Columbia Aged Care

Today, thanks to the internet, people find it much easier to stay in touch with one another regardless of how far apart they live. Social media is a great way for your loved one to stay in touch with you and it’s also a great way for them to get the support and information that they are looking for.

According to RegardingYourParents.com, many of the elderly today are computer savvy and if they aren’t they are willing to learn. Here are a couple of social media platforms that your loved one might be interested in joining:

Facebook: Keeps your loved one up to date with what is happening in their family and friends’ lives.

Skype: A fun and easy way for your loved one to have a face to face conversation with someone via their computer.

Twitter: Your loved one can use this to read up on small daily updates, talk about small things they are doing and give out and read up on small pieces of information.

Blogging: A great way for your loved one to talk about what is going on in their lives, use as a journal, list their opinions or simply vent – especially if they live alone and do not have anyone to talk to at home.

Read the full article here.

By giving your loved one a mobile, you are giving them a small, portable and light emergency link to you, reducing the stress and worry carers feel when separated. A mobile is something they can carry around with them when they go anywhere, whether it be from room to room or when they go on trips out of town.

However, mobiles have so much functionality it may prove difficult to stop your loved one from feeling intimidated and deflecting the suggestion that they need a mobile phone.

Boomers With Elderly Parents have written some great tips about how to look at, and talk about, using mobile phones without intimidating your loved one.

• Functionality: keep it simple, try to find an end of cycle or starter model that doesn’t have all the technological bells and whistles younger generations love.
• Cost: find a service provider that offers simple plans that can be customised for local use only or have a fixed price per month.
• Ease of use: take the time to teach your loved one how to use the device and limit the amount functions they have to accomplish to stay in contact.
• Speed-dialling: this function is especially useful for when caring for a loved one whose memory is becoming affected.

To read the full article, click here

While information technology has become second nature to younger generations, it still remains a bewildering and scary concept to many elderly people.

Technological advances now allow elderly people to have access to new systems and programs designed to help them live independently.

To help them make the most of technology, and stay in contact with friends and family more easily why not set aside some time to help them understand the concept and how to use technology, such as computers, the internet, emailing and even mobile phones.

Chad Hunter has provided four helpful tips on how to teach technology to the elderly these include:

1. Be patient.
Take your time and slowly go through the whole process clearly and concisely. Making the person feel rushed, stupid or incompetent will not help the situation. Remember this is all new and difficult to understand.Take your time and take breaks if you get frustrated.

2. Use analogies.
Elderly people are used to learning new things and have learnt alot during their lives. Use analogies to describe different terminologies and instructions to help them not only understand but remember when you aren’t there.

3. Spoon-feed terms.
World wide web, email, hard drives and symbols like ‘@’ are all new to elderly people with no technological knowledge. Go through it slowly since most of these terms seem like a foreign language to younger learners, you can imagine what your elderly student might be feeling. It would be a good idea to put together a glossary and instructions that they can refer to and study.

4. Practice makes perfect.
Sit with your student and go over concepts and practice exercises with them. Give them tasks and things of their interest to do on the computer. Show them how email can connect them to family. Show them how digital cameras can capture hundreds of photos.

Once you find things of interest for them, have them practice these steps as much as possible.