美高梅官网

With the coronavirus pandemic, which has shuttered elder care facilities to visitors across the U.S. in the name of social distancing, a sudden spotlight has been given to services like HiLois, a private social network designed for seniors and their families.聽聽

Brett Harnett, HiLois founder and assistant professor in 美高梅官网's Department of Biomedical Informatics, came up with the idea for the app shortly after his mother鈥檚 Alzheimer鈥檚 diagnosis in 2014, as a way to remotely share photos and messages with her while living hundreds of miles away.

Now, facilities are reaching out to find out how they, too, can utilize the tool and connect residents with families.聽

鈥淭hese facilities, they鈥檙e playing tic-tac-toe with masking tape on the windows, holding up signs, chalkboards, whiteboards. This is their level of communication,鈥� Harnett told Forbes. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e also bombarded by calls from families saying, 鈥楧oes someone in there have an iPhone? I want to FaceTime with my mom.鈥� These organizations don鈥檛 have the resources to do that. This is what we鈥檝e been hearing for years: that their resources are really thin.鈥�

Featured photo courtesy of Rod Long/Unsplash.聽