Published: November 27, 2024
Whether it’s health care or lifelong learning, sustainability or a quality work environment, Kendal is increasingly turning to technology to enrich its commitment to these and other Quaker-based values.
Here are 5 tech initiatives
1. Circadian Lighting
Circadian lighting in the newly remodeled Stephens Care Center (photographed below). Circadian lighting is designed to mimic the natural rhythm or progression of bright daylighting in the morning and midday to subdued light in the late afternoon and evening and dim or no light at night. Residents of retirement communities particularly benefit from this type of lighting because of mental, physical and/or vision problems and limited outdoor daylight exposure and often too much light at night.
2. Meet Floorence
Pringle Robotics CCI, officially dubbed Floorence by Kendal residents and staff in a contest, is a floor cleaning robot that made its debut this fall at Kendal. “I’m tempted to say ‘Welcome, Floorence! – but it is just a machine, right?” quipped Office Manager Dale Preston, when announcing the winning name in his weekly email.
Crystal Hall, Environmental Operations Manager, is the official boss of Floorence, which is being used to clean selected public carpeted and hard surfaces such as Heiser Auditorium and hallways. Crystal has an app and can assign Floorence to certain tasks even when she is remote.
The robot won’t replace any jobs, Crystal explained to Kendal staff and residents. “Housekeeping is always short-staffed and if we get behind floor care is the job we let go,” she says.
A grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation made the robot purchase possible for Kendal. The grant recognizes that the robot is a tool that can help reduce back injuries and other work-related accidents.
Floorence is verbal, energy-efficient, excels at its task and avoids bumping into people and objects. It can dump dirty water, return to its charging port, be programmed to talk (“cleaning in progress, please be careful”) and more.
“The only maintenance we do is switching out brushes,” says Crystal, adding “It’s pretty smart.”
3. Play Tover
Tovertafel (photographed below) is an interactive game for young and old that produces an array of colors, sounds and movements. The Dutch game, which means “Magic Table,” was introduced to Kendal residents this spring.
“The Wii is ancient now,” says Michele Tarsitano-Amato, creative arts therapy director.
The game, which contains a high-quality projector, infrared sensors, a loudspeaker and a processor that projects interactive games onto a table, has been especially developed for people with cognitive challenges and children with developmental disorders.
But given that Kendal is also home to the Early Learning Center, Kendal is just one of a handful of U.S. institutions also using Tover for intergeneration engagement.
“You notice a certain synergy produced from the residents and the children as you see their wonder and curiosity of the machine spark off of one another as they play together,” says Jaysha Jackson, an intern from Howard University who worked on an intergen project at Kendal this summer using Tover.
The Kendal staff is exploring other uses of Tover besides games. For instance, they can create a personal photo album for a resident, or a photo album of places around Kendal and Oberlin. Before a holiday or field trip, staff can add related content to Tover and create a fun puzzle. They also might add a virtual headset to the game experience.
4. Go Dark
In an effort to reduce light pollution, which adversely effects human health, wildlife and the environment along with wasting money and energy, Kendal hopes to become the first retirement community certified as a Dark Sky Place by DarkSky International.
“Worldwide, there are over 200 places including 43 Dark Sky Communities certified as Dark Sky Places in 22 countries, including three islands, but no retirement community,” says Terry McGowan, Kendal resident and lighting consultant.
Many lighting improvements have been made at Kendal, including:
- Shielded, low glare walkway lighting that dims down when no one is on the path. Its low glare design ensures comfortable lighting for everyone, including residents who use a wheelchair;
- installation of 20-foot poles (instead of the usual 8-10 foot) that provide more uniform lighting with fewer poles;
- a control system that allows Facility Services to individually control the timing and light output of each fixture;
- new indirect LED lighting in garages and carports that includes occupancy sensors.
More lighting improvements, including removal of outdoor “glare bombs,” are needed before Kendal can be certified as a Dark Sky Community, a process that is likely to take a couple of years.
5. Solar Power
In 2021 Kendal mounted 60 solar panels on a new garage and carport, each with 2 EV charging stations. These panels generate enough electricity to light both buildings, power the charging stations and illuminate 75 energy-efficient LED light poles and posts, which will replace aging sodium lights over the next three year
Kendal recently installed two Blink EV chargers near the main entrance, which is accessible through the Blink app.
Speaking of tech…
New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose has some Kendal bona fides. His late grandparents Gretchen and Kenneth Roose were founding members of Kendal, and last month his mother Diana Roose moved into Kendal.
During the pandemic Kevin, cohost of the Times tech podcast “Hard Fork,” spent an hour on Zoom with Kendal residents talking about a subject he says is critical to our future and often underreported: Artificial Intelligence or AI.
Residents hope for an encore someday when California-based Kevin returns to Oberlin to visit his mother at Kendal.
