#SSSC 23 Things Digital - Badge 3 - Why Digital?

The year 2020 has made me personally realise how lucky I am to live in the Digital Age, if Covid-19 had happened even 40 years ago when personal computing was in its infancy we would be in a much more isolated, solitary, bereft society and I believe mental health and well-being issues would be much greater.

In my personal life I use WhatsApp, FaceTime, Twitter and email every single day and my knowledge of using these has helped my role in my workplace immensely and has been invaluable in keeping my residents families in touch with their loved ones in this time of self isolation and social distancing.

As we cannot have indoor visiting at present due to Scottish Government guidelines and sadly we have a case of Covid-19 in the home virtual meetings, chats, mobile telephone calls have all been a life saver.  It is truly lovely to see a relative gasp and smile when they see their mum or dad looking well and engaging with them, even though they cannot touch or be close to them it gives them the peace of mind that they are hanging in there and doing relatively well in the big scheme of things.

I feel that I have a high capability (4) on the self assessment table of utilising everything that is digital, luckily in my previous line of work I was a Secretary to 5 Consulting Engineers and have been in the computing world since high school when computers were just being rolled out and used floppy discs - I wonder how many people remember them?  

I have confidence too (4) in being able not only to use computers, laptops, iPads, etc., but also to show and share my knowledge with many people that I work with - although some do not want to embrace the digital age.  Some just have no interest in emailing, surfing the web or continuing professional learning and others are just too scared to try for the fear of making a mistake or not understanding it.

I always offer to assist and encourage anyone that I work with to look and see what is out there and to explain how to type a Reflective Account or to search and learn from the SSSC Learning Zone as knowledge is power.  

I know the relevance of  being digital is absolutely vital now more than ever and I think in my job it rates a 5 on the self assessment graph - I am confident and capable in using many forms of digital platforms - Microsoft Teams, Zoom, NHS Webinars, Near Me medical consultations (Medicine for the Elderly & Psychiatry of Old Age), FaceTime, Twitter, WhatsApp and good old email.  

Families have expressed how happy they are that we can accommodate them in this new digital age to keep in touch with their family member, even when one of my residents has dementia and cannot completely grasp how they can see a picture of their son/daughter it really puts the relatives mind at peace seeing them and knowing that they are well.