Bay Area Seniors Computer Club "BASCC" Offers Online Multimedia Site

The Bay Area Seniors Computer Club "BASCC" has been offering computer training for seniors since the year 2000.

Computer literacy is important for senior citizens from a health standpoint because it provides a way for seniors to search healthcare topics, and enhance their lives in other ways.

Many seniors, having grown up during the "paper generation" era of education, experience the "Digital Divide."

There's a need to bridge the Digital Divide between senior citizens and later generations who use computers at school and at work.

The club offers free computer classesfor seniors, workshops, and helpers who can be contacted over the telephone when needed. "You're never too old to learn" is the club motto.

Now the Bay Area Seniors Computer Club "BASCC" has a social network with multimedia, video and photo sharing, a Forum, and Blogs at Bay Area Seniors Computer Club "BASCC" Multimedia and Tutorials. The club is located on the central Oregon Coast in the Coos Bay, North Bend area. Online visitors are welcome.

Seniors can exercise their minds and enjoy a community online with shared interests. The site uses "Ning" software, a popular application for social network sites.

Tthere are many other benefits for seniors who learn to use computers, such as getting the news online instead in the "paper" format. Surfing the internet for health, education and the news provides mental exercise as well.

Videos and tutorials range from how to use Picasa 3, to Google's Tech Talks at the 2009 Internet Summit. The Museum of Computer History is featured, as well as introductions to the upcoming Windows 7 that will be out in the stores by October 2009. User-generated videos feature such interesting topics as "Anchorage Alaska Float Plane Flight" and "Oregon Coast Scenes. "

The site is like a "mini-internet" and there is a website search box in the upper right. A "web 2.0" type of site, it allows users to upload their own videos and photos, or start their own blogs.

81 Year Old YouTuber, Over 5,000 5-Star Ratings on Video, Over 2 Million Channel Views

Peter Zimmer, an 81 year old widower, of AskGeriatric.com has had over 2 million visitors to his youtube channel.

He provides a huge variety of helpful information for senior citizens, as well as telling his life story on videos. Featured in many international magazines, such as Time Magazine, he is an incredible example of someone born during the "Paper Generation" who has joined the "Online Generation."

Award Winning Tobey Dichter of Generations Online - Seniors Switching from Paper Generation to Online Generation

For many seniors switching from getting information from "paper media" to getting it online is a challenge, but it can be an important way to enhance the senior years.

Some of the benefits include:

* Obtaining information about health and insurance
* Enjoying history websites, especially about events they remember
* Keeping up with the latest local and world news at a time when "paper newspapers" are declining
* Communicating with others by email
* Mental stimulation to keep the brain healthy

The video below explains that in the past seniors held the keys to passing along history and wisdom. But now that has changed with the online information age. Giving the seniors the "keys" to online information by promoting senior computer literacy is an important goal when seeking to improve quality of life for seniors.

Caregiver Burnout Series: 30 Seconds to Inspire and Uplift

Inspirational music, quotes and sunset photos in a 30 second video I made is this Sunday's uplifting message for burned out caregivers. "The Rainbow Trail" by Edward A. Navajo. Click the "HQ" in the lower right of the video screen, (it only shows up after the video starts) to view it in High Quality. Click the "Full Screen" box shaped icon to the right of "HQ" to use your full computer screen like a TV.

Caregiver Burnout Series: Inspiration to Uplift

I made the video below from photos I took, and it was what I do to relax, recharge my batteries, and give myself an uplift. After caring for someone who passed away, I find it's important to invent my own ways of giving myself a lift. The beauty of nature always takes me away from stress, worries, and feeling down.

Bereavement Series : In Loving Memory

Love Is Eternal.

In Loving Memory and Dedicated to William L. Hough, Sr., who loved wildlife and the wilderness.
Thank you Bill for your kindness, generosity, caring, sense of humor, and love of life. You are missed greatly.

Thank you Bill for so many incredible times enjoying nature's beauty and for encouraging me to get started in multimedia on computers. The Beauty of the Oregon Coast Wilderness will always remind me of you. In a way, being with the beauty of nature, the wildlife and wilderness, will always be like being with you.

Life is eternal. Love is eternal. The video below was made with you in my thoughts.

Kristi

Bereavement Series: Learning Something New

Nothing and no one can replace the special uniqueness of the loved one you have lost.

Personal growth, learning something new, doing something you've never done before, is a way to jumpstart life again.

After losing my husband in 1996 to cancer, and now after losing my beloved friend Bill this year to heart surgery, I know I've got to pull myself up and get going. They would each want me to enjoy life, have adventures, and use my abilities to give something beautiful to the world and to others.

I'm learning new computer programs, starting a new video project for the internet, and exploring the wilderness in Oregon. All the time I feel that the spirits of the ones I've lost are gently encouraging me forward and providing inspiration.

Bereavement Series: Opening to New Experiences

The empty places in life that were filled by a dear loved one mean that recreating the same life without that person won't work. Life looks like a piece of swiss cheese full of holes.

Opening to new experiences, a willingness to try things you've never done before, helps bring good things out of the pain of loss.

Thinking of the inter-connectedness of all things, and of joining up again with the community of living things, is part of recovery from bereavement.

Bereavement seems to be a solo journey of a seeker. No one can replace the unique essence of the person who is gone, and what the person meant to you.

