Maria Misniansko, 96, and 91-year-old Michalina Jgnaszak at Holy Family Aged Care, Wetherill Park.. Picture: Kristi Miller Source: The Daily Telegraph
MEET the new generation of world traveller.
Armed with a computer and an internet camera, residents of the Holy Family Services aged care home at Marayong are visiting their childhood neighbourhoods and chatting with family and friends across the globe.
Learning how to Skype, finding videos on YouTube and mastering Google Earth has given the residents - average age 85 - a new lease on life.
"It just transforms people's lives," said Kevin Rocks, chief executive of Holy Family Services. "It makes them feel alive again. "One resident had a long-lost daughter in Siberia . . . they connected again via Skype. Once she recognised her daughter, it was a pretty emotional, special time."
Googling childhood homes, sing-a-longs with cabaret and opera singers on YouTube, joke videos and catching up on old TV series are also popular.
Skype is also in demand for those with family and friends overseas and interstate. Even those with family in Sydney find it handy to keep up regular contact.
Dr Darryl Dymock, a senior researcher at Griffith University and author of e-book Extending Your Use-By Date said keeping social networks and staying engaged mentally was important for longevity and wellbeing.
"Even in an aged care home you are capable of engaging with the world in lots of ways," he said.
"Older people take longer to learn new things but their learning ability doesn't decline so with support and confidence with things like technology they can then go off and do it themselves."
Janina Faufas, 84, used Google Earth to reminisce about her childhood in Poland, looking at changes to the village she grew up in and last visited physically in 1987.
"I cried when I saw it again on the computer," she said.
Mrs Faufas has enjoyed showing staff the church where she met her husband and recalling how her wedding dress was made of parachute silk.
Friend Urszula Samulksi, 83, is a fan of solitaire and other games. "It is terrific for the mind," she said.
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