Hi Dumas,
On <Thu, 25 Mar 20>, you wrote me:
But a TV/webcam rig for ought to be the norm in 2020.
Makes you wonder why no one else has thought of doing this in
senior's facilties before?
That official/professional care system only focuses on the physical care of the body. It is the volunteers that introduce other programs (activities, projects, visitations, trips, guest speakers, etc..)Apparently, there is no money allocated to anything else beyond the physical care of the carbon unit. :(
And now for my story about the "music program" I mentioned earlier. First, the background.
The long-term care facility in my town is the only one in the county that implements a "music access" program using the iPod Shuffle. One fellow, passionate about music felt that many of the "old-timers" stuck in these facilities had no other access to the music that they loved or grew up with and noticed that music specific to their liking provided entertainment and made a huge difference in morale.
So, he took the initiative to just do it. Along the way, he received some funding to purchase a bunch of Shuffles. He custom-loaded each device for each person. It was simple to operate: clip on option, one center button operation for play, shuffle mode. Only the wired ear pieces my have been a bit tricky for some clients, but that only took a few seconds of assistance (so even the "professional" care workers had no excuse not to help with that) and the client could be left alone to enjoy.
He took the resposibility to mix up the collections, and keep the devices charged.
Along the way (since 2010), some devices have been lost (or inadvertently packed up by the family along with the other personal items when the client dies). Meanwhile, the Shuffle has been discontinued and cost prohibitive to replace.
I have volunteered to help find an alternative solution if I can. My approach was to consider Spotify as the music source) ..but the question remains what player devices would be best. Dedicated mini tablets + wireless headphones? The operation/activation has to be simple for the client.
..Regards,
August
* SeM. 2.26 * Man who eats too many prunes, sits on toilet, many moons!
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þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL
