Assistance to use technology
Today's new technologies can make life a lot simpler, and we can come into your home to either show you what might be useful for you, or to use it with you each week in your care program.
You might already have a computer, tablet or smart phone and just need some assistance to use this or want advice on what devices might be beneficial for you and your circumstances. Whether you need assistance setting up the internet in your home or purchasing a device we can find the right advice for you.
Technology can assist with:
- Communicating with family, friends and loved ones
- Entertainment
- Making every day tasks much easier
- Monitoring your health condition
- Getting urgent assistance
Communicating with family, friends and loved ones
Setting up social media
Your children and grandchildren are probably using social media every day to tell people what they are doing. They use websites such as Facebook this to share photos, thoughts, and even announce major life events such as engagements or pregnancies.
If you have a computer, tablet or smart phone we can assist you to set up your own social media pages so that you can keep informed of what they are all up to each day, or spend some time with you each week looking at your family's pages together and catching up with their news.
Assisting you with calls
If you have family and friends living far away, we can assist you to call them using a video call so that you can see their faces while you chat. This is possible using a smart phone, tablet or computer.
Showing you how to send messages
Often when people are not available to speak to, a simple text message or email can be sent anywhere in the world. They are cheap to send and easy to write, and so we can show you how to send messages and emails to your family and friends to keep in touch.
Entertainment
Podcasts
Many popular radio programs are saved each day and available to listen on a smart phone and can be available for many years after the broadcast. These saved radio programs are called podcasts, and we can show you how you can listen to these using a smart phone or tablet.
Audiobooks
If you are finding it difficult to find new books to read in large print, another option is to get access to a popular new release as an audiobook. These are able to be purchased online and then downloaded to your smart phone or computer, and listened to in the same way you would listen to music.
Games
Using a smart phone, you can play words games and puzzles with family members all around the world. Not only does this keep you all in touch, but can be a lot of fun.
Making every day tasks much easier
You can use the internet to pay your bills, do your weekly grocery shopping and have it delivered, as well as shop for presents for family and friends. We can show you how to do this and how to protect your privacy as much as possible when paying for things online.
We can teach you how to do these tasks yourself online, or put aside some time to do it together as often as you need.
Monitoring your health condition
By wearing a fitness tracker each day you can share your activity with your family and friends.
Not only will this help to motivate you to keep active and increase the number of steps you take each day, but your family and friends can be quickly alerted if you have been immobile for a long period of time and may need assistance.
You can also use technology to automatically measure and record your:
- weight
- blood pressure
- blood sugar levels
- food diary
- steps you take each day
Over time, this can give you a good sense of any trends or patterns that may be helpful when monitoring your health.
Getting urgent assistance when you need it in your home
If you have a fall or another incident and you need some urgent help in your home right away, there are a number of devices that can ensure that someone is alerted quick smart.
Pendants are the more traditional device can be worn around your neck that allow you to press a button and alert someone that you need assistance. Many people rely on these to feel safe moving around their home and garden, particularly if they are prone to falls. If you do not like the idea of wearing a pendant, there are new products that do the same thing but can be worn like a watch and when pressed will alert your preferred contacts to get in touch with you right away.
Other clients of ours use non-traditional items that can also be effective at alerting your loved ones when something is not right. Fitness trackers that monitor your steps each day are a relatively new and inexpensive device that shares your daily step count with your friends and families on their mobile phones. Should you become immobile and they notice your activity has either stopped or slowed right down, that would also prompt them to realise something is wrong and get in touch right away.
More and more there are products becoming available that may better suit your needs, and so let us know what you are after and we will find a device that would suit you best.
Arranging assistance to use technology
Home care package clients
If you have a home care package, we can book in some assistance to use technology as part of your budget using the funds available to you in your package. Depending on what you are wanting, we can even look at options to fund the purchase of the technology that you need from within your funds if that is your preference.
If you are with another provider, then we can work with them to ensure that you get this service within your package funds.
Private clients
We can arrange this as part of a structured weekly program if there are other needs that you would like assistance with as well.
You do not need to commit yourself to anything beyond the one-off service, just book us in whenever you would like some assistance or schedule in advance if you would prefer.