Century House is celebrating technology at the new SET Up For Life Technology Festival.
Seniors Embracing Technology, a group of seniors at Century House, is putting on a festival that will explore how seniors can make better use of technology to stay connected.
“COVID really showed us the importance of connecting through technology, especially since our doors were closed for almost six months in early 2020,” said Shelly Schnee, program coordinator for seniors. “We want seniors in the community to feel connected to programs, friends and information even if they cannot physically come to us. We also want to have a framework where we can interact with seniors through technology in case in the future it’s our only option for any length of time. We believe that if we work hard we can develop connection through technology, especially if it’s the only option for some seniors. We want to celebrate Seniors Embracing Technology!”
The SET Up For Life Festival aims to explore and celebrate all things technology.
“The global pandemic has shown us all how valuable technology can be in connecting us to our family, friends and community,” said a notice about the event. “We will look back at what we have learned during the pandemic and discuss how to use this knowledge in new ways.”
SET Up For Life includes a device drive, where folks can dispose of any old cell phones, laptops, tablets and other devices – with all personal information being deleted before the items are donated. It’s being offered from Wednesday, May 25 to Friday, May 27 at Century House, 620 Eighth St.
Items collected at the device drive will go to the digital inclusion hub, which work to “close the digital gap” by providing used devices to people in need.
Seniors are invited to drop by and get one-on-one simple tech assistance at the digital inclusion hub, which will be taking place on Thursday, May 26 and Friday, May 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The SET Up For Life festival, taking place on Wednesday, features a number of presentations. People can attend in-person at Century House or online and can sign up for one, two or all three sessions.
“We are experimenting with new technology (at least for us!), hybrid style where seniors can attend in person but also have the option to attend virtually,” Schnee said. “There’s lots of reasons seniors may want to attend virtually: they aren’t ready to come back to public settings so they can stay safe in their homes but also participate; they are housebound but want to be included and learn; maybe they just want the convenience of participating in their pyjamas!”
Schnee notes that most of the sessions are hybrid, so they’re being offered in person and online.
The SET Up For Life festival gets underway with an Indigenous land acknowledgement and introduction to the festival at 10 a.m., which is followed by an overview of a study about how COVID affected seniors’ use of information and communication technology and how near-future technologies could help. Tim Hicks, chairperson of Seniors Embracing Technology, is hosting the session that runs until 11:30 a.m.
The Learning About Technology from the New Westminster Library session, running from 12:30 to 2 p.m., will provide information about what the library has in the way of technology, where items can be found and services the library has to help with technology.
Meghan Gallagher, library assistant, will present the session, which includes a short video introduction to the New Westminster Public Library.
The festival concludes with a Technology for Independent Living Session, where Technology for Living will share information about its program, which focuses on environmental control systems that help people with physical disabilities to control devices in their homes and elsewhere. This includes devices that work with TVs, smartphones/tablet access, landline phone control, lamp/fan control, attendance call access and automatic door opener access.
Taylor Danielson, community coordinator for Technology for Living, will lead the Technology for Independent Living session, which runs from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The festival continues on Thursday with sessions on Seniors and Technology in B.C. (when BC Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie will share her thoughts on technology and seniors and what’s happening in B.C.), the Century House Players’ videos from some of its Zoom productions. Seniors will also be able to participate in a Creating a Treasured Photo Collection/Preserving Photos session and a Card Making Workshop.
The activities continue on Friday with a presentation by the New Westminster Police Department on cyber security, where folks will learn how to identify online scams, how to protect themselves and how to report this situations. It also includes a virtual storytelling performance, where participants in a six-week storytelling workshop series will share stories about their most memorable tech-related moments since the pandemic began.
For more information, call Century House at 604-519-1066. Details and registration links will be found at www.centuryhouseassociation.com starting May 10.
