Turning engagement into a daily routine: How Tandem Living went from 30% to 80% app adoption

If you have ever tried to “go paperless” while only a fraction of residents use the app, you already know the trap. Paper stays as the safety net. Staff runs two systems. Residents keep defaulting to what is familiar...

Tandem Living hit that wall after about three years on a legacy resident platform. Adoption stayed around 30%, despite real effort. As VP of Operations Dan Mortensen put it: “It’s kind of hard to go paperless if only 30% of your residents are using the app.”

What changed after switching to Wellzesta:

• Resident engagement rose from ~30% to roughly 80% (daily), even higher weekly
• Communication satisfaction scores improved (tracked via ongoing resident survey work)
• Wellzesta became embedded enough that staff defaulted to: “Have you checked Wellzesta?”

About Tandem Living

Tandem Living is a multi-site senior living organization in Pennsylvania, with a portfolio that includes Woodcrest Villa (~740 independent living units), Calvary Homes (~300 independent living units), and Trillium Place (personal care/assisted living and skilled nursing).

The moment they knew something had to change

The goal was not “install new software.” The goal was to make engagement easier to join and easier to run.

Tandem Living’s drivers were clear:

• Promote resident well-being
• Improve communication satisfaction
• Build community and social connection

What they needed to replace (and why it mattered)

The previous platform created friction in the resident experience and frustration in the staff experience:

• Residents found it too complicated to navigate
• Staff did not like the backend and it was difficult to get improvements and support
• Adoption plateaued, which meant paper could not truly go away

Why Wellzesta won (the deciding factor)

Tandem evaluated multiple options, narrowed down to finalists, and Wellzesta won on fit, not on a checklist.

The deciding factor was the wellness connection. 

Implementation: treated like change management, not a software install

The turning point was not technical. It was leadership making a hard operational decision: remove paper as the default.

Tandem’s paperless transition looked like this:

• Paper communication stopped (no more “paper safety net”)
• Residents were told: check Wellzesta, the front desk, or call. But paper is gone.
• Staff helped the minority of residents who struggled at first with individual support (including limited hard copies during transition), while continually reinforcing the new default.

Dan summarized the real lesson: “Going paperless” is a leadership decision, not just enablement.

What changed day-to-day (why it stuck)

Wellzesta became the place Tandem Living used to run the practical workflows of community life:

• Messages and updates
• Documents
• Event signups
• Resident directory and contact info
• Work order submissions
• Resident-to-resident sharing (marketplace)

This mattered because it reduced the “where do I go?” problem. When residents and staff both know where the source of truth lives, habits form.

Results and early signals

Tandem’s previous platform plateaued at ~30% adoption. After switching, resident engagement increased to around 70–80% daily (and higher weekly).

They also observed measurable improvement in communication satisfaction, using an ongoing resident phone survey approach with historical trend data.

Operationally, the system became embedded enough that Dan put it plainly:

Lessons learned (what other communities should copy)

Tandem Living’s playbook is simple, and it is repeatable:

• Adoption is the prerequisite for ROI. If residents do not use it, paper (and other duplicative work) does not go away.
• Removing the paper safety net is what makes the new habit possible.
• High-touch enablement converts skeptics. The “minority” who struggle early can become advocates when staff supports them through the transition.

Ready to see what Wellzesta can do in your community?

Book a demo

If you are a Life Plan Community looking to upgrade your engagement platform and reduce outdated workflows, book time with our team, today.