Virtual Connections
Helping older adults stay connected and healthy Through Technology
Our mission
We help older adults, families, and community partners build digital literacy and increase awareness of telehealth through guides and videos we have created. This way connections, independence, and care become easier every day.
Healthy aging is easier when people can reach family, friends, services, and care. Our free, plain-language guides and videos make smartphones and virtual care feel simpler and safer to use —at home and in the community. Organizations can adapt and edit these materials for their own needs. We provide a starting point.
Virtual Connections has been working since 2021 to build digital literacy and increase awareness of telehealth and what it offers. With support from Michigan Health Endowment Fund grants to Michigan State University’s School of Social Work our program model originated through work supporting home-delivered meal recipients, like Meals on Wheels, later expanding to serve older adults, caregivers, and others who may benefit from the resources we have developed.
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Our mission - Extended
Our mission is to improve the digital literacy of older adults and their families. Our vision is that all older adults have the knowledge, skills, and comfort to engage in the digital world safely, ready to participate in telehealth services if they choose. We will accomplish this through collaborations with older adult service agencies, volunteer coaches, and virtual care providers. Our goal is to ensure healthy aging through building digital skills that support access to useful resources.
Healthy or successful aging means different things to different people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it is “the process of maintaining good physical, mental, and social health and well-being as we grow older.” The CDC suggests that healthy habits include: practicing good nutrition, remaining physically active, keeping the mind stimulated, getting enough sleep, staying socially connected, taking care of emotional well-being, preventing injuries, keeping up with regular health checkups including vaccines and screenings, and managing chronic conditions. Healthy aging can start at an early age, and it is never too late to adopt healthy habits.
Virtual Connections is committed to improving digital skills that increase access to resources that support healthy habits, from health information and telehealth resources, to fall prevention tools, to connecting with family and friends through videoconferencing.
Who can use this website
Our free guides and videos support different people in different ways. Where do you fit?
Older adults
Easy to use guides to learn at your own pace.
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Older Adults
Virtual Connections’ comprehensive smartphone guides are designed for older adults at different stages, from beginners to more advanced users. You can use this guide independently at your own pace or invite your family member or a friend to share the experiences. These guides can also be used in classroom settings to guide collaborative learning.
Individuals may choose to use the guide on their own or join a group in their community like a hosting library or senior center. You may find it helpful to invite someone to join you in following the guide, perhaps a family member or friend. Whatever works for you, we recommend beginning at the very front of the guide to set confidence on the basics of using your smart phone before moving on to more advanced tools.GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Family members
You can print our guides to leave with loved ones, or work alongside them with the guide in hand.
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Family Members
Virtual Connections’ comprehensive smartphone guides are a bridge for families navigating technology together. If you are a family member who would like to use this guide with your loved one, please feel free to use it as a teaching tool to create a confident and frustration-free supportive atmosphere. You can work with your spouse, parents, or grandparents, at your own pace and theirs.
Family members have told us how they have used our resources to improve their own skills, and also to help the loved one they care for.
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Senior centers, older adult services, and libraries
Download ready-to-use, editable guides to launch basic digital skills coaching.
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Senior centers, older adult services, and libraries
Improving digital literacy supports connections with family and friends, access to benefits, transportation, and community programs; and use of telehealth and patient portals. It builds confidence and independence and improves online safety.
Agencies have used these materials with small groups following lunch gatherings, during home-delivered meal visits, and when hosting learning sessions with trained highschoolers as one-on-one coaches. Using our guides, libraries can host tech-learning sessions for those who register to attend. These are opportunities that suit these organizations. What works for your group?
Older adults who use these community resources will appreciate having this learning experience in familiar surroundings. An offer to learn more about smart phone use and digital literacy may also attract nearby audiences who have not typically used these resources. Awarding a certificate of accomplishment for those who complete the series is a nice touch.
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Volunteer digital coaches
Step-by-step guides for you to help others learn. It is an easy way to do something that matters.
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Volunteer digital coaches
Digital literacy can be life changing. Your practical skills will be put to good use while assisting older adults improve their digital literacy. You do not need to be a “tech expert” to help those who may need a little push in learning new skills. In addition, there is no better way to refine your smartphone usage than helping others become more familiar with this technology.
The guides available on our website were designed to be easy to use for all. Many people interested in coaching a family member or friend will be able to use the resources without assistance. For those interested in coaching others through sessions organized by an agency or library, let us know who you hope to work with and we will work with that agency to prepare you for your coaching role. Then we hope ultimately you will be able to help prepare other new volunteers.
Click here for more information about volunteering
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Caregivers
Learn digital skills to reduce caregiver burden and improve access to care.-
Caregivers
Caregivers often face high levels of stress and burnout, and while caregivers often report being interested in using technology to help them search for services, coordinate deliveries, refill prescriptions, and manage health devices and records, not all caregivers have the confidence in using digital tools to support their efforts.
Caregivers have used our practical, easy-to-use materials to build their own competence and confidence in using digital tools. Caregivers have used our resources to learn how to connect with services, increase device accessibility, access health information, and improve their ability to navigate everyday digital tasks. These important skills are then shared with the friends, family, and clients under their care to improve access to care for all.
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Direct care workers
Resources to support job-useful digital skills you can also share with the people you serve and their families.
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Direct care workers
Digital skills may advance the care of older adults in numerous ways, including setting reminders for care appointments, medical visits and client medications, as well as everyday tasks like grocery lists and calls to make. More advanced ways digital skills assist the job are by recording a client’s health behavior and vital signs. Helping clients to improve their digital skills could advance their independent check ups with family and health providers. The more you learn, the more ways you will find to use digital skills in your role as a direct care worker.
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Telehealth providers
Patient- and family-friendly telehealth guides and videos to teach and prepare patients for virtual visits, patient portals, and other telehealth services.
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Telehealth providers
The goals of providers of telehealth or ‘virtual care’ are generally to reduce barriers to health care and make connecting with health care easier, and to enhance health equity, especially for rural and other underserved areas. Challenges they frequently encounter include patients’ lack of knowledge about telehealth or misunderstanding of what it involves, together with low levels of digital skills to utilize telehealth resources like patient portals. Virtual Connections’ smartphone guides and telehealth videos may be of use in addressing these challenges.
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE
Parents and legal guardians
Family-friendly telehealth guides and videos will support you in helping your children develop important telehealth skills.
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Parents and legal guardians
Parents and legal guardians play a unique role in telehealth. As advocates for the children in their care, parents and guardians are often called to translate symptoms and changes in behavior, all while managing the real-time, technical aspects of telehealth. Training with this package of telehealth videos can develop a parent’s and legal guardian’s technical skill set, allowing them to focus on the conversation. Additionally, the cyber safety skills in the smartphone guides empower the parents and guardians to proactively protect the child’s personal information and medical records. As an educational activity, these telehealth videos support parents and legal guardians to provide the best possible telehealth for their children during illness and emergency circumstances.
GET OUR FREE RESOURCES HERE