Musician-turned-advocate leads internet campaign at long-term care home
Kim Kelly and Jack Simkins are looking for Ozzy Osbourne at Banwell Gardens Care Centre.
“You can click on the mic and give it verbal instructions or you can type in what you’re looking for and then hit the enter key on the keyboard,” said Kelly, who from his wheelchair is giving Simkins instructions Monday morning on how to use Google and find the heavy metal legend.
A day earlier Kelly led his first class of seven residents learning more about the internet because now, thanks to Kelly and the firm that runs Banwell Gardens, all the residents have free wireless internet. Those who were paying for that service will save hundreds of dollars a year and novices at web surfing have a new world opening to them.
“How would you like to have an entire library at your fingertips?” he asked the residents’ council when he heard seniors wanted more books. “How would you like to have all the crossword puzzles in the world, every word game in the world at your fingertips? How would you like to speak to your loved ones and friends on the other side of the country or the other side of the world for free, face to face?”
And that’s how Kelly, a saxophone player and member of the Windsor-Essex Musician’s Hall of Fame, added Wi-Fi advocate to his repertoire.
He’s working on a presentation for the Ontario Long-Term Care Association and hopes every longterm care home in Ontario will follow suit. “It’s pioneering what’s happening here and I think we have a chance to do a lot of good for a lot of people.”
At 67, Kelly is one of the “young punks” at the home in Tecumseh that has 142 beds and a few residents over 100.
He became a quadriplegic Friday Nov. 13, 2015. He fell down a couple of stairs at a friend’s house and fractured his neck. He spent a year and a half in the hospital and when he finally got home in August 2017 it was only for six weeks. He ended up lying on the floor for an hour and got a blood blister which turned into a pressure wound that got infected. He had to move to a long-term care home.
“I was doing gigs right up until the day I fell. Like in five seconds, my life changed.”
Tayna Adams, Banwell Gardens’ executive director, said she knew the moment she met Kelly that he was a special man.
“He’s an advocate,” Adams said. “We want people to have things that people have at home ... It’s a home and it’s their home, not ours.”
Adams said some people coming into long-term care are younger and they’re used to having Wi-Fi.
“It’s the new face of long-term care,” she said.
It’s a great way for residents to stay in touch with family, it allows residents to shop online instead of waiting for a planned trip and it expands their worlds.
Kelly asked about free Wi-Fi the first time he toured the place in October and learned it didn’t exist. One of his friends offered to pay to install the equipment but that wasn’t necessary. Kelly called the president of the management company for the home and within two weeks the Wi-Fi was installed. That was before Christmas.
There is a touch-screen computer the residents can use. Some residents already help children in Brazil learn English by chatting on Skype with the staff ’s help and in the future some residents could use Skype on their own to keep in touch with their loved ones.
The Wi-Fi has allowed one resident to use a voice-control system from his bed and families are using the password so they can access their pictures from Facebook to show their loved ones.
Kelly doesn’t plan on staying at Banwell Gardens even though he says the care is second to none. He has regained a lot of use of his left arm and leg and has been able to move his right arm. He hopes to get out of his wheelchair and play the sax again.
He’d like to think that while he’s there he can make a difference in people’s lives. “I never was angry about falling. Some people say, ‘Aren’t you angry about this?’ I never felt that way,” he said. “The journey landed me here today.”