Just before the pandemic, St. Mary Development Corp. began exploring technology as a way to keep older adults in the organization’s Dayton, Ohio, community linked with the outside world and with one another. Five years later, the organization remains more convinced than ever that technology is a key to keeping people engaged. What’s more, says Natalynne Baker, executive vice president of the organization, those who don’t learn new technologies risk missing out, losing their voice and losing access to some types of care.
“We think it’s really important,” Baker says of technology. “As an organization, we wish we could do even more to help our seniors become tech savvy. Unfortunately, if they don’t assimilate to the tech culture, they’re going to be left behind.” She mentioned social security, where phone service has been curtailed in favor of online portals or in person visits. Many doctors’ offices also use online portals. “Surveys about treatment at a hospital, for instance, are also sent digitally,” Baker said.
St. Mary’s serves more than 1,300 older adults in Southwest Ohio.
Connecting those adults to technology still remains a priority, even as grants for the original program have dried up. To ensure that residents who can’t afford to pay for their own WiFi still have access, the organization has put its own funding into wiring community spaces, where residents can come for free access.
The organization has also invested in signs that can be updated electronically with messages for residents about events. They include everything from weather forecasts to trivia, too, and staff can program the screens to change during the weekend, when fewer staff are onsite to provide reminders. They also cut down on paper waste, because they don’t have to print and distribute notices door to door.
“The residents really like it,” Baker says. “We can put up weather warnings. And ‘On this day, Ginger Rogers was born.’” The
signs remind residents to take deep breaths and when it’s time for a special event, such as Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July.
The organization makes sure residents also learn about protecting themselves as they embrace new technology. “We have to be mindful as they learn to navigate,” she adds.
Meanwhile, staff are working with CozyTech LLC, an organization that provides in-home tech support and computer coaching, in the hopes of updating outdated technology to provide it to older adults in need. Brian Hoerner, founder of CozyTech, has worked in IT for years. He built a good rapport with some of his older clients and worried about them for the same reasons as Baker.
“I think a lot of seniors, as far back as the 90s, found things were getting complicated too quickly,” he says. Some of them decided to just disengage. But now, with so many activities relying on computers, they’re being dragged back in. “Not engaging is not the answer.”
His goal in the upcoming months is to update older computers with new Linux operating systems. While the project is still in its nascent stages, he says, his philosophy is: “Let’s make these things run again.” St. Mary’s seemed the right place to initiate this work.
At the same time, St. Mary’s is still distributing Amazon Alexa devices to new residents after the success of the last five years. And one of the organization’s buildings that is now being renovated will include a technology space with a projection system, Wi-Fi and devices for resident use. “The more they see it, the more comfortable they become,” Baker says.
Technology is helping NeighborWorks® America’s network organizations meet needs across the network. In some cases, as with St. Mary, it’s with technology for residents. In other cases, technology helps organizations with processing and intake. And in others, it helps with the construction itself. Do you have a technology story? Let us know!
Read the recent white paper the organization published on working with older adults on new technologies. Research - St. Mary Development is a faith-based non-profit creating better lives for people 55 and older in Southwest Ohio.
