is?

Because it is her information, not ours to hand out. Her home is legally responsible for who sees her health record, and we will not go around them, which is the same reason we would not hand your mother's details to somebody claiming to be you.

So what do I actually do?

Ask her home. Below there is a note you can send them in one click. It arrives with your name on it, from a family who wants this, which carries far more weight than anything we could send them cold.

What would I see, if they said yes?

That the call happened, that she was reached, and how she has been in her own words. Never a clinical file, never a transcript, and never anything the home has not chosen to share.

Ask her home.

A note from a family carries more weight with a Director of Care than anything we could send them cold. It takes about thirty seconds.

We will not ask you anything about her health, and we would not record it if you told us. This goes to her home as a note with your name on it, and nothing else happens until they reply.

What happens next

  1. 1Usually within a business dayWe write to her home and say a family has asked about this, with your name on it.
  2. 2ThenWe show them what it does and what it costs. That conversation is with them, not with you.
  3. 3Either wayWe tell you what they said, including if the answer is no, rather than leaving you wondering.

If her home says no, that is theirs to decide and we will not go around them. You are not signing up to anything here, we will not email you again, and we still will not look anything up about your relative.