'Stable network provides the foundation for delivering quality care'
Zorgcentrum Aelsmeer provides care for the elderly throughout Aalsmeer, offering services ranging from home help and home care to inpatient care for both psychogeriatric (PG) and somatic conditions. With 300 staff members and 450 clients, it is one of the larger independent care centres in the ‘Dune and Flowerbulb’ region. Heavier care needs and a tight labour market make the role of IT increasingly important.
Growing old and facing declining physical abilities: no one looks forward to it, but if you have to live in assisted living, Zorgcentrum Aelsmeer tops the wish list for Aalsmeerders in their later years. In the heart of the city, small-scale facility, along the Ringvaart.
Clients live in attached or independent living units or occupy one of the 100 beds in the originally Christian Reformed care centre. Aligned with the mission “good in the ordinary, close to the people”, residents benefit from private bathrooms, fresh meals from the kitchen, a library, a hair salon and a garden by the water.
“Zorgcentrum Aelsmeer is of the village and for the village,” says Erwin van de Griek, Manager of Operations & Control, in his office overlooking the garden and the Ringvaart. “Aalsmeerders want to live here.”
Rising healthcare costs
Just as the residents cannot escape the passage of time, neither can the care centre avoid the challenges that come with this. The days are gone when someone could simply knock on the door at the age of 65 and secure a place in the care centre. The era of abundant healthcare staff is also behind us.
An ageing population and rising healthcare costs mean that seniors need to live independently for as long as possible, with care increasingly organised closer to home – and, if possible, with the help of a partner, children or the neighbourhood. This results in residents arriving at the care centre with more complex care needs than in the past.
'Stable network provides the foundation for delivering quality care'
“Combined with the tight labour market, this creates a dynamic in which IT plays an increasingly vital role,” Erwin says. “Remote care, e-consults and video calls are going to contribute enormously to people’s self-reliance.”
Electronic Client File
Moreover, healthcare organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on large digital systems, such as the Electronic Client File and financial packages. Because the care centre is too small to manage these systems in-house, it has relied on Aster for more than a decade for complete IT services: from management and maintenance to support. Aster also managed the migration to Windows 10, modern workstations, and now almost all applications run in the cloud.
“We have been able to confidently outsource IT management to Aster all these years. What I appreciate about Aster is their professional diligence. They take their work seriously, which sometimes leads to discussions. We might want something, but Aster will put a counterargument in a healthy way, asking: why would you do this? Have you considered this or that? This shows their professionalism and experience.”
Personal data
“In healthcare, it’s always about personal data, about highly sensitive matters,” Erwin continued. “If data ends up in the wrong place, you have big problems. I really appreciate Aster’s sense of responsibility in this regard.”
For any issues, Aster’s support department is always ready to assist. Thanks to the strong foundation laid by Aster, issues are usually limited to things like login problems.
“I have never experienced any downtime,” Erwin notes with satisfaction. “This is critical because, as a healthcare organisation, you work literally around the clock and need access to data 24/7. With all the applications now running in the cloud, we are highly dependent on IT. Aster’s stable network thus provides the foundation for delivering quality care.”