Electronic tablets, phones and computers are the vital connections keeping people tethered to school, work, worship, family and friends during these eight months and counting, of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a U.S. Health and Human Services blog dated Sept. 10, U.S. Surgeon General Vice Adm. Jerome M. Adams, M.D., and Lance Robertson, of Administration for Community Living, discussed “Harnessing Technology to Address Loneliness and Social Isolation” and health effects of social deprivation.
“Research tells us that social isolation can threaten health, and regular social interactions and having a strong personal network are important to a person’s mental and physical health, resilience, and longevity,” they wrote.
“In fact, loneliness can pose as grave a threat to a person’s health as smoking, obesity, or substance abuse. Loneliness can take a toll on one’s physical, mental and emotional health and may manifest in various ways.
“Health concerns stemming from social deprivation include high blood pressure, sleeplessness or less restful sleep, anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide. In addition, lack of human interaction may increase hormone levels that contribute to inflammation and weakened immunity, thereby increasing the risk of diseases.”
Loneliness and social isolation is a particular health concern for older people, a population vulnerable to severe outcomes if they contract the coronavirus and who also need safe interaction with others.
Making connections, safely
For The Empowerment Network of prostate cancer survivors, finding a way to keep the men connected to one another, to family and to vital health care has become a crucial need, and iPads are the balm during these difficult times.
A grant from the Episcopal Presbyterian Health Trust allowed the organization to purchase refurbished iPads for members who did not have tablets, so they can connect with health care providers and to the world outside their doors safely.
“To introduce the men to telehealth and telemedicine. … That was our main goal, to stay connected with our survivors, and the iPad was also a confidence-builder for many of the men in the organization who thought technology had passed them by,” said Mellve Shahid, founder and CEO of The Empowerment Network. “Especially since they grew up in the age of the typewriter and not in the age of the computer.”
Robin Wright-Jones is the network’s executive director. Wright-JOnes applied for the grant after she and members brainstormed on how to stay in touch with the members and help them stay on track with their health care.
“They did kind of freak out when their appointments, their follow-ups and their treatments and therapies were suspended because of COVID,” Wright-Jones said.
“Obviously, in any type of medical situation that our guys are in, when they don’t have access to the very thing that’s threatening their existence, it creates a panic.”
Imagine teaching senior gentlemen, who may have been a little scared of technology, indifferent about it, or wanted nothing to do with computers or any of that “social media” stuff, to use iPads. And because of the pandemic, the group could not risk doing it face-to-face.
“Setting up the iPads was a little challenging because they couldn’t do it one-on-one,” Shahid said. “They had had to take a 75-year-old man and take a piece of technology he knew nothing about, and try to set it up, over the phone.”
They made it happen
Under the patient tutelage of two members, Walter Pritchard and Charles Johnson, the de facto tech-team taught 25 older men, over the phone, how to use them.
For Leroy Gill, 72,l of St. Louis, his biggest learning curve was using a Mac operating system. But once he got it, he got it. And he loves it.
“It’s been really great. I like the way it’s set up and everything. It’s a really good tool,” Gill said. He has used it for a Veterans Affairs telehealth visit. “I want to use it for both the VA and my other medical doctors now.”
Young teach the old
The young digital experts are helping out the old-school fellows as well.
“A lot of the survivors I’ve spoken to about the iPad program, another one of their educators were their grandchildren,” Shahid said. “They were able to go to their grandkids and say, ‘Paw Paw needs some help with this, how do you navigate this, how do you navigate that’ — because a lot of the grandkids are working on iPads now right in their homes with them doing their schooling, because the schools are shut down. So, it became a win-win situation altogether.”
Keeping the men connected has continued with good support group participation.
“One support group meeting, we had over 65 guys that are Zooming, and these are guys in their 70s,” Shahid said.
The grant also allows the network to focus on mental health.They are working with a half-dozen African American mental health therapists on 90-minute interactive topics on Zoom, talking about relationships, stress management, grief counseling, self-care and other topics. These are separate from their regular support meetings, and take place monthly on Sunday afternoons.
In addition to the iPads, and the mental health discussions, the grant is supporting an upcoming Healthy Focus podcast – a spinoff of the network’s former Healthy Focus radio program that aired for many years.
“We’re going to be bringing in the doctors and clinicians to be a part of our podcast,” Shahid said.
A psychotherapist and a marriage and sexual health therapist are slated to be on the podcast that will begin early next year.
For more information, visit theempowermentnetwork.net.