The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Asking for iHelp
Program bridges generations, helps seniors stay current with tech
CROMWELL — Eunice Wiseman derives great pleasure from an ongoing collaboration with high school students in which young people teach the residents of her retirement village the basics of technology.
“They just reach out beyond,” said Wiseman. “I don’t know whether we represent grandparents to them — they’re just so kind and pleasant.”
Every month, the iHelp team brings its considerable computer knowledge to Covenant Village so residents can connect with their families and become savvy technology users.
“The most exciting (thing) that I observed was one woman needing help with her phone who hadn’t heard from her son in South Africa in a long time,” because she was having trouble with her email, Wiseman said. That’s
when Technology Resource Teacher Doug McGough stepped in and worked his magic.
“[McGough] said, ‘Well, let me see. He got on there and he Skyped her son. It was so exciting for her and for them,” Wiseman said.
The team formed when the school began its Oneto-One initiative four years ago to get the high schoolers prepared for iPads they were given to supplement the curriculum. They’ve since moved to Chromebooks. Recently, the iHelp team expanded the program to students in grades three to 12.
At that time, the focus was to aid teachers and students who needed help at school.
“We found, a few months in, people weren’t requesting much help; not as much was needed as we had planned and prepared for,” McGough said.
The students heard about Covenant Village’s Community Partnership Committee, which Wiseman chaired for three years. The group also works with Wesleyan University and Middlesex Community College in Middletown as well as Hartford Seminary.
The panel surveyed residents to gauge what they could benefit from most.
“The technology class was at the top of the list,” Wiseman said, so the seniors brainstormed on how best to do that.
Now, once a month at 1:30 p.m., the students and McGough spend 50 minutes — last period — at the retirement home.
“They’re only here about an hour, but our residents love them because they’re nonjudgmental. They know we’re slow learners in the tech field. It’s been such a wonderful relationship,” she said.
Victoria Gorski, 17, a senior at Cromwell High School who will major in computer technology in college, was the first to enroll in the program as a freshman. She, like all young people, grew up with technology.
“They just reach out beyond. I don’t know whether we represent grandparents to them — they’re just so kind and pleasant.” Eunice Wiseman, resident, Covenant Village
“My dad played video games, Wii and Xbox with me, and I began learning programming in middle school. I thought those aspects of computers were cool,” she said.
Last year, iHelp students created tutorial videos for the seniors and taught them fundamental tasks such as turning on their iPads, accessing their email and how to use Google docs. The goal was to provide one-on-one instruction and answer questions by showing rather than telling.
“A lot already knew how to search up things, but most don’t know about how Safari works. I’m glad we could provide whatever access they needed,” Gorski said.
“They were kind of going in blind, not knowing what they were going to fix, what kind of devices, what kind of problems there would be,” McGough explained.
Wiseman was already using her iPad daily and visiting the web, but the students taught her how to transfer photos from her computer to her iPad and to use her phone better.
“It’s really been a fun, informative time,” said Wiseman.
The sessions went beyond technology, McGough said. “It was neat because you could see some relationships start to build, some people were becoming regulars,” McGough said. “For me, it was great to see the reactions. They don’t just talk tech. They answer questions about what the students are studying and look forward to the sessions.”
After each class, residents return to their apartments to practice.
“They’re just so good,” said Wiseman of the students. “I don’t know whether they were taught this or it just comes natural, but they just seem to be so patient with all of us.”
A lot of what iHelp students do is rewarding, Gorski said.
“One time, a woman had trouble emailing her family in New Hampshire. She could only do it through her cellphone, but she didn’t know how to use it. I remember seeing the smile on her face. Family reunions always touch me,” Gorski said. “I’m glad when I can make them happy.”
The relationships bridge the two generations.
“One person will always be there every meeting, no matter what: Betty. I love her. She’s so sweet, so kind and always so patient as I try to figure things out,” Gorski said.
The youth gave presentations on Facebook and Kahoots, which allows users to create their own trivia games.
“I felt more comfortable in trying new things and it gave me the confidence that ‘Yes, I can learn.’ I felt that other people built up their confidence, too,” said Wiseman, a former special-education teacher in Portland. “It made me feel that I was at least on the fringe of the technology world.”
Social media gives seniors a chance to connect with their families, whom they were seeing less because they were busy with their own families, Wiseman said.
But there are also drawbacks.
“It’s bittersweet because it’s given us a lot of advantages,” Wiseman said. “I love ordering online and being connected to my family in California and Maine. You text them and you instantly hear back, at their convenience, too — you don’t feel like you’re calling them in the middle of things.”
She feels a twinge of nostalgia when a group goes out to eat and she sees them on their phones “talking” to friends and family rather than socializing with one another.
“Like any new invention, I know it’s here to stay,” she said, “but I think a lot of the residents feel if they’re going to function in this world, they’ve got to be tuned into it.”