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Elder abuse has been called the “silent epidemic of our time” as cases of physical abuse, financial exploitation, and other mistreatment continue to increase in many areas across the country. That’s why World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD)—acknowledged annually on June 15—is a call-to-action for society’s individuals, organizations, and communities to educate each other on how to identify, address, and prevent abuse.

As a technology company, we’re big believers that giving adult & aging caseworkers the right tools to collect, access, and surface the right information at the right time will play a key role in facilitating an agency’s ability to accomplish this goal.

"I'm big on efficiencies and using technology. If you're not using the latest and greatest software, you're behind." – Justin Zmyewski, Houston County (Minnesota) Commissioner

For Northwoods, the “latest and greatest software” means something that’s designed to work the way child welfare and adult & aging agencies work.

That’s why we created Traverse®—a content collection and case discovery solution that empowers child welfare and adult & aging agencies to make informed, confident decisions about safety.

As the population ages, more older adults are accessing services at an alarming rate. Increased demand for services leads to collecting more content in the form of notes, forms, and documents. Every piece of content has the potential to contain critical information about a case, but it gets buried deeper and deeper in the file as new information gets added.

No adult & aging, mental health, or long-term care social worker realistically has time to digest and apply the amount of both current and past information available to them, and “dark data”—critical, but hidden information—gets created as a result.

Imagine for a second how much more you could accomplish each day if you were able to put the hour or two that you usually spent doing paperwork toward actually doing your job.

Oh, the possibilities!

For Lenoir County Department of Social Services’ (DSS) Adult and Family Services social workers, the ability to repurpose hours previously spent on documentation means more time to focus on engaging clients, building trust, and delivering more holistic, quality service. Even better? Their documentation is still up to date and accurate too.

Within the next four years, the elderly population in the United States is expected to increase to 54.6 million—meaning nearly 8 million more people over the age of 65 in 2020 than there are today.

And what does this aging population mean for your program? You guessed it: Even. More. Paperwork.

Have you ever rolled out a new technology solution, only for no one at your agency to use it? Frustrating? Of course. Fixable? Absolutely.

Technology is improving efficiencies in the workplace like never before. So why is it that so many human services agencies struggle with getting their teams to adopt these new tools? Why do some agencies implement a technology solution, only to watch it fail on the front lines?

We’ll let you in on a little secret: A little bit of planning, foresight, and a properly aligned approach can often make the difference between whether or not new technology flourishes or fails.