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[...] only 17% of their [elderly] clients currently access the internet. As Jack explains: "Family and friends often use technology to find out things for me when I am stuck. However, most of my friends do not have internet access. They did not use technology in their working lives, as they were either farmers or manual workers. They still just ring people up or ask their children or grandchildren to use technology for them."
Technology can help, as long as it focuses on helping older people with overcoming the concerns that hold them back from meeting people outside the house. Using the insights from the research, we developed an app that draws on open data about events and volunteering opportunities nearby.
Older people can create user profiles to set their preferences for events according to cost and location. They can then review the transport options and routes to the event on an age-friendly map which includes the location of bus stops and car parks as well as nearby toilets and benches. If they select an event they want to attend, it's recorded in a calendar. The app can also be accessed by family, friends or carers who can search and plan on their behalf. This allows for the app to also be beneficial to older adults that do not have internet access.
But, even with this support, it's striking how few listings of events and transport options were available for older people over the festive period. Without more efforts to remedy the crisis of loneliness and isolation in the elderly, the festive season may still be anything but a season of cheer for many.
If kids and grandkids can't go to grandma's house, an app can help grandma come to them?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 15 2018, @08:30AM (1 child)
I was on shore duty, so maybe it's not a real "sea story". But, I had a bunch of civilian contractors working alongside military.
One memorable lady we called "Norma Jean" - not her real name, but it stuck. Redheaded Scottish woman, married to a Navy chief. I think she was five years older than I - enough to make her on old woman when I was 25. J.D. Souther was on the radio several times a day, 'You're Only Lonely'. I walked in when Norma Jean was cutting up, giving someone hell over something. And, that song was playing on the radio right then. I shouted across the room, "Norma Jean, what's it like to be old and lonely?"
That woman sputtered for a second or two, then shouted right back, "Runaway, I'll never be lonely, unlike you, you li''le worm! You'll be going back to sea soon, you can think of me then!" Yeah, that Scottish accent - no "t"'s in the word "little". Think I only ever saw her get more red in the face once or twice - she was wound up for the rest of the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quglprlSQ8k [youtube.com]
That girl was really something - I almost admired her. The chief who captured that girl's heart is one lucky man. She's got to be 67 now, give or take a year, and she's probably still not old.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday December 15 2018, @07:18PM
Wow! Some accent. The use of a ' to represent a glottal stop is well-known, but I have no idea how to pronounce two of them in a row.