It may not look like a media hothouse, but Fraserview Care Lodge in Richmond, BC is breaking new ground in innovative technology. An extended care facility of 105 residents, 75 per cent of whom have some degree of dementia and/or physical disability, Fraserview is one of the city’s five extended care residences funded in part by Vancouver Coastal Health.
I’m ushered into the facility’s media room. A TV is playing in the corner. The words “All that glitters...” appears on screen. Seconds later, the words “...is not gold” completes the phrase. Coreena Robertson, the Lodge’s Director of Recreation and Communications tells me it’s a video program she created on her own time, and her own dime, as a way to stimulate the mind with popular sayings the residents may be familiar with but have momentarily forgotten.
“I really admire Coreena,” says Jennifer Cairns, co-founder and President of Victoria’s eGurus Technology Tutors, a company that mentors seniors in email, Skype and other computer functions by holding public and in-home seminars. “When I’m with her I think, ‘wow, she really gets it.’ She’s being innovative. I love what she’s developed.”
