{"id":126285,"date":"2020-07-20T12:33:46","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T19:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=126285"},"modified":"2020-09-16T11:52:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T18:52:32","slug":"coronavirus-bay-area-seniors-health-tech-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_ko\/california-divide\/2020\/07\/coronavirus-bay-area-seniors-health-tech-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: The Bay Area seniors who are left behind by a telehealth tech divide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

\uc694\uc57d\ud574\uc11c<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

Without internet access, getting health care is harder than ever.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n

Dan Makevich\u2019s terrible eyesight made him retire early from his beloved job of 15 years as a tour guide in the Bay Area and Yosemite. When the pandemic hit, Makevich knew his age, diabetes and respiratory problems made him a prime target. What he didn\u2019t know was that not owning a computer would make getting health care much harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of my doctor\u2019s appointments started canceling,\u201d said Makevich, 67, who now lives on a fixed income and can\u2019t afford a computer. \u201c\u2018They said, \u2018We\u2019ll do it by Zoom.\u2019 Well, we can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seniors make up 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.<\/a> and run a greater risk than most venturing outside their homes, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But even when sheltered, some elders face a lonely, disconnected reality: Half the country\u2019s<\/a> senior population doesn\u2019t have internet access, and one-fourth live alone<\/a>, according to the Census Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loneliness itself is a health risk for older adults<\/a>, but experts and providers worry now more than ever that the technological divide is reducing seniors\u2019 access to health care. Without a statewide effort specifically aimed at helping low-income seniors during the pandemic, existing programs and Bay Area nonprofits are trying to fill a tech gap made life-threatening by COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has been so much despair around not getting to see family and, more to the bone, around not having food, or access to telehealth,\u201d said California Department of Aging director Kim McCoy Wade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctors are increasingly using telehealth as the safest, most effective means of caregiving. It\u2019s a luxury that low-income seniors who don\u2019t have internet, a computer, or digital skills simply can\u2019t access. Doctors and volunteers who teach digital literacy report that clients have trouble installing apps or may have never held, much less used, a smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For immunocompromised Makevich, health care has always been a high priority. But without a computer or smartphone, he quickly piled up a sizable list of small but impossible tasks: registering online for appointments, accessing programs requiring a Google or Facebook account, getting text messages for prescriptions and emails for Medicare updates or appointment reminders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makevich said he wished he could have participated in the Zoom appointment his health care coverage was supposed to provide him. That way, a doctor could have taken a look at his spinal stenosis. But with no way to film himself, his back problem could only be assessed over the phone. Still, Makevich knows he\u2019s lucky: He has a partner at home and takes digital training classes through a San Francisco nonprofit that will soon provide him with a free tablet. \u201cPeople without computers are being left behind,\u201d Makevich said. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t keep up with computers if you don\u2019t have money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n