CareOnLine has helped me to recover and I get a sense of achievement when I have learnt to do something on the computer.

Monica is 88, lives alone and tries to live life to the full. She is a celebrity in her local area and beyond. She was a dance tutor for many years and has taught hundreds of local children to dance and perform, during her career she was also the proud owner of 4 dance academies. She was very active with volunteering and being patron of a local dance academy.

During 2010, Monica had a very nasty fall and subsequently suffered from period of confusion, was in a lot of pain when moving and was generally quite ill. She was unable to pursue all the interests she had previously been able to and very rarely left the house. CareOnline has helped Monica learn the basics of the computer and showed her how to transfer the many poems she has written to an electronic format. CareOnLine provided her with one-to-one tutoring and the loan of some equipment which gave her the opportunity to learn at her own pace.  With her lust for learning and her improved health, she has now also joined a local IT group to help her master the electronic age.  She is typing all her poems onto her computer and is also ‘scanning’ into the computer her many ‘dancing and performance’ photographs. Monica can view and print them at any time. Monica’s zest for life and continual enthusiasm for learning have helped her to regain her health and wellbeing.

Monica commented: “CareOnLine has helped me to recover and I get a sense of achievement when I have learnt to do something on the computer. I am now quite calm and confident when using the computer”.  With the continual help and support from her family Monica is well on her way to achieving yet another of her many ambitions.

Kathy is blind and lives alone in LFE. She worked as a Telephonist for many years before retiring and now volunteers at a school, helping children with their reading. Although Kathy had typing experience and Braille, she had never used a computer. At Christmas 2009 she was staying with a blind friend who was using e-mail to communicate with family and friends. Kathy had a go and wanted to learn for herself. In January she spoke to her friends Malcolm and Retta (see stories above and below) who recommended she get in touch with CareOnLine.  Within a week, Kathy had been visited and plans put in place to provide a county council recycled computer and support to get Kathy online. CareOnLine worked with Vista (society for people with sight loss) to apply for a grant to buy the ‘Guide’ screenreader software and a scanner to enable Kathy to be more independent and read her own mail instead of relying on visitors; by early March the money was available. CareOnLine installed the computer and set up Broadband, helped Kathy to buy the software and supported her with training.

Kathy very quickly mastered the computer and was sending e-mails to her friends within days. She continues to teach herself new skills and is learning to use the Internet. In an e-mail to CareOnLine in April 2010, less than a month after starting on the computer, Kathy says,

“I am really enjoying being cyber person! It really is a totally new dimension. Friends seem so much nearer now somehow. Thank you for your help in enabling me to have a new lease of life. I am honestly amazed at the difference having a computer has made and is making to my life and wonder how I managed without one for so long. I have read some post on the scanner, which is a modern miracle, without any exaggeration.  with all this technology at my finger tips I asked myself the question, who needs to see!! Although of course, I am glad that people can!! We could not manage without you, although I still maintain that there are still some advantages of not being able to see,,,!  Emails are my favourite mode of communication. Some people might think it is a fools game, introducing technology to blind people and would give up at the start, but really you are enabling us to have a new lease of life and enlarge our potential. “

At last Bali can play with his son.

Bali was injured in a car crash and has a severe spinal injury. His lower limbs are paralysed and he has limited use of his upper body. His wife is his main carer and they have a young son.

Bali cannot use a keyboard or mouse so thought he would never use a computer. He spent his days watching Television. In 2002, CareOnLine installed a computer with on-screen keyboard and head-mounted pointing device.

After receiving training from CareOnLine Bali is able to use the computer on his own. He now teaches his wife to use it and plays games with his son. He enjoys e-mail and many activities such as home shopping.

Bob achieves ambition to write a book.

Bob is 69 and had a stroke which left him using a wheelchair and paralysed down one side. He spends most of his time in his bedroom and needs four daily care visits.

Bob led an active life as a prison officer for 31 years and had often been encouraged to record his stories of "life behind bars" but writing them out long-hand would be too difficult.

His Therapist suggested that he needed some mental stimulation and contacted Leicestershire CareOnLine who visited Bob and installed a computer, special mouse and keyboard.

With the CareOnLine Training Officer he has realised his dream of writing a book about his rich and varied life and has dedicated it to CareOnLine and his Trainer saying "without her assistance and encouragement I would probably never have started."

Doris is 94 and lives in Sheltered Accommodation. She has some friends there but her family are all abroad – one son lives in Australia and the other in Africa – so she may not see them for years at a time. When CareOnLine installed a computer in the lounge of her home she was interested but unsure what benefit it would bring. The manager said that Doris was having trouble with her hearing and telephone calls were getting increasingly difficult. E-mail was suggested as a solution and training was provided.When Doris fell and broke her hip the following year the Housing Manager was able to give her sons regular e-mail updates (which she could not have done on the telephone).

Four years later Doris is a regular user of the computer and sees pictures of grandchildren she has never met. She still needs the assurance that the Housing Manager is there to help out if needed but her family feel much nearer than before and she now also has a new hobby to stimulate her.

Doris died in December 2008.  She was the star of our poster campaign and will be remembered by her lovely smile.