Tablet lending program helps Ottawa, Renfrew County dementia patients access care, social connections

Thanks to new funding, patients living with dementia, as well as their families in the Ottawa and Renfrew County areas, will now have access to tablet technology at no cost to them.

This lending program is made possible by the Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County and Connected Canadians through new funding from the New Horizon Grant, the society announced Thursday.

“As the coronavirus pandemic continues to highlight the isolation of needed public health measures, and the need for access to technology for all demographics, this program will allow individuals confined at home without access to a technological device to be able to safely develop social connections in a virtual setting,” Dean Henderson, director of client experience, education and innovation at the Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County, said in a statement.

The new funding allows the society to run a comprehensive tablet lending program, giving access to people living with dementia, their caregivers and family members.

Connect Canadians will be providing technology mentorship training for the tablet recipients participating in the program.

“We’ve all seen how the pandemic has disproportionately affected people living with dementia,” he said. “While the Dementia Society successfully moved programming online—from support groups, to education for caregivers, to virtual art and music classes—we know there are still many people that we are not reaching simply because they don’t have access to technology, or are not comfortable with it.”

It’s anticipated that over 40 people will benefit from the program.

Once participants have completed the tablet training provided and become comfortable using the technology, the tablets will then be assigned to new participants.

The objective of the program is to provide mentorship to people living with dementia so they become comfortable using tablets before they determine if they would like to invest in the technology themselves.

In Ottawa and Renfrew County, there are 24,000 people living with a diagnosis of dementia.

In Canada, one in five people cares for someone living with dementia.

In the next decade, the number of diagnoses is expected to double.