Connie Swartz doesn’t look like a typical computer geek, but she is. She only likes computers because it was a means to write poetry and attach graphics and music to her productions.
A few years ago while working on her computer, she realized that the words on the screen didn’t make sense to her. She felt odd. “I knew something was really wrong,” says Connie. A quick trip to the hospital proved her right. She survived a stroke.
“I worried that I’d never be the same again, but that wasn’t the case,” she says. Months later she made a full recovery at Spring Lake Rehabilitation Center.
Years passed and she was able to resume her greatest passions of seeing her family and grandchildren grow. She also daily interacted with a computer and continued with her crafts.
Just before a family visit, she was shopping with a friend who noticed Connie seemed “off.” “She asked if I was alright, but when I tried to answer her, I couldn’t talk,” said Connie. “I thought it was a mini-stroke,” she says. But she didn’t want to call the doctor because she was planning a get together with her granddaughter and great granddaughter that next day.
“I didn’t want to be in no hospital so I kept quiet.” But the next day I fell and hurt myself, and family made me go there,” she says. Because of her fall and recurring stroke, she would need rehab to gain independence and strength.
For many seniors, being away from home can be an isolating and lonely experience. For those reasons, many skilled nursing centers are either adding more spaces for family connection or adding technology to bring some of the comforts of home.
Internet connectivity may not be standard in skilled rehabilitation facilities, but some sites aim to please by adding wireless capabilities. The additions will give patients and clients daily internet access and provide abilities for social networking.
Connie says that most of her children live too far for regular visits, but looks forward to their email and FaceBook interactions.
Research suggests that once an older adult is online, the internet becomes a fixture in their lives.
Connie concurs and says that if she needs to find out answers, she looks it up on “Google.” She keeps tabs on family with other social features on her computer.
Research shows that over 90 percent of seniors use email, 45 percent send and receive photos by email, and 50 percent has a Facebook account. Seniors are online as a way to connect with family and friends.
The seniors with the most social interaction have best health outcomes. In the last sixty years, there have been numerous studies that show that either loneliness or isolation or the combination of both, have a significant impact on an individual’s health, especially in older adults.
To offset social isolation and its known link to depression in seniors, Spring Lake Rehab Center outfits their library with WiFi and desktop computers.
Technology’s intervention may help patients and residents stay socially connected and active and will help broaden human interaction and decrease feelings of social loss.
“At Spring Lake, I don’t feel lonely,” says Connie. She says there are so many things to do: There’s a bistro, an ice cream parlor, a movie theatre and there’s also outside shaded areas to enjoy nature. “Everywhere I go, everyone makes me feel like I am part of their family.”
A few strokes at the keyboard and Connie will have even more access to family, friends and loved ones. For social connections, sometimes it takes a computer.
Spring Lake Rehabilitation Center offers comprehensive rehabilitative outpatient and inpatient services for short or long term at 1540 6th Street N.W., Winter Haven-Florida. For more information, call 863-294-3055.