Adoption Is The Real Innovation

Written By Marko Savic

How to Successfully Roll Out Resident & Family-Facing Tech in Senior Living

Great Tools Only Work If People Use Them

You’ve invested in platforms to help residents and families feel more connected, informed, and empowered. But if they don’t know how to access them, or why they should, even the best tools gather dust.

In senior living, tech adoption isn’t just about launch day. Your Life Enrichment team will be very familiar with your resident engagement software, but true adoption is making sure every user – the resident, their daughter, their nurse, their PSW – feels confident and capable when interacting with your digital tools.

What Your Community Portal Enables

At Welbi, we’ve seen firsthand the benefits of a family and resident-facing system like our community portal:

  • 📣 Newsfeeds with push/email alerts: Announcements, beautiful monthly newsletters, even fire alarm notices that can be segmented by care level, home area, or resident/family access.

  • 📆 Programming calendars: Share all your programming with real-time updates, program descriptions, and enable residents or their loved ones to register for programs.

  • 📊 Engagement insights: So families can see how involved their loved one is.

  • 📱 Resident/staff directories: To build familiarity and transparency for residents within the community.

  • 🔌 App integrations: Dining menus, POS systems, and service requests – with single sign-on, so your residents only have one app.

  • 📞 Contact information: Easy, centralized, and self-serve.

As amazing as these features are, they are only valuable if residents and their care circle are able to access them.

Meet People Where They Are

Your residents and their care circle aren’t all tech experts. Some residents are comfortable with tablets and smartphones. Others may never use a device. Family members might span four generations, each with different expectations and proficiency.

That’s why your rollout needs to be:

  • Multi-channel

  • Role-based

  • Personalized to care level

And most importantly anchored in trust and ease of use.

Real Strategies from Our Customers

Here are some of the most effective onboarding and adoption tactics for community portals that we’ve seen:

🧓 Resident Launches

  • Engage your resident council early: make them advocates and testers.

  • Host resident nights with demos, Q&A, and support.

  • Print calendars or newsletters with QR codes for easy access.

  • Provide one-pagers with login instructions, app download links, and support FAQs.

  • Create "tech buddies" or train-the-trainer programs with staff or tech-savvy residents.

👨‍👩‍👧 Family Launches

  • Run family info nights (virtual or in-person) to introduce the portal.

  • Include app download instructions in welcome packets and quarterly newsletters.

  • Offer short videos or screen recordings that walk through the key features.

  • Use postcards and printed flyers to make access top of mind.

  • Add a link to your app on your printed calendars.

👩‍⚕️ Train Your Teams

  • Anyone who interacts with families from PSWs to nurses should know the basics. It’s not their job, but they are going to be asked.

  • Decide when to answer directly vs. redirect to the recreation team or support.

  • Use internal cheat sheets so everyone can answer common questions with confidence.

Tailor Access Based on Care Level

Not every resident needs (or wants) the same experience.

  • Independent Living residents might log in directly, register for events, or even view their own insights.

  • In Memory Care or Skilled Nursing, families become the primary users: registering on behalf of their loved one, viewing insights, and managing participation.

  • Access can be permissioned per user, with POAs controlling visibility and rights.

This flexibility allows each resident and their care circle to get the right experience at the right time.

Test, Learn, Then Scale

My recommendation? Start with one or two communities at different levels of care. Learn what works, gather feedback, and refine your materials and support strategy.

Then roll out with confidence knowing your system reflects the lived experience of your residents, families, and team.

Your Portal Is Part of a Bigger Communication Strategy

Your app isn’t the only way people connect with your community. Think holistically about communication:

  • 📧 Email newsletters

  • 🖨️ Printed calendars, posters, and invitations

  • 📱 Digital signage

  • 🌐 Public calendars

  • 🗣️ Staff-to-family verbal communication

Think of your portal as the hub, and all of these channels as the spokes. That’s how you build something that feels cohesive and accessible.

Thanks for reading,

‍
Elizabeth Audette-Bourdeau
CEO, Welbi

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