Running a senior care living facility comes with its own unique needs and challenges compared to other buildings. Whether it’s a skilled nursing or assisted living administrators, the managers, as well as maintenance teams, must maintain the functionality and safety of a facility that many potentially vulnerable people rely on. Therefore, it is important that all maintenance tasks and activities be organized and efficient.

Thankfully, modern technology is continually making it easier to do this. One of these technologies is a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This software allows facility managers to organize and track everything from work orders, to inventory, to assets, to costs and vendors.

Maintenance management software is a particularly useful tool for seniors living facility managers. Many modern long-term care facility managers are faced with a growing variety of responsibilities and challenges when it comes to maintenance. Some of those responsibilities include:

  • Providing technical support, product information, research and quality assurance guidance
  • Establishing and monitoring a preventative maintenance program that will promote a sense of well-being and esthetic appeal for residents and staff
  • Maintaining OSHA, ASHE, and State Fire Code or Life Safety compliance
  • Communication with and coordination of people and tasks to accomplish repairs and alterations to buildings and equipment systems

Trying to organize and track the above list is difficult when trying to do it “the old fashioned way” of pen and paper or even through email. Never mind the maintenance team actually trying to keep track or respond to maintenance requests and preventative maintenance activities using those methods.

Managers who want to maintain a safe facility for residents must make use of modern maintenance management technology.

How technology can help managers stay organized and efficient 

Here are just a few things that you can do with CMMS within a healthcare or senior living facility:

  • Make maintenance more streamlined and efficient
    The Work Order functionalities of a CMMS are a major help to maintenance workers in an assisted living, independent living or skilled nursing facilities. The work order software makes is easy for anyone to make a maintenance request, assign the task, update it with documentation and information, and more. Maintenance team members can see it all from one easily-accessible (see mobile information below) dashboard.No more running around all over the facilities trying to remember what their next task is, or what the person in the hallway just told them. Now, they can save significant amounts of time and be much more efficient.
  • Lower maintenance costsNot only does increased efficiency lead to cost savings and higher maintenance ROI, but with a CMMS for seniors living facilities, you can actually track costs and assets. This, along with the capital planning features of maintenance software will allow you to accurately forecast, plan, and streamline your facility maintenance budget.
  • Keep up with preventative maintenanceWithout regular preventative maintenance, a seniors living facility maintenance plan will likely not be successful. But, performing effective preventative maintenance takes a lot of planning and organization. With features especially designed for this, a CMMS will help facility maintenance teams to keep track of all regular preventative maintenance activities so they don’t get lost or forgotten in the large quantities of on-demand requests.
  • Use the mobile app to save timeA CMMS with a mobile app will be a great help to seniors living facility managers and maintenance teams. Because senior’s facilities are often very large and can have many floors, it can be difficult for team members to go back and forth to their desks to check on the status of tasks.

    With a mobile app for CMMS, everyone can access the software from wherever they are, as long as they have their phones or a tablet. This saves significant time, and we all know when running a facility, that time is money.

  • Run reports remotelyNot only can you use the mobile app to manage tasks and requests, you can also use it (and your regular computer) to run reports on all aspects of your facility maintenance. You’ll be able to see stats regarding: staff performance, facility trending, asset expenses and much more. Plus you can export data to share, save and view in .csv formats.

A CMMS can help organize and streamline your maintenance activities in pretty much all areas of your seniors living facility. When you implement a maintenance management software, you’ll notice improvements in the maintaining for these areas:

  • Security
  • HVAC units
  • Facility Vehicles
  • Fitness room and equipment
  • Electrical
  • Swimming pools and spas
  • Plumbing
  • Resident apartments or rooms
  • Fire safety systems
  • Landscape maintenance
  • Elevators
  • Windows and doors
  • Parking areas
  • Dining rooms
  • Commercial kitchen equipment

Embracing CMMS in your facility

With better communication, remote access, reports at the touch of a button, and less paperwork, CMMS software is helping managers at seniors living facilities across the world to improve their maintenance plans. It’s important for providers and maintenance teams to embrace and use new technologies to keep your residents safe and happy and the facility running efficiently.

Dan Roberge is the president at Maintenance Care. For more information on what a CMMS can do, read a CMMS Guide here (hyperlink: https://info.maintenancecare.com/cmms-guide) or get a free demo of how the software works here (hyperlink: https://info.maintenancecare.com/cmms-software-demo-1)