Lions Befrienders: Seniors go high-tech with help from the human touch

Try using your smartphone while wearing gloves. You’ll find the lack of sensitivity at your fingertips makes it difficult to type and access the apps.

Seniors experience the same. Having lost skin sensitivity with age makes it difficult for them to navigate their smartphones. Furthermore, they have grown up used to pressing buttons to trigger actions. So swiping or tapping is a relatively new and unfamiliar action for them, Karen Wee, Executive Director at Lions Befrienders (LB) explains.

Karen speaks from her experience at LB, a charity that serves seniors through befriending, active ageing centres and home personal care services, among others. Over the course of the pandemic, LB has been striving to close the digital gap and encourage seniors to embrace the use of technology in daily life.

The role of technology in the new normal

A senior “spins the wheel” online for a lucky draw prize at one of Lions Befrienders’ Active Ageing Centres’ Lunar New Year activities.

Digitalisation has long been woven into LB’s work. Besides ensuring that each of its Home Care Ambassadors is equipped with a tablet for home visits, LB was also the first social service agency to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for facial screenings to diagnose seniors for mental health issues.

When social distancing regulations hit, the agency quickly shifted casework and counselling to virtual platforms, and even equipped each of its active ageing centres with tablets for the elderly to use.

The makings of i-OK@LB

The latest addition to LB’s digital arsenal is the i-OK@LB device—which as its name suggests—is a tablet designed specifically to ensure seniors are “doing okay.”

This was developed in response to the manpower pressures faced during the circuit breaker. LB staff and volunteers had to visit the elderly to check on them physically, and with over 8,000 seniors in their care, the sheer volume of work was overwhelming. There was also the concern that the elderly may have accidents while alone, and the LB team would have no idea that the elderly needed help.

i-OK@LB addresses this challenge by providing an i-Alive button for the elderly to press thrice per day to indicate they are well and do not need assistance. It can also remind seniors to take their medications, allow LB staff to send messages or video-call seniors, and enable seniors to have teleconsultations with doctors.

 A major benefit is that LB can personalise the i-OK@LB device for various purposes and with the support of IMDA’s Digital for Life fund, 300 devices – aptly named IM-OK – will contain additional digital-literacy related features like cybersecurity tips and a scam simulation app. These features will be added in phases as seniors go through tiered learning to get the hang of the additional features. The 300 IM-OK devices will be launched in May this year.

These features will be added in phases, and seniors will go through tiered learning to get accustomed to the new device. Thanks to the IMDA’s Digital for Life (DfL) fund, 300 such devices will be launched in May this year.

Understanding how tech can make the seniors tick

Yet, to get seniors both on board with this new technology, it is crucial to remove the barriers along the way.

One big obstacle, Karen shares, is that the elderly with a lower literacy level “have some psychological fear using technology”.

To address this, the i-OK@LB software is set up to be visual-focused. The tablet screen is kept clear, with only a few applications that function through clicks. For those not literate, messages are read out in a language or dialect of their choice. 

A senior-friendly interface design makes it easy for the elderly like Mdm Rani to access medication reminders, vaccination reminders, and to check-in each day from her home.

Mdm Rani, one of the beneficiaries who received a tablet, testifies to the device’s ease of use. She shares that i-OK@LB gives her the peace of mind that despite living alone, support is always there—the team at LB is always looking out for her.

Overcoming fears and smoothening their silver years

Although Karen says that making the device easier for seniors to use is a big and important step to close the digital gap, she adds that more can be done.

For example, she has observed that the three most common things that seniors do when they receive smartphones are to “one, sell it to karang guni, two, keep it in a cupboard, or three, pass it to somebody else to use”.

As such, it is important to go beyond helping seniors become comfortable with the use of devices, to also help them believe in the benefits of technology.

i-OK@LB is a step in the right direction because it targets a prevailing fear that seniors had: “Dying without people knowing and dying without dignity.”

This fear is only amplified by the seniors’ worries about the COVID-19 vaccination side effects. Therefore, the process of “checking in” three times a day on the device to show they are well and do not need help, managed to alleviate these concerns.

The i-OK@LB device also has useful features like medication reminders and telemedicine— targeted at the fear the elderly have about falling sick. The idea of being able to cut down on travel time and skip the long wait at hospitals by seeing the doctor virtually, appeals to seniors and makes it easier to secure their buy-in.

Tips to breaking the digital barriers

“[It is important to remember that] digitalisation is not one app, or one product but is a whole change of mindset,” Karen shares. As such, closing the digital gap requires collective effort: Volunteers are needed to raise awareness and educate the elderly. And organisations must step up and support the development of senior-friendly technology, she says.

It is a long journey, so Karen’s advice for others in the sphere is to have patience. Likening the process of running a marathon, she points out that you don’t just leap into it without prior preparation or training. “If I had to start from ground zero, I would need to build my stamina consecutively, step by step,” she explains.

Going digital doesn’t diminish the human touch. Rather, it allows LB volunteers and staff to improve the eldercare experience as they work closely with seniors to understand their wellbeing and overcome their resistance to technology.

Empathy is crucial—after all, LB’s secret to success has been to first understand the fears and habits that seniors have before intervening, Karen says.

“It’s about being able to walk the journey with seniors, to show them the impact or benefits, and basically, to be there for them.”