The Sunshine State has the second-largest older adult population by both size and proportion. So naturally, Miami is a logical fit for a state-of-the-art technology training hub aimed at elderly residents.
The newly opened Senior Planet Center, part of an initiative by AARP’s Older Adults Technology Services, or OATS, is designed to help provide training and tech services to older adults. Observers say it also is indicative of how many cities and senior living and care communities are trying to create innovative hubs to cater to more tech-savvy populations.
Many senior living and care operators now are offering tech training, either in person or online, as part of the resident experience.
Older adults, as a demographic cohort, continue to show greater use of, and even reliance on, smartphones and apps designed to help them with their daily lives or communicate with loved ones.
Some communities, such as the CC Young Senior Living continuing care retirement community in Dallas, even are trying to market themselves around their tech services, including a full-blown TV studio for residents to use.
OATS also recently launched an initiative to provide tech training courses to older adults who live in more rural areas of the American South, to help them use telehealth services.
The Miami hub will provide free Wi-Fi and will have dozens of screens and computers for residents to use; multilingual classes will begin at the center in January, OATS executives announced last week.
“We are thrilled to be launching a center in Wynwood, [Miami], where technology, innovation and diversity are celebrated,” OATS Executive Director Tom Kamber said in a statement. “The center will serve older adults from across the region, free-of-charge, regardless of income or demographic, and we will also be working closely with partner organizations to support local programming across the county and beyond.”
