Amazon has two new applications that combine Alexa into hospitals and senior residing communities, the corporate introduced as we speak. They’re run by way of Alexa Good Properties, which permits organizations to manage a centralized Alexa system.
“Early on within the pandemic, hospitals and senior residing communities reached out to us and requested us to assist them arrange Alexa and voice of their communities,” Liron Torres, world chief for Alexa Good Properties, mentioned in an interview with The Verge. Hospitals needed methods to work together with sufferers with out utilizing protecting gear, and senior residing communities needed to attach residents with members of the family and employees, she says.
This system lets senior residing services use Amazon Echo units to ship bulletins or different messages to residents’ rooms. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many services relied on printed out sheets of paper slipped beneath resident doorways to speak adjustments in protocols, like round meals or quarantines. The Alexa program lets them ship messages immediately into affected person rooms. “Workers might be extra out there for different duties,” Torres says.
Residents may place calls by way of Alexa to members of the family or mates with out having to depend on a employees member. Authorized contacts would additionally be capable of name in by way of Alexa. The power may allow calling for a set of contacts authorised by the resident and members of the family after they arrive.
Two networks of senior residing communities, Atria (which is nationwide) and Eskaton (primarily based in California), are including Alexa to some services, Amazon mentioned. Amazon declined to say how a lot this system prices these services.
In hospitals, the Alexa Good Properties program lets nurses talk with sufferers by way of the calling and intercom-esque drop-in options with out having to enter affected person rooms. Sufferers may ask questions, or nurses may test on how somebody is feeling by way of the characteristic. “This permits hospitals to extend productiveness and be capable of save on medical provides,” Torres says. Hospitals may ship info and bulletins to sufferers by way of Alexa.
Sufferers can toggle on “don’t disturb” to forestall drop-ins, Torres says.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle in Los Angeles, BayCare Well being System in Florida, and Houston Methodist are including Alexa to their services, Amazon mentioned.
