Today is International Day for Older Persons.
The United Nations is calling for better provision and support for digital participation for older people.
The digital age progresses quickly, with new products and services being made available all the time.
However, recent reports by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) suggest that women and older persons experience digital inequity to a greater extent than other groups in society. This is due in the main to a lack of access to technology.
In the care home, this should be considered as a high priority. Activity coordinators, for instance, would benefit greatly from access to the internet during their working hours.
Affording them the best of resources available to help them with planning meaningful and engaging activities.
It can no longer be assumed that older people do not have digital experience before they move into a care home and continued use should be encouraged where applicable for as long as the individual enjoys such participation.
There are many products available to enhance the activities programme in the care home, online services such as entertainers, playlists, social media and games, as well as offline services such as audio books.
This year the theme for International Day of Older Persons is Digital Equity for All Ages
One of the objectives is to “bring awareness of the importance of digital inclusion of older persons, while tackling stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination associated with digitalization, taking into account sociocultural norms and the right to autonomy.
With this in mind, let us consider how we can improve access to a wide variety of digital services available to the care home environment.
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