Beyond the nuts and bolts of LTC products: LTC products on the cutting edge have more than technology behind them--they often have interesting stories, too.

Procter & Gamble recently announced that Ivory soap floats because it was designed to--its buoyancy was not the result of a lucky production accident, as long has been claimed. This tidbit illustrates that products we use on an everyday basis frequently are more than just tools to get the job done: They often have interesting stories behind them. Products for long-term care are no exception. Here is just a sampling of some products relatively new to the field--some even connected to cutting-edge technologies--that have particularly interesting histories.

From Tokyo Apartments to American LTC Resident Rooms

The CITY MULTI[R] heating and cooling system from Mitsubishi Electric  was introduced more than 20 years ago in Asia, where high energy prices and small living units cause people to only heat and cool rooms they use (unlike Americans' habit of heating and cooling entire buildings). To address these factors, CITY MULTI was designed to be a "zoned" system, meaning it can heat one space while cooling another, thereby being energy efficient and serving multiple living spaces. Chuck Applebee, a product manager for Mitsubishi Electric's HVAC Advanced Products Division, which introduced the latest line--the CITY MULTI R2 series--in the United States this year, notes that residents of U.S. nursing homes and assisted living facilities live in similarly small spaces, and the zoned system can offer long-term care residents custom climate control for their rooms. He also suspects budget-conscious American long-term care administrators will appreciate the system's energy-efficient features, originally designed for Asians' concerns over electricity costs, as prices continue to rise in the United States.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Furniture and Seating Innovations

Incorporating fighter-jet technology into geriatric furniture. As incredible as it may sound, a line of geriatric outdoor furniture shares technology with the Air Force's famed stealth bomber. Fincastle Chair, LLC, founder Tim Maloney discovered while working at the Department of Energy that the principles used to render the stealth bomber invisible to radar could be used to make furniture "invisible" to the sun. Years of testing led to Andure[R] titanium/resin alloy, from which Fincastle makes its furniture. Weather-impervious, products made from Andure are guaranteed to never rot, rust, peel, crack, chip, yellow, or need painting. The furniture is easy to clean and offers "permanent cleanability," has antibacterial properties, and has a solid structure, adds Maloney.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Transforming vinyl from drab to fab. Vinyl seating has been a mainstay of long-term care facilities because it's easy to clean and stands up to wear. Yet it has not been the most physically attractive option for today's homelike environments because vinyl traditionally has been manufactured in single colors or simple patterns. "Our design options were somewhat limited based on the available technology," explains Doug McClendon, vice-president of marketing for vinyl upholstery manufacturer Morbern, Inc. "We could only make vinyls look a certain way. You could always still tell aesthetically that it was a vinyl."

To give designers more options, Morbern spent 22 months developing new manufacturing technology. Whereas vinyl with striped patterns was not possible with the older technology, not stripes, intricate patterns, and even complicated logos are possible with Morbern's (u)phoria![TM] vinyl. This technology enables designers to submit their own artwork, which can be designed onto the vinyl with virtually no limitations. Therefore, designers can dream up any pattern for a vinyl application.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Vinyl has historically been thought of as institutional or utilitarian. There was a thought process that people only used vinyl when they had to because the conditions required it. Now you can use it not only because you have to, but because it works with your design theme," notes McClendon. "You no longer have to sacrifice aesthetics for performance or performance for aesthetics. You can have both."

Hunting for fabric protection. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., also offers new seating options for long-term care facilities with its GORE[TM] Seating Protection. The idea for this product came up during a hunting trip, in which a person associated with the furniture industry lamented the lack of a durable moisture barrier for furnishings, recalls Gore Associate Jackie Boatwright. The other hunter, dressed in clothing protected by GORE-TEX[R], suggested they contact Gore to see if the company could help them out. GORE Seating Protection was eventually born.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

With this fabric treatment, a protective moisture barrier is laminated to the upholstery fabric, making the barrier part of the material. The barrier prevents moisture and contaminants from penetrating the upholstery fabric and reaching the foam cushion, but at the same time it allows moisture vapor to pass through the fabric, providing a "breathable" seat and back for more comfortable sitting. According to the company, this is an improvement over traditional, nonbreathable vinyl products because this treatment can be applied to virtually any textile, giving designers more options to create a homelike environment. Also, fabrics with GORE Seating Protection can be cleaned with a variety of common upholstery cleaners; older polyurethane coatings often deteriorate if not cleaned with a water-based solution, notes the company.

Robotic LTC Caregivers Are Not Science Fiction

Although we're still a long way from having helpful robots like Rosie from The Jetsons whizzing around long-term care facilities corridors, robotic technology is making its way into nursing homes. InTouch Health, Inc., offers the RP-6, a motorized, mobile communications robot. InTouch executives were introduced to the needs of long-term care during a visit to a multifacility long-term care operation arranged by a venture capitalist during the company's formative stages.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The currently available RP-6 has an onboard computer and provides two-way audiovisual communication. A user authorized to access the system controls the robot using a joystick at the Control Station[TM], comprised of a computer workstation, camera, microphone, and speakers. The robot can be located at a facility, and the ControlStation can be located at a chain's corporate headquarters; they are linked via the Internet. Over a secure line, the user controls the robot from the ControlStation, driving it from room to room. Therefore, it's as if the healthcare professional can be in two places at once to move around, see, hear, and talk to others. For a multifacility chain that had a robot in each home, this would mean clinical experts could "beam in" virtually on a moment's notice and visit/coach/mentor/consult with in-house staff and residents.

"We are not trying to replace healthcare professionals," explains Michael Chan, InTouch vice-president of marketing and professional services. "We believe that remote-presence technology can be used to better leverage highly skilled clinical experts so that they can be in two places at once--or so that their expertise can be more efficiently and effectively utilized."

For more information

Fincastle Chair, LLC

http://finchair.com

GORE Seating Protection

www.goreseatingprotection.com

InTouch Health, Inc.

www.intouchhealth.com

Mitsubishi Electric's CITY MULTI system

www.citymulti.net

(u)phoria!

www.imagineuphoria.com

BY DOUGLAS J. EDWARDS, ASSISTANT EDITOR

To comment on this article, e-mail [e-mail]. To order reprints in quantities of 100 or more, call [phone].