Canberra aged care provider Goodwin has successfully used the Balance Mat to test the balance of 37 residents at Ainslie.
Goodwin is a community-based not-for-profit organisation providing Canberra and regional communities with independent living villages, in-home care and residential aged care facilities at four locations: Ainslie, Crace, Farrer and Monash.
Balance Mat General Manager Ian Bergman began collaborating with Goodwin’s Manager Operations Charlotte Bai and Physio Aide Jaswinder Nehar on trials of the Balance Mat in April 2017.
Although the Goodwin team was keen to carry out trials of the Balance Mat, their pressing day-to-day duty-of-care responsibilities to residents took precedence for nearly ten months.
This provides an illustrative example of the barriers that exist to adoption of a novel technology like the Balance Mat in a real-world setting.
During the first two weeks of February 2018 Mr Nehar was finally able to carry out the first suite of testing, with results demonstrating that several residents had poor balance.
Since poor balance is a well-known indicator of high falls risk, the testing enables Goodwin to implement appropriately targeted falls prevention measures.
Eventually it is hoped Balance Mat testing will complement existing falls risk screening and prevention practices in the four Goodwin facilities.
