How one US long-term care provider is helping staff identify pain earlier in residents who cannot reliably self-report.
In long-term care, some of the quietest residents may be the ones experiencing the most distress. For people living with dementia, cognitive impairment, or neurological conditions that affect communication, pain often goes unseen and untreated. Behaviors can be misinterpreted, distress can escalate, and care teams are left asking an important question: Could this be pain?
For Carol Silver-Elliott, President & CEO of The Jewish Home Family, a leading provider of long-term care, assisted living, subacute rehabilitation, and community services in New Jersey, US, this question is a constant consideration in delivering quality care.
Recently, PainChek’s David Allsopp sat down with Carol for the Advancing the Art of Aging podcast, exploring how her team is using PainChek® to support more confident pain assessment across care settings.
Their conversation highlights how objective pain assessment is helping staff identify distress earlier, intervene more appropriately, and provide reassurance to families.
When pain is difficult to recognise
For residents living with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment, behavioral change can be difficult to interpret.
As Carol explains:
“When you’re dealing with a population of people who have varying degrees of cognitive diminishment and the ability to speak and communicate, pain is something that is so difficult to get your hands around.”
“So many times we have been in a situation where we are trying to problem-solve regarding an individual’s behaviors and their difficulty in maintaining a calm or manageable demeanor. And we always ask ourselves, are they in pain? Could it be pain? And we haven’t been able to know.”
Before introducing PainChek®, interventions could sometimes focus on managing behaviors without enough certainty about the underlying cause.
“What often happens is that there’s a PRN, as-needed antipsychotic or calming medication that’s prescribed. And so we end up using this PRN medication when the answer is not that. The agitation is a result of pain.”
Supporting earlier intervention at the point of care
Using PainChek®, staff can complete a pain assessment quickly at the bedside using AI-enabled facial analysis combined with a standardised observational framework.
Carol describes the benefit simply:
“PainChek® is an elegant solution. It’s non-invasive… yet it yields a tremendous amount of information.”
She also notes its relevance beyond dementia care:
“And it’s not just for folks who have cognitive impairment – it’s also people with other conditions, like a neuromuscular condition that might compromise their ability to speak, or someone who’s post-stroke and suffering from aphasia, or people who may have had a neurological event.”
For care teams, the benefit is practical and immediate:
“[With PainChek®] we’re able to equip all of our nursing staff with a tool to say, ‘This is a patient who needs an intervention. This is an individual who’s suffering.’”
Reassurance for families and care teams
For families, knowing pain is being assessed objectively brings reassurance that loved ones are not suffering silently.
“It [gives them] peace of mind that there’s a tool out there that can actually ensure that Mom or Dad isn’t suffering in silence.”
For The Jewish Home Family, the partnership reflects a broader commitment to compassionate, person-centered care.
“We are extremely proud of our partnership with PainChek® and look forward to growing this partnership in the months and years ahead.”
Listen to the full conversation
Hear the full discussion between Carol Silver-Elliott and David Allsopp in the latest episode of Advancing the Art of Aging.
Explore PainChek® for long-term care
See how PainChek® can support better pain assessment in your organisation.
Complete the contact form below to speak with our US team, or call 1 800 720 7504.
We’ll arrange a short discussion tailored to your care setting.
