{"id":6548,"date":"2021-05-19T08:14:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T12:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=6548"},"modified":"2021-05-19T08:17:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T12:17:15","slug":"why-technology-matters-so-much-for-older-people-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2021\/05\/why-technology-matters-so-much-for-older-people-during-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Technology Matters So Much for Older People during a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Access to technology can make a huge difference to vulnerable elders isolated by COVID-19. Many don\u2019t have access. Judith Graham explains why and explores creative solutions in this article written for Kaiser Health News (KHN). Graham\u2019s piece was posted on the <\/span><\/i>KHN website<\/span><\/i><\/a> on July 24, 2020, and also ran on CNN. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Family gatherings on Zoom and FaceTime. Online orders from grocery stores and pharmacies. Telehealth appointments with physicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

These have been lifesavers for many older adults staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic. But an unprecedented shift to virtual interactions has a downside: large numbers of seniors are unable to participate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among them are older adults with dementia (14 percent of those 71 and older), hearing loss (nearly two-thirds of those 70 and older) and impaired vision (13.5 percent of those 65 and older), who can have a hard time using digital devices and programs designed without their needs in mind. (Think small icons, difficult-to-read typefaces, inadequate captioning, among the hurdles.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Many older adults with limited financial resources also may not be able to afford devices or the associated internet service fees. (Half of seniors living alone and 23 percent of those in two-person households are unable to afford basic necessities.) Others are not adept at using technology and lack the assistance to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the pandemic, which has hit older adults especially hard, this divide between technology \u201chaves\u201d and \u201chave-nots\u201d has serious consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Older adults in the \u201chaves\u201d group have more access to virtual social interactions and telehealth services, and more opportunities to secure essential supplies online. Meanwhile, the \u201chave-nots\u201d are at greater risk of social isolation, forgoing medical care and being without food or other necessary items.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Medicare Advantage plan found that about a third of its most vulnerable members couldn\u2019t manage a telehealth appointment because they didn\u2019t have the technology.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Charlotte Yeh, chief medical officer for AARP Services, observed difficulties associated with technology this year when trying to remotely teach her 92-year-old father how to use an iPhone. She lives in Boston; her father lives in Pittsburgh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeh\u2019s mother had always handled communication for the couple, but she was in a nursing home after being hospitalized for pneumonia. Because of the pandemic, the home had closed to visitors. To talk to her and other family members, Yeh\u2019s father had to resort to technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

But various impairments got in the way: Yeh\u2019s father is blind in one eye, with severe hearing loss and a cochlear implant, and he had trouble hearing conversations over the iPhone. And it was more difficult than Yeh expected to find an easy-to-use iPhone app that accurately translates speech into captions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Often, family members would try to arrange Zoom meetings. For these, Yeh\u2019s father used a computer but still had problems because he could not read the very small captions on Zoom. A tech-savvy granddaughter solved that problem by connecting a tablet with a separate transcription program.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Yeh\u2019s mother, who was 90, came home in early April, physicians treating her for metastatic lung cancer wanted to arrange telehealth visits. But this could not occur via cell phone (the screen was too small) or her computer (too hard to move it around). Physicians could examine lesions around the older woman\u2019s mouth only when a tablet was held at just the right angle, with a phone\u2019s flashlight aimed at it for extra light.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a three-ring circus,\u201d Yeh said. Her family had the resources needed to solve these problems; many do not, she noted. Yeh\u2019s mother passed away in July; her father is now living alone, making him more dependent on technology than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

When SCAN Health Plan, a Medicare Advantage plan with 215,000 members in California, surveyed its most vulnerable members after the pandemic hit, it discovered that about one-third did not have access to the technology needed for a telehealth appointment. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had <\/span>expanded the use of telehealth<\/span><\/a> in March.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other barriers also stood in the way of serving SCAN\u2019s members remotely. Many people needed translation services, which are difficult to arrange for telehealth visits. \u201cWe realized language barriers are a big thing,\u201d said Eve Gelb, SCAN\u2019s senior vice president of health care services.<\/span><\/p>\n

