During the pandemic where people avoided social contact with each other, the care and supplies that minority groups have been receiving has had a slump. Further, due to a lack of flexibility in problem-solving, these groups were facing even tougher challenges in their daily lives and business-running. 。
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Long-Term Care Facilities: When Protection Becomes a Wall Keeping People Out
The TSMC Charity Foundation has been carrying out long-term volunteering service at Hsinchu Veteran’s Home. Even though the facility didn’t suffer from shortage of food or clothing during the outbreak in May and June, we foresaw an upcoming crisis for the senior residents: loneliness.
During the pandemic, senior residents that need to pay regular visits to hospitals were at higher risks of developing serious illness from COVID-19. In response, long-term care facilities have restricted people from visiting in order to safeguard the health of senior residents and staff. However, this policy seemed to have overlooked the mental health of the senior residents: they relied on social contact and the happiness of getting together with others to remain energized and engaged, which, in the time of pandemic, were actions against disease prevention.
“Without visitations and the company of volunteers, the grandpas look bored and sluggish,” said the staff at the veteran’s home to TSMC Charity Foundation. When protection became a wall to keep people out, the elderlies were suffering from loneliness, and missed social contact and connection with people more than ever.
Considerate Design: Keeping Love Alive with Video-Call Technology
“Let’s see what we can do for these seniors, shall we?” TSMC Charity Foundation Chairwoman Sophie Chang said. Feeling the plight of the senior residents, Sophie has been discussing on how to utilize technological resources to solve this issue with staff at the charity.
In order for senior residents to continue seeing their beloved family members and volunteer workers, the TSMC Charity Foundation got in contact with the counseling section staff at the veteran’s home. After understanding the residents’ using habits and needs through discussions, they realized that a user-friendly video-call environment is of utmost importance to the senior residents and nursing assistants.
Different steps to establish a video-call environment—such as hooking up the Internet, setting up the tablet, and applying for a prepaid Line account—were all considerate thoughts and moves for bringing convenience to the elderlies . Before this, if senior residents would like to video-call their family or volunteers, they would have to borrow the nursing assistant’s cellphones or the Line app on their phones. However, the screens on cellphones were often too small for the senior residents with poor eyesight to see their family properly on screen. Further, for the nursing assistants, there were complications with the sharing of accounts and the Internet.
As a result, there were 9 public tablets with stands for senior residents to use at the veteran’s home. With the tablets, the seniors may be able to see their beloved family in crystal clear images. Further, since every tablet has a public Line account, the nursing assistants didn’t need to learn to use a different communication software, and it has also solved complications regarding public and private accounts/devices. With a steady Internet network and the constant maintenance of technicians, the senior residents in the veteran’s home were able to use the video-call devices with ease.
In the company of the nursing assistant, a senior resident saw his beloved family with video-call service on the new tablet.
Building a Bridge with Video-Call Service: Reunifying Senior Residents with TSMC Volunteers
After the senior residents and nursing assistants started to get the hang of using video-call devices, TSMC Charity Foundation has also been discussing about using video-call services with its volunteers.
For the volunteers, it was a challenge and a new learning experience to create artistic works with senior residents via virtual calls instead of in-person interaction. However, after greeting and doing simple exercises with the senior residents that that they haven’t seen for a while online, the TSMC volunteers have found new possibilities for improvement and innovation for future video-call technology and events. “They were so glad to see us, they didn’t forget about us,” said section chief Maria.
The counseling section chief at the veteran’s home Chen Kuei-mei also said happily, “some seniors were asking the nursing assistants to help them go online to YouTube so that they could listen to old music, and those with faith were using the tablets to do online liturgy service with pastors.” With the establishment of the user-friendly video call environment, TSMC Charity Foundation has reconnected the senior residents with the world, and provided further support and engagement to their lives with a different approach.
Senior resident at the Hsinchu veteran’s home, third left, and TSMC volunteer, second right, met online through the video-chat service.