22 0CTOBER Study Tour Day 2. Visit 2. Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community

After lunch at Lea Hill we travelled another half hour to the city of Tacoma. Our destination was the Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community (TLRC). En route we crossed (twice) the highway bridge over the Tacoma Narrows. This is the site of one of the most famous bridge collapses in history when the earlier bridge, built in 1940, failed in strong winds soon after construction. Check out this video clip of the collapse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xox9BVSu7Ok&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Our visit was scheduled as a seminar on ageing services technologies and we received presentations on some of the technology innovation in use at the site. We were welcomed by President/CEO Paul Opgrande who introduced the visit with a wonderful video featuring residents and staff telling us what TLRC means to them.

He was followed by COO Lynette Ladenburg who introduced the impressive line up of guest speakers who had travelled to Tacoma, in some cases from different states of the US, to present their products to us.

The presenters were:
1. Gary Molton, Head of the Senior Products division of Microsoft, who spoke about "Senior PC". Check it out on any search engine.
2. David Munoz spoke about the TLRC Patient Self-Health Awareness and Intervention Project.
3. Lisa Moore spoke about "Accelerated Care Plus" (ACP). The OmniVR Virtual Rehabilitation System, aimed at supporting and accelerating rehabilitation for older people. See: www.acplus.com.
4. Lori Snow, Director of Sales and Marketing for "Its Never 2 Late". This is an advanced touch screen therapy system that has some similarities with, but is far more advanced than, the Somerset Care home produced "Easy PC" system. See:www.iN2L.com.

These products are all in use at TLRC. After the presentations and demonstrations we were able to visit the community's brand new Wellness Centre where the focus is on fitness, rehabilitation and exercise for seniors. A truly impressive facility built to the highest sustainability standards.



The TLRC Wellness Center.

We were then treated to a magnificent dinner presented by the TLRC Catering Team, operated by SODEXO.

This was a most informative visit and the wonderful hospitality of everyone in the TLRC team, and the presentations by the guest speakers, were greatly appreciated by their international guests.

Location:Tacoma, Washington, USA