United Methodist Communities Partners with Synzi to Support Home Health Clients
New Jersey Organization Uses the Synzi Virtual Care Communication Platform to Enhance the Delivery of Home Health Care
Synzi, a leading virtual care company, has announced that United Methodist Communities (UMC), a faith-based, nonprofit organization with a 112+ year history in New Jersey, is using Synzi’s virtual care platform in HomeWorks, its home care division. Synzi will strengthen engagement between their nursing staff and clients.
HomeWorks supports older adults at home as well as those transitioning from or to hospitals, assisted living or nursing homes. HomeWorks provides personal care, case management, live-in services, dementia care program (Tapestries at Home) and pastoral care.
UMC uses technology to engage its HomeWorks’ clients and support its mission of “compassionately serving in community so that all are free to choose abundant life.” HomeWorks selected Synzi’s virtual care platform for its comprehensive HIPAA-compliant video, email, text, and secure messaging capabilities.
“We purposefully pursue technologies which enhance clients’ lives and experiences. Synzi’s virtual care communication platform enables our registered nurses to have additional touchpoints with home health aides for real-time updates on clients’ conditions. With Synzi, we reassure families that ‘we’re a just a virtual visit away and that our clients and aides will always have access to on-call nurses for video-based calls,” said Deborah Walsh, Executive Director of HomeWorks.
With support from HomeWorks, Esther, a former UMC board member, successfully transitioned from a nursing home to her lifelong residence. The Synzi app, installed on her live-in aide’s phone, has enabled face-to-face video contact with the HomeWorks’ staff for about two years. Since Esther knows them well, this satisfies her desire not only for more frequent communication regarding her care, but also allows her to maintain well-established social connections. This technology and other supports have resulted in improved health.
During the initial platform deployment, HomeWorks’ nurses, live-in home health aides, and other personnel are using Synzi’s multi-way video to connect conveniently with clients on a regular basis and maintain contact throughout the episodes of care. Families can virtually meet the aides before they start service in a client’s home. This ensures consistency in caregiving and makes the family more comfortable with the care program. Clients’ family members can also participate in the virtual visits, especially if they live or work a considerable distance from their loved one.
“HomeWorks’ virtual visits enable their aides to communicate and report updates and concerns to appropriate staff members in real-time. Multiple participants can be included in the video-based visits, including a specialist, family members, and an interpreter to provide the patient with the optimal support,” said Lee Horner, CEO of Synzi. “With Synzi, UMC has competitively positioned itself as a client-centric partner in the community, reflecting their commitment to a higher quality of care.”
UMC plans to expand the rollout of the Synzi platform across all their HomeWorks’ locations, including the recently opened Haddonfield office. Synzi’s secure messaging, email, and text functionality will also be utilized to provide clients and independent living residents at UMC at Bristol Glen with timely condition-specific communications and medication adherence reminders.