Enabling age-friendly connections in mount washington valley, new hampshire

"It really breaks the ice for older students," Libby continues. "They finally accept that learning computer skills is not about intelligence. I love witnessing the light bulb

go off as my students begin to understand that age does not equal stupidity when it comes to technology.” Libby discovered another trick to make the process smoother. “Older people have been

exposed to technology through their kids or their grandkids. And when the kids try to teach them, the seniors tell me, they go way too fast. My biggest recommendation, when teaching

beginners, is to break the process down into tiny steps. That means you can't say, ‘Bring your mouse to the top of the screen.’ You've got to break it down further: ‘This is a

mouse. This is its purpose. This is how it moves.’” VALUABLE RESOURCES The Gibson Commons Internet Café COURTESY GIBSON CENTER SENIOR SERVICES By turning an office within its building into a

cozy parlor called the Gibson Commons Internet Café, the senior center has provided the area's older residents with a place where they can get online if they don't have their own

internet device or service at home. On a related point, the nonprofits Digitunity and Give IT Get IT_ _are, Jackson says, “wonderful partners for gathering and distributing used computers.”

Libby was able to put into play one of Marianne Jackson's goals, which was to use the computers to help the seniors feel more connected to the community during the shutdown. “We set up

bookmarks that were community- and health-related and signed them up for newsletters,” says Libby. She also customized the computers for students if they encountered a stumbling block. For

instance, she has changed the double-click function to a single-click for opening items in Windows. "Some seniors lack the dexterity to double-click," says Libby. "Others find

the function difficult to understand and there's no simple way to distinguish when to use one or the other. I do stress that I'm giving them a custom setting that they likely

won't find on someone else’s computer." STEP 3: CONNECT A third part of the process required accessing the internet. “Many of our low-income residents are not willing or able to

afford the $40 to $80 per month subscription fees for internet service — and the internet isn’t even available in many of our rural areas,” says Jackson. In addition to free Wi-Fi access at

the library, the Gibson Center renovated an office in its building, turning it into the Gibson Commons Internet Café. Participants were also told about the federal government’s Emergency

Broadband Benefit (later replaced by the Affordable Connectivity Program, see box below). In the spring of 2021, the internet service provider Spectrum donated 25 tablet computers to the

Gibson Center and $2,500 to help continue the program. THE PROGRESS Outreach through the Mount Washington Valley age-friendly network pushed the program to a level higher. A SUCCESS STORY

Andrea Libby and Dick Cooke PHOTO BY BILL LEE Dick Cooke, 75, was one of Andrea Libby's computer students. Although Cooke admits he gets “bummed” when he can’t retain something he

learned in a training session, he has mastered several computer skills, including Zooming for a telehealth session. He also learned how to use Google and he speaks rather than types his

searches. Cooke, who has a strong New England accent, admits that it can take three or four tries before his question is understood. “Our age-friendly community consists of the 12 towns and

15 other organizations, including libraries, churches, hospitals, housing coalitions, public health agencies and a whole lot of other people who are part of the organization’s steering

committee,” says Jackson. “We have strong email engagement with the steering committee members, who are either public officials in the towns or executive directors of the organizations. The

first emails about activities are sent to them and they in turn distribute the news to their members.” In October 2021, the Gibson Center — in partnership with the Conway Public Library and

Carroll County Coalition for Public Health — was one of only 15 awardees nationwide of a National Institutes of Health grant for a program called the All of Us Community Award for Health

Programming. The $15,000 grant is being used to create a four-part virtual speaker series on telehealth-related topics, purchase 30 Chromebook laptop computers and provide privacy booths in

the library and Gibson Center for use during the telehealth visits. “The grant was written with a huge amount of backing and supported documentation about the age-friendly network,” explains

Jackson. “For example, we’re in contact with the visiting nurses, so we can say, ‘If any of your homebound clients needs a Chromebook, or needs telehealth training, refer them to us.’ We

can use the structure of the age-friendly community to enhance the effectiveness of the grant. In fact, I'm sure that's why we got the grant.” RELATED LINKS _Reporting by Amy

Lennard Goehner | Page published April 2022_