The wellbeing services county of North Karelia, Siun Sote, trusts in the potential of technology to deliver quality home care services. Long distances have accelerated the adoption of medicine-dispensing robots throughout the region, and currently, as many as 23 percent of home care clients own them.
In Siun Sote, the remote care unit “Etähoiva Santra” is not only responsible for customer selection, equipment delivery and deployment, but also for providing the videophone service. An increasing number of home care clients are being provided with the Evondos Anna medicine-dispensing robot, which has proven to be a versatile tool within home care services. Thanks to the integrated video connection, healthcare staff can monitor medication intake and support clients’ independent living at home. Additionally, the wide-angle camera allows for a reliable assessment of the client’s functional ability and condition during the video call.
“North Karelia is vast, and the distances are long, which has made medicine-dispensing robots invaluable for our home care. We have been using Evondos’ E300 model since 2017, and recently we also introduced Evondos Anna, which enables video connections to customers. They have increased flexibility in home care services and reduced the need for physical visits. Thanks to the video feature, clients are in close interaction with nurses, which has received a lot of positive feedback,” says Aleksi Kaasinen from Siun Sote’s technology team.
Fast and reliable video connection brings confidence to living at home
In North Karelia, video call services enable home care services even outside urban areas. However, video calls alone are not sufficient for clients who need assistance from a nurse with daily medication intake. Remote dispensing of medicines with Evondos Anna gives clients a sense of security and increases their independence in everyday life. In the depths of North Karelia, medicine-dispensing robots have boldly been sought for new purposes, including organizing rehabilitation services for the elderly.
“Etähoiva Santra collaborates closely with home care and Social guidance in customer selection. We feel that Evondos Anna has served particularly well clients with dementia or mental health challenges. Through video calls, we can ensure that medications are taken correctly and safely, while the client can enjoy independent living at home. Here at Siun Sote, we have also discovered a way to utilize Evondos Anna for remote rehabilitation services,” says Minna-Mari Vaittinen, a nurse from the Remote Care Unit.
Technology brings quality home care to sparsely populated areas
In Siun Sote, it is believed that medicine-dispensing robots will increasingly establish themselves as part of future home care. In North Karelia, demand for these devices is growing steadily, and they have become popular among remote care, home care, and clients alike.
“We encourage others to be courageous and try out medicine-dispensing robots to develop a completely new kind of remote care service. Evondos Anna provides high quality video footage, making it suitable for a wide range of uses; for example, monitoring a client’s diet, measuring blood pressure or providing remote physiotherapy. Medicine-dispensing robots are reliable in all situations, and internet connections work well even outside urban areas. Evondos Anna is the kind of device that would be nice to give to all our clients,” summarises Aleksi.