One alternative is a tablet already loaded with apps designed for adults 75 and older.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nearly 40 percent of the plan\u2019s members have vision issues that interfere with their ability to use digital devices; 28 percent have a clinically significant hearing impairment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to target interventions to help these people,\u201d Gelb said. SCAN is considering sending community health workers into the homes of vulnerable members to help them conduct telehealth visits. Also, it may give members easy-to-use devices, with essential functions already set up, to keep at home, Gelb said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Landmark Health serves a highly vulnerable group of 42,000 people in 14 states, bringing services into patients\u2019 homes. Its average patient is nearly 80 years old, with eight medical conditions. After the first few weeks of the pandemic, Landmark halted in-person visits to homes because personal protective equipment, or PPE, was in short supply.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Landmark tried to deliver care remotely. It soon discovered that fewer than 25 percent of patients had appropriate technology and knew how to use it, according to Nick Loporcaro, the chief executive officer. \u201cTelehealth is not the panacea, especially for this population,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Landmark plans to experiment with what he calls \u201cfacilitated telehealth\u201d: nonmedical staff members bringing devices to patients\u2019 homes and managing telehealth visits. (It now has enough PPE to make this possible.) And it too is looking at technology that it can give to members.<\/span><\/p>\n

One alternative gaining attention is GrandPad, a tablet loaded with senior-friendly apps designed for adults 75 and older. In July, the National PACE Association, whose members run programs providing comprehensive services to frail seniors who live at home, announced a partnership with GrandPad to encourage adoption of this technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is scrambling to move to this new remote-care model and looking for options,\u201d said Scott Lien, the company\u2019s co-founder and chief executive officer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nursing homes, assisted living centers and senior communities need to install communitywide Wi-Fi services<\/b>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

PACE Southeast Michigan purchased 125 GrandPads for highly vulnerable members after closing five centers in March where seniors receive services. The devices have been \u201cremarkably successful\u201d in facilitating video-streamed social and telehealth interactions and allowing nurses and social workers to address emerging needs, said Roger Anderson, senior director of operational support and innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another alternative is technology from iN2L (an acronym for It\u2019s Never Too Late), a company that specializes in serving people with dementia. In Florida, under a <\/span>new program<\/span><\/a> sponsored by the state\u2019s Department of Elder Affairs, iN2L tablets loaded with dementia-specific content have been distributed to 300 nursing homes and assisted living centers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal is to help seniors with cognitive impairment connect virtually with friends and family and engage in online activities that ease social isolation, said Sam Fazio, senior director of quality care and psychosocial research at the Alzheimer\u2019s Association, a partner in the effort. But because of budget constraints, only two tablets are being sent to each long term care community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Families report it can be difficult to schedule adequate time with loved ones when only a few devices are available. This happened to Maitely Weismann\u2019s 77-year-old mother after she moved into a short-staffed, Los Angeles, memory-care facility in March. After seeing how hard it was to connect, Weismann, who lives in Los Angeles, gave her mother an iPad and hired an aide to ensure that mother and daughter were able to talk each night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without the aide\u2019s assistance, Weismann\u2019s mother would end up accidentally pausing the video or turning off the device. \u201cShe probably wanted to reach out and touch me, and when she touched the screen it would go blank and she\u2019d panic,\u201d Weismann said.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s needed going forward? Laurie Orlov, founder of the blog <\/span>Aging in Place Technology Watch<\/a>,<\/span> said nursing homes, assisted living centers and senior communities need to install communitywide Wi-Fi services\u2014something that many lack.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to enable Zoom get-togethers. We need the ability to put voice technology in individual rooms, so people can access Amazon Alexa or Google products,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need more group activities that enable multiple residents to communicate with each other virtually. And we need vendors to bundle connectivity, devices, training and service in packages designed for older adults.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family gatherings on Zoom and FaceTime. Online orders from grocery stores and pharmacies. Telehealth appointments with physicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Why Technology Matters So Much for Older People during a Pandemic<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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