The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating senior’s care facilities – accounting for 80% of fatalities. In April, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, called the situation “a national crisis” and that “the scale and impact on our seniors, as a whole, is nothing short of a national tragedy.” Medical experts are saying that many of the problems stem from the design of Canada’s existing care facilities which have narrow hallways and shared spaces like dining areas and common rooms as well as showers and bathrooms that make prevention and infection control almost impossible.

“I can’t help but think of all of the senior citizens living in the petri dishes of potential infection that are nursing homes right now, waving to family members through windows and learning that friends down the hall are gone. They are trapped in the epicentre of the pandemic, weathering a fate that no one deserves.” — Michele L. Norris, Washington Post

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FABhome responds to the post-pandemic reality.

Community-based FABvillages lower the risk of pandemic transmission because they eliminate communal corridors and other spaces where disease often spreads and allow family members to visit individual homes without interacting with other village residents.

Helping Existing Care Facilities

FABhomes located on the grounds of a new or existing care facility can also provide high-quality isolation for at-risk residents. Communal corridors and spaces are eliminated and the stand-alone FABhome units, accessed from an exterior deck or walkway, facilitated pinpoint isolation of one or more residents without affecting everyone else.

For health care systems, a small fleet of our portable, prefabricated FABhomes can be rapidly deployed into hot spot situations, increasing a health system’s resilience and capacity to react to surges in demand.

FABassist can help existing care facilities maintain social connectedness and family support during periods of quarantine and physical distancing.

To control disease spread, particularly during extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, most lodges and senior’s care facilities are forced to impose extreme isolation protocols in which families and friends are barred from visiting and residents are quarantined in their rooms 24 hours/day with no access to physical and social activities. Although medically necessary, these protocols impact all residents regardless of their individual health status, dramatically reduce resident’s quality of life (loneliness, boredom), increase stress on family members (lack of contact), and overburden staff (increase in non-medical care and answering calls from anxious families).

Deploying FABassist in the resident rooms of senior’s care facilities dramatically improves the quality of life for seniors facing extreme social distancing protocols. Loneliness and boredom is reduced as seniors maintain connections with fellow residents through on-line communal activities. Video-chats through the television help to keep residents connected with family and friends. The ability for families to remotely control the system increases family engagement, reduces resident frustration, and frees up staff time. Automatic status updates give peace of mind to families and reduce the burden on staff.