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Program gets seniors online
NEW CASTLE, Pa.
At first, Ed Cunningham, 67, wondered why anyone would spend money teaching older people to use computers.
Over the years, Ed had gradually become computer literate on his own to keep up with the demands of his work for several companies including Cattron in Sharpsville and Pepsi Cola in this region. But he didn’t realize how much the 55-and-older crowd would benefit from a government-sponsored program to learn about e-mail and surfing the World Wide Web.
Today Ed thinks differently, noting he has seen computer literacy move some of his chronologic peers from depression to “a whole change in life attitude.”
He has come to realize “It’s a scary world” for people who don’t have technological knowledge. Not knowing how to use a computer in this day and age “is just like not being able to read,” he said.
Ed runs a program called “Seniors Go Online” out of the Lawrence County Community Action Partnership office at 241 W. Grant St. The program strives to educate older residents in how to use computers.
LCAP’s Director of Workforce Development Tracy Cherry said the program has been awarded $60,000 this year through Senior Service America, a contractor with the U.S. Department of Labor, for use in Lawrence, Beaver and Mercer counties.
She said the purpose of the program is to help older people find employment by teaching them technology skills. Lack of these skills is a major impediment to seniors’ finding jobs, she said.
The free program started July 1 and has 12 sites in the three-county area. Thus far, 197 seniors have received computer training in the program, and 118 have graduated with basic computer skills. There is no income requirement for eligibility. The only requirement is that a person be age 55 or older.
Instruction is designed to be senior-friendly, with coaching done by other senior citizens. The goal of the program is to enroll 860 persons by June 30. Cherry said she expects the program grant to be renewed.
These “peer coaches” are enrolled in LCAP’s Senior Employment Program, which provides minimum-wage jobs to seniors for a limited time in a nonprofit or government agency in order to build skills and competitiveness for the workplace.
Ed, in fact, got his start through this program that initially assigned him to go into workplaces and help seniors use computers.
Ed said that participants are taught simple tasks such as logging onto the computer and establishing an e-mail address.
They are taught to browse the Web and introduced to useful sites such as Social Security, American Association of Retired People, the National Football League, their congressional representative’s websites, recipe websites and Craig’s List.
He said that once seniors start to realize the possibilities, “it really lights up the world for them.” He commented, that they leave the center “with a different look.”
He said some common barriers to computer literacy for seniors are simply being intimidated by technology, an inability to type and lack of familiarity with a mouse.
To deal with these, there are online solutions including a “Power Typing” course and a website called “Moosercize.” Some accommodations are made for people with arthritis and vision problems.
Cherry said that another purpose of the program is to help reduce seniors’ social isolation by teaching them how to connect to friends and family over the Internet.
For more information about “Seniors Go Online,” call LCAP at 724-658-7258 or toll-free 888-252-5104.