CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- With many seniors having to stay inside and not able to see relatives due to COVID-19 risks, keeping the line of communication open is possible but takes a little planning.
Since Illinoisans started sheltering-in-place many have turned to virtual contact through Skype, Facetime, Zoom and other apps.
Seeing a smile can make all the difference for older residents.
Lisa Cini, author of "Boom: The Baby Boomers Guide to Leveraging Technology, So That You Can Preserve Your Independent Lifestyle and Thrive," offers a few tips to help older populations during this national crisis.
Setting up check-in times is one of the top tips Cini offers.
"It's very difficult and irritating when you're calling each other back and forth and people aren't answering. And, especially in this time, right now, it's even more nerve-racking because you don't know if something happened or not. So, scheduling a time that is convenient for you all is the best way to do it," she said.
Cini also recommended setting up a group text with your family, maybe doing a 10-minute group exercise – even if its only chair exercising -- and said this is also a great time to ask an older relative about their childhood and early 20’s. It could be a project that keeps giving for years to come.
Check out Cini's top 5 secrets to having a successful virtual holiday with your loved ones.
- Create a video chat with everyone in the family – please don’t use facetime unless you are 100% sure everyone has an iPhone. It feels awful when your left out. There are plenty of incredible apps and platforms to help you do this: Skype, Google Hangouts, Wechat, Whatsapp, Zoom, Facetime and Houseparty. Make the time flexible for those in different time zones, for instance, my daughter is in Israel, we are in Ohio and my son is in Los Angeles. Anyone can show up and say high at any time.
- Pair up and older and younger family members to teach them virtually how to make a family traditional food such as Easter bread (pina) or brisket. Most of the apps will even let you record this.
- Older family members should dig through their photos and find 5 photos they want to share and tell stories about that no one may know anything about. It's very easy for them to hold them up to the camera and tell the story.
- Younger family members should prepare 1-2 questions for older family members. For example: When you were my age what was the best thing in your life and what was the hardest? Quite often we forget how lucky we are and having perspective is a wonderful thing.
- Have fun! Have a contest to see who can have the best screen background. Play a game like where you ask questions and everyone has to answer them. I am using What’s Your Word from myintent.org. A question may be: If you could run your own country what would it be like? Or What is one of the kindest things someone has ever done for you? Their site also has incredible free online resources to destress and learn during this current restricted time. https://www.myintent.org/pages/free
