NORTHAMPTON — Before this week, David Hart hadn’t used an iPad. But on Monday, he sat in the Senior Center behind a plexiglass barrier while Christa Bowker showed him the basics.
He’s one of a number of seniors who are part of a Senior Center program training people on how to use iPads and Chromebooks. Hart is grateful for the program. “Most people are feeling a sense of isolation they’ve never felt before,” he said. “I think it’s a little thing that the city did to help people keep in touch with the world around them — if not physically, at least electronically.”
Over the summer, the center started the training program, which is free to any member and includes a 30-day loan on each device. “There’s a huge digital divide we’re trying to address,” said Jae Casella, the Senior Center’s assistant director.
Depending on seniors’ level of experience, the program teaches them skills such as how to download music, watch movies, use Zoom, enroll in low-cost internet if they qualify, and join Senior Center online classes. The center purchased some devices with funding from Highland Valley Elder Services, said Marie Westburg, the center’s director, and a $10,000 donation from DA Sullivan & Sons, a city construction company, has also supported the program.
In the warmer months, one-on-one trainings were offered outdoors at the Senior Center or on people’s porches. Now that it’s colder, trainings are provided one at a time at the center. Aside from drive-up meal pickups, it’s the only programming happening physically at the Senior Center, which is still closed, Westburg said.
“What we were worried about with the COVID pandemic was that we’re not open, so people who were at home and who didn’t have technology were really isolated,” she said.
Casella hopes the training program will result in “less isolation and less loneliness — which is a killer at this age.”
Amid the pandemic, the center has been offering online programming, Westburg noted, including classes in exercise, art and foreign languages. And online programming won’t disappear post-pandemic — Westburg said she has learned it’s a good way to reach seniors who can’t leave their homes. It’s also an alternative when the weather is bad and travel is difficult.
Hart used to get computer access through work, but he was furloughed this spring. “I haven’t had much access in months,” he said. When he borrowed a Chromebook from the Senior Center for a month this summer, he was able to check his email. Hart’s neighbor lets him use their WiFi and he said on Monday that he was excited to use the iPad.
“It will help especially around this time of year when you want to be in touch with your family and friends,” he said.
Casella plans to keep the program running “as long as, and if not longer than, the virus lasts.”
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.