A conversation with Chief Clinical Officer Paula Trainor.

HaloCare’s Chief Clinical Officer, Paula Trainor shares her story of working within the public healthcare sector and how she has brought her knowledge of the healthcare industry and passion for innovation to HaloCare.

Paula has been a qualified nurse for 24 years now, working across a wide range of disciplines including neurosurgery, specialist intensive care and public health nursing.

Having completed a lean 6 Sigma Greenbelt, she attributes her background in lean thinking and lean methodologies to her successful time as Assistant Director of Public Health Nursing and Clinical Lead for both Offaly Covid Vaccination Centre, Covid testing centre

Today, we take a look at what Paula values most about her career in the Health sector, how things have evolved in the industry since she started and where she feels the future of healthcare lies.

What do you love about working within the Health sector?

I love looking after people. I've always loved looking after people.

As a nurse, looking after someone, particularly at the end of their life, is the most humbling experience. Being a part of the patient and their family’s journey in a very non-intrusive way is an honour. You're supporting both family and patient through the journey and there's a feeling you get from that, that you can't really understand until you've experienced it first-hand.

When I was leaving my job as Assistant Director of Public Health Nursing to join HaloCare, a community registered nurse asked me, “Do you feel you're stepping away from the patient more and more now that you continue to move into management but also out of the Public Health Care sector?”

My answer to that was simply "no". When I moved from providing direct patient care to managing teams, the satisfaction became about supporting the staff I managed. If I could support them in the best possible way, that allowed them to give the best possible care. Now having moved to HaloCare, my job satisfaction is knowing that I am providing solutions to staff, patients, residents, carers and families to make lives better, healthier and easier. HaloCare is able to support those living with disabilities, Chronic Illnesses or people who generally just need additional assistance with their activities of daily living. My goal has always been to improve quality of life for those who need healthcare, but also improve quality of working for staff. If staff have the right support and services, the care they deliver is ultimately better.

How has the delivery of healthcare evolved since first joining the industry?

When I first qualified, healthcare was delivered in hospitals. There was little focus or services available in the community. Today, while healthcare continues to be heavily reliant on the acute services, there is a significant shift in thinking. We now know that we need to move to community care and resources and infrastructures are being provided to facilitate that. One of the biggest changes I have seen is the change in population health. People are living longer, but demanding and rightly so, a higher quality of life in their older years. Who wants to live until they are 100, but be bed bound? We want to live longer but enjoy life. And while our growing population ages, our healthcare staffing numbers shrink. So, we have more people to care for with less staff.

With these challenges, we need to look at what resources we have and how we can utilise them very carefully. Healthcare professionals are to be protected, supported and empowered. Solutions such as HaloCare will never replace person centred care, but can support and supplement, protect and empower those who use it, from clients, patient's, carers, families and healthcare professionals using assisted living technologies. 

Why is innovation vital for the healthcare industry?

I’ve mentioned the challenges faced, globally around our aging population and reduction in availability of healthcare professionals in all areas and specialities. Healthcare innovation is now critical. We have to look how we can deliver safe, effective and efficient care with the resource we have. Innovation such as HaloCare will provide better patient care, improve patient outcomes, allow for better access to care, improve care coordination, improve population health, and lower healthcare costs.

How can assistive living technologies benefit healthcare?

Very simply, assistive living technology will support people to live well and healthier lives at home. We give families peace of mind knowing that there is a service that is gently supporting their loved ones. HaloCare uses all passive devices and sensors, so we are not watching anyone (no cameras), but we are there, in the background ensuring that the person is ok and we are there to get them help, if or when they need it. We have a Care Hub of skilled healthcare professionals that manage any alerts or alarms 24/7. Our Care Specialists personally call people to check-in or when needed to ensure they are ok. While we are a digital healthcare company, we value the need for people to be at the core of everything we do and so our Care Specialists are on-hand 24/7 to provide company, to listen to and to support each client and family member who is on our service.

HaloCare is leading the way for innovation in the healthcare sector in Ireland and delivering a holistic approach to how care is delivered.

Virtual Healthcare provided by HaloCare

HaloCare is a 24/7, 365-day technology enabled care solution for people who wish to remain independent in their own homes but need a little extra support day-to-day. HaloCare adopts a holistic approach to patient-centred care and have three core pillars at the foundation of everything they do: Safety, Social & Wellness, and Clinical.

Safety: Keeping our clients safe at home is paramount. Our technologies are best-in-class and developed to promote independence which gives our clients and their circle of care the peace of mind that, should anything happen in the home (for example an unusual pattern in client behaviour), we will be alerted and can intervene when required.

Social and Wellness: Social isolation can become a problem, particularly for older people or those living with a disability. We offer a bespoke service where our trained care specialists will call our clients, at their request. This service helps keep our clients connected and works in conjunction with family visits and homecare support. Our HaloCare solution supports clients so they can carry out their daily activities of living while delivering better physical and mental health outcomes through a blended approach of virtual homecare solutions including our HaloPad and Circle of Care app.

Clinical: We have adopted remote patient monitoring technologies to provide health professionals and clinicians with timely access to client’s vitals for better health outcomes and wellbeing.

HaloCare is built to the highest International Standards and Best Practice in Governance and is led by a highly trained team so clients and their circle of care can put their trust in HaloCare.

Interested in finding out more about our HaloCare Solution?