News
Prairie Sunset Village Residents Pilot Communication App with Loved Ones
Posted 1/21/25 (Tue)
Photo: PSV residents meet with OdessaConnect representatives for Q&A last week
With financial help from the State of South Dakota Department of Human Services Division of Long Term Services and Supports, residents at Prairie Sunset Village are now piloting an exciting new communication app built for older adults. OdessaConnect is an all-in-one community platform for senior living that allows residents to interact with family members, friends and staff through their televisions and eliminates the need to manage multiple passwords, apps and small-screen devices.
Lu Boelkes, almost 90 years old now, started at the telephone company in Mobridge in 1968 and worked there until she retired in 1998. An avid golfer, she has a case of her golf trophies (with four hole-in-one awards) and a picture on the wall of her with her son and two daughters smiling on the deck of the Mobridge Country Club. She wintered down in Texas for many years, and now, her children, graduates of Mobridge High School, have jobs and lives there too.
Before OdessaConnect, she would talk on the phone with them often but had never experienced a video call. “They all live in Texas, so I don’t see them that often. My son, Jay [Ritter] called me this morning. He’s down in Texas, of course. He had to show me the flowers off of his deck,” she laughs happily before continuing. “They are getting some cold weather down there; they said there’s even frost warnings!”
Besides video calling, Lu is enjoying the photo sharing that OdessaConnect offers. “I have two of my daughters on there. We have pictures; my daughter puts pictures on, and—do you want to see it?” Toggling easily between cable and the home screen with her 11-button OdessaConnect remote, Lu pulls up her photo album.
“Those are old pictures,” she clarifies as she scrolls through the images, a smile on her face and laughter in her voice. “That was where I used to live; the deck there. And that’s all four of us, my three kids and me. That’s us at the Grand Canyon in Nevada, and a funny one of the dog that they have. That’s my family there—the whole family.”
Staff can use the program to build content for the entire community and share daily activity room schedules and dining menus with residents and connected friends and family members. Friends and family can add and view photos in the unlimited shared album, write unlimited messages, and make video calls to residents. The residents themselves can play daily trivia and other games, check the weather, and review the days menu and activities, but the new options for communicating with loved ones is by far the most popular part of the program.
The screen and picture are so much larger than on a cell phone or iPad that residents with older eyes can much more easily engage with the video call. Eileen Ford, who lives down the hall from Lu, also hadn’t had any experience with video calls before OdessaConnect. Seeing her children who live far away is normally a special treat. This past week, with the help of her son Ted [Ford] and OdessaConnect she was able to video chat with her daughter for the first time. “Ted wasn’t on [my contact list], so he put himself on, and while he was doing that, he called Steph in Minnesota and told her to call, and so all at once there she was on the TV! It was so neat. We had a good visit, and I really enjoyed it. [The video] was really clear. It was so good!”
And perhaps the software is even more impactful for Prairie Sunset Village residents, like Marvin Baltzer, who are coping with hearing loss. Despite surgeries, Marvin’s can hear very little these days without his hearing aids. Unfortunately, his hearing aids don’t work well for phone calls, which has sometimes made getting messages to him difficult for family members. “In the past, we would try to say things several different ways and just hope it got through,” shared his daughter, Nancy McClellan. “I appreciate the accessibility of OdessaConnect so much. He’s able to leave his aids in and hears us crystal clear with OdessaConnect. It’s been the most successful way to date that we’ve found to keep in touch with him and get him messages when we’re not able to visit him in person.”
The software, designed specifically for older adults, is more accessible than other mainstream options. It prioritizes a user-friendly design and simplifies features whenever possible. It’s also designed to guard against phishing and scams targeting older adults. Family members and friends must be invited by the resident or family point of contact before they can connect through the platform. “When the OdessaConnect boxes were installed a week ago, we had 20 family members enrolled. Now, we are up to 49 and I just received a request from a resident to add 13 more,” shares Kylie Eberhart, LPN, Prairie Sunset Village Manager.
“It’s so exciting to see more family members and friends of the residents starting to download and use the app,” she admits. “Connection is vital to the well-being of our residents. We hope OdessaConnect will be an intuitive solution for families struggling to stay connected with older loved ones living here.”
Research consistently shows that maintaining strong family ties positively impacts the mental and emotional health of older adults. Regular communication reduces loneliness and isolation, boosts cognitive function and memory retention, and adds to a sense of purpose and belonging. "When families share photos and videos, it’s more than just an exchange of images; it’s a way to say, 'You matter to us,'" says Eberhart. "Our goal in piloting OdessaConnect is to help ensure that no resident feels forgotten or disconnected." Family members and friends of residents who want to join the program are encouraged to contact Kylie at 605-845-8230 or kylie.eberhart@commonspirit.org.