Todd County pushes computer proficiency for seniors

One of the projects of the Todd County Healthy Community Partnership is to assist senior citizens become proficient in using computers. Verna Toenyan, who has been actively involved in the project, says that given the trend for people to continue to work beyond normal retirement age, seniors will need to stay current with changes in computer use. Those who have never used computers will need to learn.

The county's computer committee opted to use county computers and install them, along with high-speed Internet access, in the Eagle Bend Senior Center. The county computers operate with Windows 2003 and will need to be updated to Windows 2007 to be compatible with the computer education program to be used. Once installed and updated, the computers will be accessible for anyone to use. Mid-February is the target for starting the classes to be taught by Charlie Crews.

After the classes are complete, three of the computers will be moved to another senior center within the county. One will stay in the Eagle Bend center. "We're going to teach one community at a time," says Verna. She also hopes a computer club will start in each senior center to allow for peer support.

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