I could see I would need to be braver and venture out where I hadn't been before after I lost my husband. Now, after losing a dearly loved companion, Bill, again I can see I need to go out into the unknown.

The old activities without Bill would be just that - without Bill. So it's time to redesign the old lifestyle. Exploring the unknown, and living with some uncertainty, means life will go down a new road.

My mantra could be "stay open to change."

Bereavement Series: Pet Therapy for Grief

When words cannot describe grief, the comfort of pets can be a blessing. Pets sense things that people may miss as we've seen on TV shows like Animal Planet. Changes in people's moods and health may be picked up by their pets.

My own rescued dogs are now rescuing me during the time following my beloved friend Bill's death. Teddybear, my lab mix, looks at me and then brings his toy and uses body language to tell me to throw it in the air for him to catch. Heidi, my little 6 lb. "mystery mix" gazes into my eyes, and licks my hands and face, and frisks about clearly asking me to play.

Sometimes animals can reach someone mentally and emotionally when people and words don't seem to work. The pets sense feelings and react with nurturing.

They sense when people are not their usual selves. There are many TV shows with videos of pets rescuing people who are ill or injured.

My own dogs clearly sense that something is different. The fact that their friend Bill has not been around now for awhile has been absorbed mentally somehow and they sense change.

As if we are one family, or one dog or wolf pack, they have been going out of their way to reach out to the member of the pack who is not her usual self.

The companionship of pets provides comfort and an uplift during the loneliness following loss,

Bereavement Series: The River of Life Flows On After Loss

There's a saying that life is like floating down a river and you never pass the same riverbanks twice. Sometimes I think there's a branch in the river of life and we part from others as we flow down a different fork.

Now it's been 4 weeks since I last saw, spoke with, and touched my much loved gentleman friend who passed away following heart surgery.

It's hard to believe it's been this long since I last talked to him in person. In my thoughts I still habitually start to anticipate telling him about something but then realize that he's not here.

I know he's left this life to live another one that is beyond my limited human understanding.

Like the river flowing downstream my life has kept moving to a different place, a different life. I like to think of him as flowing down a different river of life somewhere else now.

I know it's impossible to bring him back, much as I wish I could. Returning to the places and activities we shared does not bring him back, although there are many happy memories.

If life is like a river then I can see I'll need to get out my paddle and start steering my kayack or canoe on a new course. Things will be different now, and life needs to be reconfigured with new goals, new approaches.

The future is unknown, but one thing is certain. My loved one would not wish me to mourn forever, but instead to enjoy life. The beauty of nature, the affection of pets, good times with friends, and many other things can bring happiness again.

Bereavement Series: The Ministry of Presence Shows You Care

Just your very presence nearby is a way to minister to those who are suffering. It says "I'm here and I care. You're not alone." A hug, squeeze of the hand, and soft eye contact communicates caring and can be soothing.

If you know someone who is bereaved, the Ministry of Presence, just being there, is a way to provide comfort and say "I'm here and I care."

During the end stage of a loved one's life, if you don't know what to do or say, you can keep a vigil by someone's side.

A caring touch, a stroke of the hair, a foot massage or a hand massage can reach through the solitude that can come with illness. It says "You're not alone, I'm here and I care deeply."

Soft eye contact also communicates when words cannot work. Often when someone is in the end stage, visitors unconsciously avoid eye contact, as a way of keeping a distance.

People often simply feel awkward and uncomfortable around someone who is severely ill and who may pass away. They may not realize they are avoiding eye contact, avoiding touch, keeping a distance.

When I was in a nursing program the teachers explained that research showed that people unconsciously avoid that which reminds them of suffering, dying and death. Without realizing it, they make excuses for themselves, avoiding situations that are threatening to them.

They may rationalize and try to justify why they can't be there for someone. But one must not take it as a form of rejection. It is simply because people are uncomfortable around suffering, reminders of death, or dying.

My nursing program teachers explained it is very important to give your eye contact, physical presence, caring touch, and a caring words. One may simply say "I'm here" and give a hand squeeze.

When you are the bereaved person, people may also react with this awkwardness. But words are not needed. Just being there says a lot.

After my husband died in 1996 a friend took me for quiet, scenic drives in the car. Going alone would not have been the same. By providing the Ministry of Presence my friend offered me the soothing comfort of someone who cared. A friend who was being there to listen if a listener was wanted made me feel less isolated by the bereavement.

Bereavement Series: Recovery and New Growth

Just as plants send out new shoots and buds, those of us with bereavement will have new growth as we recover. Learning new skills, meeting new people, seeing new places will occur and these do not mean we've left the memory of our loved one behind.

The treasured memories of love and caring, of shared times, are eternal. The metaphor of Winter turning into Spring has been used often but it is true. From the dry twigs of Winter new buds and blossoms will appear again. After grief new life will appear.

Yesterday I noticed small white flowers appearing on a fruit tree my loved one and I planted last Fall. Buds are coming out on some white birches that we planted too. It's mid-March and the grass is coming up green. The feelings of bereavement have gentled to the point I am feeling the beauty of nature as Spring comes.

A few days ago I took a long drive to explore. I went back to my gym to exercise, and visited with acquaintances there. Enough energy was returning that I worked on some new projects on the computer and started up an online class.

New personal growth, new learning and new directions are part of bereavement recovery. The other stages of grief will probably come and go in waves too. But I am starting to invent new paths in life while keeping the memories of someone much loved with me.