Dear Gillian & Allison,

I wish to thank you both & all your staff for the wonderful information you share with our communities around the world.

I wish to share my computer story with you both.

I am an 85 years young woman living in a Rest Home Apartment in Timaru, NZ for the past 6 years.

I have had a very interesting & varied life. One of my careers was Diversional therapy with dementia residents in hospitals & Rest Homes.

Having retired, and at age 79 years, I decided to learn the computer technology, believing this to be a way of keeping in touch with family & friends. This has been a great sharing experience for me. Especially since moving into Rest Home

Care I have found the joys & sharing these abilities so rewarding. I have over two thousand photos of people & places on my computer.

These I can display up onto  a very large wall TV screen for local friends & visitors to view.

Then along came Covid-19 with all its lockdowns!!

I am now working on creating a World Trip for my friends & residents where they can visit my apt for a world trip of their choice of subject & destination when Covid -19 is under control.!!

So now regardless of Covid-19 I am still able to share with friends & family around the world on my computer views of my visits with them during the past seventy plus years. Their replies & memories are amazing.

So I really feel the use of Computers in Rest Homes, Villages, etc is going to be a very important part of progress from now on. Providing the teacher has the ability to share their knowledge in a very caring understanding way.

I am so pleased I brought the Computer into my life when I did. A positive side for me has been the extra enhancement of my learning & sharing skills.

So thank you all again for your continuing sharing and caring in our progress & learning on these paths.

I am enclosing some photos from one of my Anzac displays. As another one of my careers was design & display work in shops & Homes.

Since I moved into this Rest Home I have created some displays of interest for the residents. So for Anzac Day I asked our residents if they would like to bring their memories & articles to put in my display. It was amazing the memories, photos & objects they arrived with. They were so happy to be sharing their memories & felt so much a part of my display even as some sat & watched from their wheelchairs. It certainly was a memory time for us all.

I am a member of “ My Heritage Research” & I have a vast collection of my father`s & his six brothers’ war records from WW1 And WW11.

I created display panels for the residents with their information & photos when I returned their items to them.

So now with all our lockdowns my display activity is on hold. My Diversional Therapy ideas have now led me to attaching to my apartment door a collection of uplifting thoughts & pictures. These items are now being enjoyed by residents on their corridor walks & also the staff.

And once again my computer assists me with the preparation & ability to share with you & those near & those afar.

I feel it is so important that residents are given the opportunity to share their past history & capabilities with other residents in Rest Homes. Not only the staff & therapists.

My Thanks to you all,

Leah McGaughey

What wonderful skills are being shared with Leah’s community! Please tell us who you have spent your ‘spare’ time during these Lockdown Days.