Easter Seals Greater Houston's BridgingApps Project Making Progress with Awarded CEA Foundation Funds to Help Seniors with Disabilities

HOUSTON, March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- BridgingApps, a program of Easter Seals Greater Houston, is making progress with support from the CEA Foundation to use technology to help seniors with disabilities. The funding allowed BridgingApps to expand its website content, create filters, develop self-directed online training and provide in-person trainings focused on seniors and other adults with disabilities in the use of mobile devices and apps.

The projects work was presented to a packed session at SXSW this past week. Following Easter Seals' sessions, over 100,000 retweets were made, reflecting the power of this project. Mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular amongst seniors because of their simple user interface, accessibility features, and portability. However, there is a learning curve when a person is introduced to technology for the first time. With the support of the CEA Foundation, BridgingApps is helping span the gap between technology, applications and the training needed will enable adults and seniors with disabilities to communicate, connect with the world, and ultimately improve their levels of independence.

With hundreds of thousands of apps available, finding the right tool and app and understanding how to use these tools to improve daily life can be daunting. In the current app marketplaces, there is no effective way to search for apps with a level of granularity that is meaningful to seniors and their caregiving/health care teams. BridgingApps provides basic training on how to get started with a mobile device, app lists and app reviews to assist in finding the right apps, and support for any level of user.

This year's grant allowed BridgingApps to work in collaboration with Memorial Hermann Health System's University Place Retirement Community where they began to capture information on what training works/does not work, what aspects of technology are learnable depending on the medical condition of the client and how to help seniors define achievable goals using mobile devices. "Whether focusing on apps for accessible social media, brain training games, or ways to stay engaged and in touch with loved ones, the goal is to identify apps and best practices for using them that can enhance the lives of seniors and adults with disabilities," said Cristen Reat, co-founder of BridgingApps.

For more information about BridgingApps, visit www.bridgingapps.org.  

SOURCE Easter Seals Greater Houston

Related Links

HTTP://www.eastersealshouston.org

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