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Dunn County ADRC wins Inclusive Foundation grant to pilot companion devices for seniors and adults with disabilities
Summary
Dunn County Aging and Disability Resource Center staff said the county secured a grant from the Inclusive Foundation to pilot up to 250 companion devices statewide, will hire a part‑time case manager for the project and collect quarterly user surveys to evaluate effects on social isolation.
Dunn County Aging and Disability Resource Center staff announced a pilot funded by a grant from the Inclusive Foundation to supply up to 250 companion devices designed to reduce social isolation among older adults and adults with disabilities.
Tracy (ADRC staff/meeting chair) said the county’s grant will allow the ADRC to provide devices across the state and that the program’s case manager has been hired. The ADRC named Mary Lindberg as the staff member who will split time between the new pilot and an existing ILSP pilot through June.
The device vendor is Intuition Robotics; staff described the product shown in the meeting as the company’s companion device (commercially marketed as ElliQ). Staff said the device is intended for one‑on‑one use rather than group demonstration and that the current version includes a nonremovable integrated tablet and updated voice features. Staff told the committee the Inclusive Foundation provided hardware at no cost for the pilot and participants get a two‑month trial of the service; after the trial, ongoing service is approximately $10 per month. The ADRC said it will ask pilot participants to complete quarterly surveys so staff can measure whether users experience reduced loneliness or increased engagement.
Maria Bukowski, a public commenter, described using a different remote‑monitoring pilot (she described motion sensors and hub units) for an adult family member and praised local ADRC dementia programming that she attends. "She has done a fantastic job," Bukowski said of the dementia care specialist who runs a monthly caregiver support group and who helped connect participants with the device trial.
County staff said they plan to start accepting referrals for the Inclusive Foundation pilot tentatively after next Wednesday, and that the pilot is intended to serve eligible adults statewide rather than only Dunn County residents. Staff also said they will present early findings to a statewide ADRC directors meeting (ADRC Connect) and return to the committee with data after several quarterly surveys are complete.
The ADRC emphasized the pilot is a limited, experimental effort and said the device will not be appropriate for every person; staff described it as one option among human caregiving and other supports.
The committee received the report; staff said they would provide a follow‑up report with usage data once enough survey responses are collected.
