Not even the vibrancy of the city that never sleeps could get lifelong New Yorker Milton Greidinger to leave his home. Chronic illness kept Greidinger, 86, from participating in outside activities. Loneliness set in. “I was just waiting for my time to finish,” Greidinger says.
Now Greidinger, a former department store salesman, has revived some social interests with the help of a private-public partnership between Microsoft and the City of New York that introduces seniors to computer, video, and Internet technology in their homes. The program, known as the Virtual Senior Center, uses technology to fight social isolation and give older, homebound New Yorkers better access to community services.
Working with the Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center in Flushing, Queens, Microsoft equipped a group of seniors, aged 67 to 103, with a range of technology gadgets and assistive technology to help them function.
For New York, as with cities facing budget shortfalls across the country, a private-public partnership may be a cost-effective way to deliver higher-quality services to a rapidly aging population. “We want to make New York City the most age-friendly city in the nation,” says Marah Rhoades, Assistant Commissioner of New York’s Department for the Aging.
Microsoft’s Model for Urban Seniors
New York City is home to 1.3 million seniors. About 20,000 need a range of services, from home-delivered meals to medicine dispensing. The city’s 60-and-over population is set to jump 50 percent in the next 25 years, according to the Department for the Aging. In fact, the expected rise in the number of people 65 and older will outpace the total population increase in every state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Redmond [Wash.)-based Microsoft can use such partnerships to bring its software and services to a wider range of customers. “Even in a large city like New York, people can…