ABENA Nova from a user’s point of view

61-year-old Gieneke experienced wet nights until her caretaker Diana introduced her to ABENA Nova. Gieneke and Diana now share their experience using smart incontinence products at the residential care location Marijke Hiem in the Netherlands.

Diana and Gieneke’s reason for using smart incontinence products

Due to her Multiple Sclerosis, Gieneke experiences difficulty with her mobility. She has a wheelchair and sleeps in a special bed that has a special ‘turning system’ which replaces the bedsheets automatically. To make the changing process less of a burden for her and the caretakers, Gieneke started using ABENA Nova.

In the beginning, Gieneke was skeptical about ABENA Nova. “My husband and I own a company in computer games and work with modern technology,” says Gieneke. “When I started using ABENA Nova, I saw the potential it could have. But I was hesitant: smart technology is as smart as the people who work with it.”

Still, Gieneke thinks it’s important to give smart incontinence products a chance. “If you can do something, that creates more peace for clients, and gives you [ABENA] the best practices of your product, and helps a lot of people too: yes, that’s when I think you should give something a chance.”

How it is going using ABENA Nova

There have been many improvements since using ABENA Nova. Gieneke suffers less from leaks and her sleep has improved. Moreover, the care itself feels more pleasant now. “I always thought it was so impersonal. The night shift would wake me up, introduce themselves and immediately go check if I was wet. It’s not that I am embarrassed by it, but it just doesn’t feel personal. Now they don’t have to anymore, they just get a message from my pants.”

Gieneke is very happy with her smart incontinence product and often talks about it: “It’s not that I chat about it during lunch”, she says laughing. “But if people ask questions about it, I don’t mind telling how it works”.

Diana notices improvement as well, though it’s still challenging to implement this new way of working: “During the day, it’s still common to work with changing routines, even though we can just see on the phone when changing is required. But that means we do have to keep an eye on our phones.”