Technology can be so sweet

KELLOGG — A delicious surprise is headed toward the residents of Mountain Valley of Cascadia.

For the third year in a row, the skilled nursing facility in Kellogg has been approved for a long-term technology grant from the state of Idaho.

In years past, the facility has utilized the funds they have received for items such as iPads, a specialized grand piano, a gaming system, televisions, and many other high dollar pieces of tech that make life easier for the residents.

This year, along with more iPads, a MacBook and a new (LARGE) TV for one of the common areas, the facility will be getting a state-of-the-art ice cream machine that will allow residents of all dietary restrictions the ability to join in on community ice cream socials.

The grant language expressly forbids the use of the funds for anything food-related as it pertains to the facility, but the state was curious as to how the residents would access the machine for their own use. Mountain Valley CEO Emilee Kulin was able to show them just how valuable this technologically advanced machine could be to improving the social lives of her residents.

“We have so many residents with diverse dietary needs and restrictions,” Kulin said. “We are going to make it available for the residents to use themselves according to their own wants and restrictions. This machine allows them to have so many different flavors, but say they can’t have hard chunks or something like that, they can make cookies and cream ice cream for themselves that doesn’t have any chunks in it. Also, the people who don’t have those restrictions can have normal ice cream from the machine. We won’t have to worry about alienating anyone.”

The machine is certainly special, but also comes with a near $12,000 price tag. However, Kulin stresses that the importance of inclusion and socialization is near the top of every skilled nursing facility’s priority list.

The new large TV will be hung where they have their current community events calendar, which according to Kulin is still being typed and posted the same way it was done in the ’70s.

The TV will now have the daily schedule on a large screen that’s easy to read and will also have entertainment components to make the facility more fun for the folks living there.

“We will be able to use it for the calendar, which is currently done by hand, on paper,” Kulin said. “We will be able to be more versatile. We can use it for music or we can run our fun trivia games off of it. It will just be such an upgrade for our residents.”

Adding additional iPads to the facility gives residents a lot of opportunities including simple entertainment. For residents like Jim Reilly though, the tablet allows him to communicate using an app called Sono Flex.

The app turns symbols into clear speech and provides language to nonverbal users who are not yet in full control of literacy, such as Reilly, who is recovering from having a stroke.

The money for the grant comes from fines and penalties that the various facilities across the state have to pay for infractions they may receive on the annual survey that each facility undertakes. This money is then put into a pot and redistributed to the facilities for different things that will make them a better place.

Mountain Valley of Cascadia has been perfect on their surveys for the better part of the last decade, but they are always looking to make their facility better than it is.