This Friday, August 21, is National Senior Citizens Day. It’s a good time to think about the older adults in our community and the everyday barriers many of them deal with. One of the most common is technology. A smartphone that won’t sync. A telehealth portal that won’t load. An email account that’s locked them out. For seniors, these small problems can get in the way of healthcare, staying in touch with family, and everyday independence.
That’s why we started the Community Tech Desk.
Since March of this year, the Community Tech Desk has met every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Lealman Exchange, offering free, walk-in tech support to the Lealman community. The program is a partnership between CodeBoxx Foundation, the St. Petersburg Foundation, and Unique IT Pro. It’s open to everyone, but it was designed with seniors in mind, since they’re often the ones who get stuck on a step and don’t have someone nearby to ask.
Turnout has been steady all season. Residents bring in laptops, tablets, smartphones, and desktops. The requests vary: setting up a new device, reviewing privacy and security settings, connecting to a telehealth portal before a doctor’s appointment, setting up a video call to see family, recovering an email account, or just getting advice on whether it’s time for a new device. Many of the people who visit are returning, which tells us the help is sticking and that people feel comfortable coming back.
A recent Tuesday session is a good example of what a typical morning looks like. Five residents came through over three hours, ranging in age from their mid-50s to their mid-70s, from zip codes across the Lealman area including 33714, 33715, and 33781. At the start of each visit, we ask people to rate their confidence with the task at hand on a scale of 1 to 5. Most start around a 1 or 2. By the end of the visit, that number is usually a 2 or 3. It’s a simple way to track that people are leaving with more than a fixed device. They’re leaving with a little more confidence to handle the next one themselves.
That’s really what this program is about. Not just solving a tech problem in the moment, but building the kind of consistent, reliable support that helps people feel less dependent on someone else to navigate their own devices.
If you know a senior in the Lealman area who could use a hand with technology, the Community Tech Desk is there every Tuesday morning. No appointment is necessary. And if you’d like to support the program as a volunteer, a partner, or a donor, CodeBoxx Foundation, the St. Petersburg Foundation, and Unique IT Pro would love to hear from you.
The Community Tech Desk runs every Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at the Lealman Exchange. It is free and open to all.