You’ve gained access to ReMe, either by purchasing from the website or through receipt of an email, by using a Username and Password.

This is where you, the Responsible Manager, will learn how to use ReMe. We realise you may pass this role to a team member but we recommend you do read this manual to understand how to reap the full benefits of using ReMe.

For these go beyond improving person centred care; from enhanced client acquisition, staff moral, reducing paperwork, automating reporting and simplifying activity creation, to saving time and money and generating revenue.

Since ReMe’s deceptively easy to use, it’s worth a look under the bonnet.

Enroling persons cared for

Add users to ReMe – There are two ways to enrol persons cared. In the care facility yourselves or if appropriate, it can be done by the family.

Its a simple form, with no complicated questions and often it’s done in the family’s home at the time of engagement, especially if ReMe is to be used as part of the introduction and client acquisition process.

Building My Story

Discover content through discussion – When entering a person’s dashboard for the first time, the first step is to enter content into the My Story module, either by sitting with the person and entering content through discussion or by gaining family participation.

With content created, whether discovered through searching on words to find internet content, choosing loved music and radio shows or family uploaded photos, then it becomes possible to build reminiscence sessions, that hold a selected mix of content that the person has responded to and you know is engaging.

Personal activities and therapy
This is the heart of ReMe, which is Activity Based software. Activities are based on knowledge of the person and the outcomes of activities are recorded and used to improve subsequent activities and for monitoring and reporting.

The simple rule is, the more you use ReMe the better these will be.

1:1 Reminiscence – this form of therapy has been around a long time. But its never been like this. The sequence of discovery of content is based on Themes (family life, sport, music, etc), Topics (my holiday in Spain, I love trains, etc) and Content (family photos, discovered images, music, radio shows, TV programs, etc).

These are first found and stored in My Story and then Reminiscence sessions are run that are either pre-planned to include content from these Topics that is believed to engage, or created live and at the request of the person cared for, using content from their Topics.

It will take a bit of time to become proficient and like anything it pays to practice on your own first. But after a little while it becomes an automatic process. And that’s when the fun starts. For the aim is to engage, whether with topics of common interest to both carer and the person cared for, or with topics that can be seen to be generating response, calm, even joy. You will be surprised.

And best of all, all that you discover during these sessions is recorded automatically so you can continue the next day, and the family are advised automatically of new discoveries if you wish them to be informed.

Notes:

• When notes are written or recorded, an email can be automatically sent to the care circle advising them of the response of the person cared for and requesting further information and content.
• Voice over notes are particularly powerful response generators.
• Sessions can be rated at the end so that they can be chosen later as being most engaging.
• Alarming content can be flagged and deleted. It will never reappear.

1:1 and Group Cognitive Engagement Therapy (CET) – Based on the principles of cognitive stimulation therapy, CET seeks to enhance engagement through using tried and tested stimulating activities but adds the enhancement of capturing and recording response so as to be able to maintain continuity of activity across sessions and to offer the opportunity for further exploration of topics that engender engagement, notably in one to one sessions.

Little training is required to deliver these sessions. Simply click and play.

Notes:

• We will provide new CET pre-created sessions on an ongoing basis.

Acute Care Strategy – One of the key benefits of ReMe’s ‘search and discover’ functionality, is its ability to find content that is engaging and calming. Whether from the remote upload of family content that is known to be engaging or through the unexpected discovery of content that produces a positive response, this knowledge is recorded and always available and will prompt new carers through the reminiscence sessions.

ReMe’s algorithms explore knowledge of the person to optimise content delivery and once calming content has been found it should be explored further, with the aim of building an ever expanding breadth of knowledge that reflects the world that the person is inhabiting.

When content has been shown to have a calming effect, it can be used as an alternative resort to medication. In such event it is recommended that documentation should be made in the My Health notes section and/or in the calendar shift handover.

Personal entertainment

Music – The music Theme in My Story can be used to find music that the person cared for enjoys, either by family, carer or through discovery.

An unlimited number of playlists can be easily created and modified during sessions as desired. Notes can be added to record stories as they are told during sessions.

As new comments and choices are made during a session new musical content can be discovered and added to the playlist. The order of the content can be adjusted in the settings.

Notes:

• When searching for music, consider finding content with lyrics on screen.
• It’s best to avoid compilations.

Radio programs – Much loved radio programs can be collated and experiences recorded in the same manner as music.

TV and film – Many films and TV shows can be accessed and playlists created.

Notes:

• Compilations of mixed content can be created that address a time of day, mood or a time of year.
• Personalised birthday  or Christmas playlists are popular.
• Weekly religious events can be created using personal and discovered content and scheduled on a repeat basis in the calendar, ready to play.
• Playlists can be created before a family visit and be played using their own tablets. This engages younger family members who can present personal activities.

Record an activity

Capturing the event – activities undertaken by the individual in the care facility can be captured. These are viewable remotely by the family. Images and video can be held and notes recorded.

Recording for reporting – All events captured are held for use in reports. No compilation or written reporting is required and the data is held in perpetuity and can be printed at any time.

It is the responsibility of the carer to take such photos responsibly and within the authorisation parameters provided by individual and/or family.

Activity Coordinators Module

This module is intended to ease the workload of the AC so that they can spend more time with those in their care. For dom and live in care businesses it provides a means to create activities for later use.

ReMe makes it possible to find content and package it into engaging formats, to schedule and store it for future presentation and for use by others and make it bespoke. It enables the discovery of new content during its delivery in sessions and  assign this knowledge to the My Story’s of those persons that showed interest.

