How Technology Has Helped Living Communities Navigate Through Pandemic
COVID-19 made its presence apparent to us in the first quarter of 2020. At that time one did not know what caused it, how it spread, what could be done to safeguard oneself and there was neither a treatment nor a vaccine in sight.
What soon became apparent was that the elderly and those who were immuno-compromised were more at risk than any other segment of the population. This put seniors and senior living communities at the front-lines of the battle against the pandemic.
In retrospect, having weathered the first three waves, one can say that this battle could not have been fought (it may be pre-mature to announce victory with the first signs of a fourth wave visible in the country) without the use of technology in various means and ways.
Senior living communities and seniors used technology in three specific areas:
a) Managing disinformation and sharing information
b) Minimising exposure to the external environment
c) Ensuring physical distancing did not mean social distancing
In the initial days, WhatsApp messages were the cause of disinformation and raised anxiety levels amongst seniors. Service providers were able to harness the same medium to share scientific information as it became available and up to the minute protocols being promulgated to improve our readiness to face the crisis.
Good quality information from credible sources, disseminated promptly reassured residents that we had a plan and a process in place to safeguard the community, the service team and thereby the residents.
Given the high infectiousness of the disease, it was important that we ringfence the community from the external environment while maintaining strict engagement protocols within the community for resident to resident and service provider – resident interactions.
While online shopping, newsletters (to replace newspapers) played their part, it was video conferencing that was extremely useful for tele-consultation with the doctors.
Seniors need to meet and consult doctors more often than younger people. Visits to clinics and hospitals at the best of time increases exposure to infections. This was extremely fraught with danger in the last two years. Hence, our ability to ensure that seniors had access to all medical advice and support without stepping outside the community was a big blessing.
Loneliness driven depression and anxiety, always an aspect of concern among seniors, needed particular attention during this time. Access to mental health helplines and initiatives such as #ReachOut, a campaign done in association with Department of Mental Health and Behaviourial Sciences, Fortis Hospital, gave our residents the option to reach out for assistance and support.
One of the best ways to eliminate loneliness is to ensure social engagement with friends and neighbours. While “physical” distancing was an important precaution that needed to be taken, technology ensured that this never led to social isolation.
Residents were able to attend morning exercise sessions on video-conference, enjoy celebrity interactions through initiatives such as #livingroom on Facebook Live besides competing in inter-community and inter-city cultural and art competitions, which not only kept the participants engaged but the entire community supporting their respective representatives with online cheerleading and banter.
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. The pandemic made seniors and senior living communities adapt and adopt technology in a manner that was unprecedented and this continues to be an integral part of their lives, enriching it in more ways than they had ever imagined.
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