Atlanta’s Geezer Squad

Senior Living Tech Assistance

By Cutright Elizabeth on Dec 15, 2016 in Technology

In one Atlanta senior care facility, residents keep IT support in-house, thanks to the Geezer Squad.

Tech hiccups can fell even the most tech savvy amongst us. For senior citizens, reboots and restarts are difficult to navigate. While sometimes a wayward grandchild can be corralled into providing IT support, not everyone has access to a preteen tech support.

Enter the Geezer Squad.

At one senior living facility in Atlanta, GA, residents aren’t outsourcing IT support. They’re keeping the fix in-house by deploying a team of fellow residents trained to fix most tech related problems.

Beyond the Computer Lab

When Jim Cochrane arrived at Lenbrook, a continuing care retirement community in Atlanta, most of his fellow residents depended on the computer lab for their online activities. Over the years, smartphones and tablets have taken over, providing more options but also opening the door to more confusion. Responding to the need for one-on-one help, Cochrane and his tech team decided to step into the void.

“The Geezer Squad part just developed naturally,” Lenbrook resident Jim Cochrane tells Senior Housing News. “Most of the residents now know who to call when they have a problem. People get stuck, and they don’t know what to do next. We can show them how to connect to the Internet, et cetera …In our population, some folks are reluctant, but getting them to feel confident is important.”

Resident-Powered Support

When a modem goes down, or a password won’t work, the Geezer Squad answers the call. With over 1000 service calls under their belt, the Geezer Squad has expanded its expertise beyond the occasion router. According to Cochrane, the number and variety of devices the Geek Squad services “has exploded.”

“We have three distinct levels of technology users,” says Lenbrook CFO Daniel Dornblaser. “We have people who don’t use technology in their day-to-day lives, no cell phones. We have folks in the middle who might use some [tech], like emails. Then we have the folks who are texting all the time, emailing, using Netflix.”

“It’s a resident-developed group that is there to help fellow residents about various IT issues,” says Dornblaser. “The group has people who are proficient in Apple computers, iPads, tablets, cell phones. The squad is available to help residents whenever there is a problem.”

A Will and a Way

Cochrane, a graduate of Georgia tech who’s career at Bell Laboratories focused on programming and computer system design, took the initiative after seeing a real need for tech assistance and education. With small group of about four volunteers at his side, Cochrane helps Lenbrook’s 400 residents manage devices and learn how to use technology to stay connected with friends and family.

“About six months after starting the classes, I realized that we needed to form a support group to help residents with specific problems,” says Cochrane. “Mostly we help with email, downloading photos of the grandchildren, sending documents and photos to family and the like. We keep a log and — average 12 house calls a month.”

“At first, we worked almost entirely on residents’ personal computers — Macs and Windows machines,” he continues. “More often now, though, we’re more likely to be helping someone set up and use their new “device.” By device, I mean an iPad or smartphone or some sort of tablet or e-reader. They are a popular gift from the “grown kids, ” and we’re seeing residents using them in the lobby and in our restaurants.”

While there was a bit of wariness about these modern gadgets and gizmos, Cochrane discovered that a little patience – combined with some incentives – usually did the trick.

“It turns out, when someone has a strong motivation to use email, they’ll learn it. That’s what usually brought people in – they wanted to email their grandchildren.”