For a senior center in Flushing, innovation is measured by iPads and in megabytes.
The City Council allocated $150,000 to senior centers like the Benjamin Rosenthal Prince Street Innovative Senior Center so that it could continue to develop technological programs that, among other things, allow older people to connect with their families using Skype. The senior center is run by Selfhelp and was designated by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg as an “innovation center” along with seven other places in 2012.
“This Council has been determined to enhance senior services and Selfhelp is a great example,” City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said on Friday during a tour of the center.
Skype is used as the engine of the virtual senior center, which provides seniors with extra-large computer screens, so even those with failing eyesight can participate remotely in live events.
Such events include virtual tours of the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art.
Councilmen Paul Vallone and Peter Koo joined Mark-Viverito on the tour, and both emphasized the importance of caring for the elderly and stimulating their minds with devices like the Nintendo Wii game console that the center has.
Vallone said that with the new allocation they would be able to make more centers “innovative.”
“My senior centers in northeast Queens are going to start experiencing this wonderful technology as we start phasing it in,” he said. “This is the beginning of something wonderful.”
RECOMMENDED STORIES
- Build it Back numbers improve in Howard Beach
- First 500 feet of new Hamilton Beach ‘boardwalk’ constructed
- Sandy rebuilding summit sees huge turnout
