Elderbridge Agency On Aging Providing Special Tools To Assist Elderly Population During The Pandemic
Elderbridge Agency On Aging Providing Special Tools To Assist Elderly Population During The Pandemic
November 29, 2021Steve Schwaller
(Undated)– An agency that assists the elderly population in a 29 county area of northwest Iowa, including Dickinson county, has come up with some unique ways to assist those residents during the pandemic. CEO Shelly Sindt says one of those is some “grand pads”. She says they are similar to i-Pads but are cellular-based…
“They can video conference with their family, with our staff. They can use it to telehealth with their physician. So we did provide those and we have 38 of them out in the 29 counties right now. I’m working with Easter Seals Iowa right now to maybe expand that, because I was able to help get them the extra funding for assistive technology, so we’re hoping to expand that.”
Sindt says another tool she’s found is robotic pets. She says they have proven to be highly popular and successful especially among those who suffer from dementia…
“I had heard about it at a national conference. I reached out and visited with the folks in New York who had implemented the program. So it’s a robotic cat or dog. They only cost about $125. And the more a person interacts with the animal, the more the animal interacts with them. So the cat purrs, and it rolls over and they look very life like. And I tell you, we have some huge success stories with those.”
Sindt says it’s a very simple and low cost therapy that has been proven to be effective.
