Like virtually all other organizations, Area Agency on Aging is planning how to responsibly reopen its Campus for staff and public alike. Like most, we’re taking a cautious, phased approach that considers important guidance coming from key state sources and of course the local Health Department with its steady information flow of local COVID-19 data tracking and recommendations.
When we get to a yet undated Phase 3 of reopening, we’ll be defining an organization-based new normal. Of course, a new normal will continue lifestyle practices that protect against the danger of COVID-19, but the concept goes well beyond the disease.
Organizational considerations of how to do business, provide services and support staff have been fundamentally changed on broad scale. In mid-March, thousands and thousands of employees were told abruptly to work remote – for months. It didn’t matter if they worked for a multi-million-dollar corporation, a small business start-up, a not-for-profit or a Fortune 500 company. Massive shifts in operations went into full force just about everywhere.
They say necessity is the mother of invention. The scurrying pace of change was mindboggling. IT development and creative reinvention of business practice and service provision had to be implemented fast; tested, refined and adopted. Ideas that had historically been weighed carefully in terms of risk, profit, loss and potential success, were now fast-tracked to implementation with no looking back.
So what happened? We learned a lot.
We learned many jobs can be accomplished well remotely; even jobs we’d never considered moving out of the office. We learned online learning and shifting to phone, computer or web-based platforms reached a new population of people who now had easy, no-cost access to participation. We were able to focus on persons isolated previously and offer connectivity to other people and opportunities.
Keeping with our mission, Offering Choices for Independent Lives, we also won’t forget to look at the barriers that block participation in online opportunities. This can involve not knowing how to get started, how to become confident, or fear of the unknown. The Campus for Creative Aging can help.
A bigger issue may involve public policy. The Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation in Washington, D.C. has long advocated that broadband access must be viewed as a fundamental civil right.
They point out that as older adults are impacted by strains on current and future healthcare systems, they must be able to access telemedicine practices, as well as the safety and ease of online banking, shopping, visiting and countless gizmos and gadgets that make daily life a little easier.
Think how the right to internet access could level the playing field for so many who can’t afford expensive connectivity. Equality of opportunity could be transformed.
Will we return to our in-person meetings, classes and creative planning? I sure hope so. But we will not abandon the new reach, new possibilities and new world we’ve discovered. Nor will other organizations.
So what’s going on at the Campus for Creative Aging? Online classes are growing by leaps and bounds. The wildly popular Sounds Good Choir is not performing, but they are holding 11:00 a.m. Friday coffee chats; everyone is welcome. June 17 and 24 at 2:00 p.m. join Healthy Cooking with Chris for sharing of recipes for general use or compatible with the Quarantine food boxes, and fruit and veggie boxes now being distributed throughout the region.
Eat Smart, Live Strong is a no-cost 4-week nutrition program for adults; taught by Bronson Nutrition and Health Educators starting June 26 on Fridays from 1-2:00. A Thursday 1:30 series on Cyber Security & Election Scams starts July 30, and Thursday, August 6 at 1:30 is a special class on Covid-19 scams and how to recognize and avoid them. Any strike your curiosity? Amy Nichols at the Campus for Creative Aging can answer questions at 269-982-7748. And fear not, a Zoom 101 to assist newcomers to the Zoom platform is in the works. Stay tuned.