Residents connect with new technology at event | Local News

About 20 Lawrence County people moved just one move nearer to turning into additional computer literate on Friday.

A Join with Tech party was held Friday at St. Luke A.M.E. Zion Church. The party was established up for men and women who are not computer system industry experts or who have sight or hearing impairments. The ongoing event, sponsored by St. Luke and Neighborhood Living and Aid Products and services (C.L.A.S.S.) of Pittsburgh was funded by TechOWL, a Temple College system which has obtained 5,000 electronic tablets and other assistive equipment.

Having programs at the party was teacher Christina Kraemer, an assistive technology coordinator from C.L.A.S.S. Aiding Kraemer at the occasion was a College of Pittsburgh intern Aaron Rogers.

“We want to help individuals in want to keep on being connected with their households and communities by reducing boundaries to interaction,” Kraemer reported. “We provide telephones with large buttons. We provide phones with a 50-decibel quantity. We supply cellular phone with captions. We provide telephones with a picture that flashes if you have caller ID capabilities. What’s extra, our devices may perhaps be updated for no cost each individual three years.”

“We want all inhabitants to be capable to accessibility telehealth professional medical appointments, go to zoom conferences, accessibility virtual teaching activities, and many others. We even support in securing very hot spots for those with no online accessibility.”

Attendees finished their purposes to TechOWL’s lending library to borrow an electronic pill free of charge of charge for up to 9 months. The tablets will be shipped to them in the up coming 4 to 6 weeks and the recipients will receive 1-on-a single instruction in how to work the tablets, which will be equipped with at minimum one method this sort of as Zoom or Gmail of the client’s deciding on.

This application is open to Pennsylvania citizens who are senior citizens, or possibly homeless, very low-income, non-English proficient/confined English proficient, LGBTQ, or all those struggling from health disparities.

The method is also offering free massive print landline telephones and/or mobile telephones for the visually impaired, hearing impaired, or to all those with cognitive challenges in lieu of an digital pill.

TechOWL is Pennsylvania’s Assistive Engineering Act plan and is federally funded to operates a totally free lending library and support individuals with disabilities to investigate the applications and engineering that they need to have to be unbiased and teaches them how to use people instruments and products.

All those from Lawrence County who are interested in a tablet or distinctive cell phone may possibly nevertheless implement for the products and training by calling the Rev. Mitzila Hogans at St. Luke A.M.E. Church at (724) 656-0551 or by emailing [email protected].

Those people from Mercer County who are interested might contact Dee Heckman, supervisor of Community Methods for Independence at 3875 E. Condition Road, Suite B in Hermitage or by contacting (724) 347-4121.

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