🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, 08 Apr 1998 09:39:20 GMT, bobb@acslink.aone.net.au (Bob Bain)
wrote in aus.org.acs:

>afreeman@pcug.org.au (Andrew Freeman) wrote:
>
>>I have read of at least one nursing home in ACT with internet
>>connection, which is supported by a local ISP, I think.
>
> Is this a government, privately owned or community sponsored nursing
>home ?  

I am not sure. I read of it in a magazine for retirees some time ago.
My impression was it was either privately owned, or community
sponsored nursing home, but as I say, I am unsure.

It's difficult to judge if this is a service that would be
>welcomed by nursing home residents, or patients in hospitals although
>given their circumstances I would imagine that contact with friends and
>relatives is an important part of life in such institutions.
>
Well, I imagine some would have no interest in - there was certainly
no pressure for anyone to use the service. 
 
> A simple e-mail type service is perhaps all that's needed.  

Well, maybe maybe not. I think usual approach is to offer access to
Web, and then people who want e-mail can do via Hotmail or suchlike
other free e-mail service.

I have
>trouble communicating with my mother now in a nursing home in the United
>Kingdom, and phoned and asked the staff if I could utilise their fax
>machine to send messages, as my mother has/had trouble hearing me when I
>rang via voice.
> 
> The arrangement at the moment is that I produce faxes with extra large
>fonts, and the staff read the message out, if the text is illegible as
>it probably would be.  However my mother's hearing has become better in
>recent weeks and I was able to hold a telephone conversation with her on
>her birthday.
>
> She would not be in a position to read small fonts on a screen.  

You can adjust size of font on screen - I do it, to minimise eye
strain.

One
>wonders if nursing staff could perhaps communicate via the Internet on
>behalf of residents, who can neither type nor read computer screens.
>
Well, interesting point. PowWow
http://www.tribal.com
software offers a telephone like interface, if both machines have that
software on it, but it works a little like CB radio (that is,
asychonous, not synchronous). Another option, your talk to your
mother, and nurse type words back to you - very inexpensive, as
Telstra charges 20 cents per megabyte received, but nothing per
megabyte sent - voice very data intensive, typing not so. :-)

>>I know that the NSW Branch of the ACS already has strong connections
>>with Technical Aid for the Disabled (TAD), in providing computers to
>>disabled persons.
>
> I am aware of this, and note the contributions the ACS has made in this
>area.
>
>> I bcc:  your message to John Ridge, NSW Branch
>>Chair, who I have found to be extremely proactive on community service
>>type initiatives - I suggest you contact him to discuss options. 
>
> My message was directed to anyone with an interest in this area,
>including perhaps AUUG members, or those who mentioned Linux as an
>operating system that can be used with older technology, or those
>perhaps with an engineering background.  No doubt "voice synthesis"
>devices would be useful in this area.
> 
No doubt they would be.

> Perhaps the devices needed haven't been invented yet.
>
I think they have - PowWow is free software, and has some of the
features you want, but I guess not perfect. I have it on my machine -
page me sometime if you install it on yours and want to experiment
with it.



Regards

Andrew R. Freeman, FACS           Location: Belconnen Canberra ACT Australia
Key e-mail: afreeman@pcug.org.au    Web URL http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman
Director,  Community Affairs Board,  Australian Computer Society   (1996/99)
ACS CAB World Wide Web URL:    http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman/cabtr.html