Feature
The Five Senses Matter for Quality of Life
By Marc Plumart
Good care begins with empathy. Our industry must
understand how seniors experience the world to design the
right services and improve their quality of life.
W
e get all of our information about the world around us through our five
senses, but as we age our senses often diminish. It’s not just that we lose
our hearing or have worsened eyesight. Senses of touch, taste and smell can
weaken as well. These sensory changes alter the way we experience the world and
ultimately impact quality of life.
It is our responsibility, not just as care providers but as a society, to make sure
everyone can live their lives to the fullest. Understanding the five senses is a
key part of that. Sodexo and our Institute for Quality of Life partnered with the
University of Ottawa’s Life Research Institute to deepen our understanding of
seniors’ sensory impairments.
Our goal is to improve quality of life. To
do that, we must continually raise the
standards for ourselves and our colleagues
in the industry.
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We set out to study the senses to ensure that our services
have a real and lasting impact on residents. Our goal is to
improve quality of life. To do that, we must continually
raise the standards for ourselves and our colleagues in the
industry.
What we found is a return to what seems basic – our five
senses – can create real opportunity for improvement.
This study inspires new thinking, from simple changes to
technological innovations, to ensure we continually raise the
level of care for seniors.
Seniors with diminished vision may have difficulty distinguishing between
similar colors. Using high-contrast colors helps them see better, which
allows them to navigate corridors and see all of the food on their plates.
Eighty percent of people over 85 have hearing loss, which can separate
seniors from making important daily connections with others. Minimizing
background noise from heating and air conditioning systems makes it easier
to interact and be a part of conversations.
A diminished sense of taste can make eating less pleasurable. Preserving
texture and enhancing flavors can bring enjoyment back to eating and help
boost nutrition. Almost as important as the pleasure of a meal are the social
connections mealtime creates.
Robotic technologies are showing promise in care settings. For example,
innovations such as pet-like robots are able to sense touch, sound and
movement. They stimulate the sense in ways that help reduce stress and
further stimulate social connections.
Our work on this topic continues as we build tools to measure and track how
sensitive seniors’ environments are to the five senses. We intend to raise the
level of care for seniors at home and in long term care communities. By creating
sense-sensitive environments, we can minimize the impact of sensory disorders
and improve quality of life for seniors around the world.
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Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Fall 2017