ReMe is a powerful tool for creating activities that can have a dramatically improved level of engagement and a significant impact on wellbeing of those present at group sessions or in pre-planned one to one sessions.

Creating group content to fit your care facility and clients – there is always content that resonates with groups of people; whether is a common religion or a passion for a sporting team; a love of travel or memories of key events. Perhaps you have groups of clients with similar interests. Content can be created that can be easily and quickly presented during a session.

Find the content, store it in Group Content and then use it to create Group activities. These can be scheduled for regular use, such as at recurring religious events.

Running group activities – When its easy to create the content for group activities, it becomes possible to go that little bit further with them. If you can easily collate the music and images of a 1940’s tea room, why not hold a tea party as the music plays.

Generic content – Such group content can be used for dom and live in care businesses since it will be of interest across many clients.

Ready made entertainment – ReMe comes stocked with ready made content. Quizzes are provided that aim to have an international and local flavour. They can be deleted if they do not fit your requirements and region and replaced with others. We will make others to fit your needs upon request.

Group reminiscence sessions are provided. And we’ll keep adding to them. If you any ideas or you want to share your creations with the world of ReMe just tell us and we’ll post them.

Calendar

There are calendars for each of the persons cared for and one for the Responsible Manager and for Carers themselves. The video explains how to use them, but key points to remember are that they feed into each other. Some elements remain private to the calendar the item was posted in, such as Handover notes.

Scheduling & Reviewing 1:1 sessions – the family can view the sessions run and play them if they wish from the calendar

Scheduling group activities – these can be planned ahead and run with one click.

Family visits, birthdays and skype calls – families can schedule visits between each other and post on the calendar, such that carers are pre-warned on the Admin calendar and can plan for them. Birthdays are posted and skype calls can even be scheduled between carers, the person and their family.

My Health Module

Health Module – This includes the usual known data formats and content of My Passport, This is Me and Risk documentation, but digitally held and easily printable.

It is advised to enter basic health data about the person as soon as possible, especially if you do not have care planning software and if you expect your local hospital to wish to access the knowledge of the person held in ReMe. This can be entered and/or updated at the time of transfer to the hospital in preparation for their admission. 

My Physical and Mental health – These two areas provide a place for recording the basic details of a persons health. The family have the facility to update the area and upon doing so an email will be despatched to the Responsible Manager notifying them of this entry. The same notification to the Responsible Manager will occur if the hospital update this area.

This Is Me – This section provides a summary of the persons life story, preferences and current relevant facts. It is automatically compiled from My Story and so is always up to date, enabling the hospital to know what is engaging to the person ‘today’ and so to maintain continuity of topic engagement, thereby providing reassurance and appropriate communications, which can be critical in ensuring reduced deterioration of wellbeing.

My Passport – A unique feature of ReMe is its portability. When a person cared for is transferred to hospital, we recommend that you advise them by email of their impending admission. This will give the admissions/triage nurse the opportunity, if using ReMe, to access contemporary knowledge of the person, that can really assist them ensure calm and an easier transition from care facility to the ward.

We would suggest that once you have sufficient persons enroled in ReMe, that you advise your local hospital of your use of the system and suggest that they become users. They will be able to use the system but for access to the full functionality they will need to contact us for activation.

Risk data – My Health provides an area for you to post information regarding risks, and information generally that will be of vital assistance to the hospital ward

Wellbeing Survey – We recommend that at the end of each reminiscence session, and certainly regularly, that a wellbeing survey is conducted with the person in your care. This can be accessed from within My Health, or will have been set up by the RM to appear automatically at the end of each session. You just need to answer a few easy questions and press save. Done. The data will be available to review when you wish and plot as a report when required to do so, accessed from Reports.

Inviting the family

Sending an email – we suggest you simply send an email to those families that you think could benefit from use of Reme. Its critical that they understand the breadth of benefit that they and their loved one will receive from the system, so we suggest that you either build a web page or use ours that outlines the nature of ReMe and provide a link to this in the email.

Updating the family

Session Reports – families will be automatically updated of the outcomes of sessions in which content discovery has been made providing them also with the opportunity to participate by commenting and contributing content.

Wellbeing reports – you can also email them graphic representations of the person cared for’s wellbeing charts. This trend analysis provides reassurance that their needs are well observed and being attended to.

Communications

Sending a message – the ReMe messaging facility is in built, so during a carers interaction with a person cared for, they can instantly send any message that they so wish. Messages are retained in perpetuity but can be deleted by the family administrator.

Using ReMe’s ‘Connecting Family’ page – Skype call’s can be conducted and scheduled using the calendar and care circle connectivity features

Bumpy ride?

If after four weeks your team is not using ReMe regularly and enjoying it, then please do contact us and we’ll arrange a special training session for you. If ReMe’s not working for you, then we all need to know why and to fix the issue.

Simply click here to book a slot to discuss the problem.

But if your cruising, then let’s move onto the Advanced Training section.

10 things to remember

ReMe is like anything. If you don’t do it right it won’t work properly, so it requires commitment and focus to reap the rewards.

And the rewards are worth the effort. Whether the joy of a carer finally engaging with an agitated person they care for through having found that needle in a haystack, of contact that stimulates, of discovering mutually personally relevant content, or simply of having had some of the burden of paperwork reduced. For families being engaged remotely helps provide reassurance and alleviate some of the guilt of separation and for administrators, just providing better activities, better care and a happier and more engaged care environment, is its own reward.

Here’s our ten commandments, that will help ReMe make your care outstanding …