Help Mom & Dad Stay Connected

Interview with Ben Unkle - CEO Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay

Gary Barg: What makes the Birdsong Tablet viable for our love ones living with mild cognitive impairment? 

Ben Unkle: Think of the Birdsong Tablet as a much simpler to operate iPad that boots up with the opening screen right in front of you. You've got six big buttons on an either ten- or fifteen-inch touch pad screen and it boots up ready to go. There are six broad categories, and as you click on one of those categories, you're presented with further big button choices with a pictured navigation system. The key to me, is a persistent, never goes away, red home button. So your loved ones can develop confidence and security in knowing they will never get lost and never get stuck. If they push the red home button, just like Dorothy had the power to click her ruby red slippers three times to always go home, the whole machine just closes down the applications it's in and goes right to the start screen. It will then re-log you in automatically and boot up. 

The Birdsong Tablet is confidence building, non-frustrating, far simpler to drive than your typical tablet or iPad, with tried and true content at your fingertips that's pre-organized and tested that doesn't treat them like a baby. We always organize the easiest content in the upper left and the harder in the lower right, the way we read, left to right, and down rows. But it's not a tablet that is insulting or cartoonish, it's has large icons, is visually appealing, and has that safety net of the red home button. Not to mention that it has tons of content. 

Gary Barg: What kind of content will our love one find on Birdsong Tablets?

Ben Unkle: There are humorous videos and exercising videos, including chair exercises and things that can be done at all levels together with your caregiver. There are sections on hobbies, cooking, and other things of interest. We have lifelong learning lectures that are proprietary to us, produced in partnership with Virginia Wesleyan University with a constant growing library of full professor taught college courses. We even have a Ted-talk icon. 

There is ad-free music organized by decade and by genre. There are sing-a-longs, music memories and a full range of modern and older music.  Then the next big category is games. There are games organized by level of difficulty as well as brain games and memory games. We have card games including solitaire, and even word puzzles.  

The next big area has spiritual content if you want to explore your religion or listen to sermons in your particular faith. There is an extensive travel section if you want to reminisce about past trips that you've taken, and each country in the travel section has a food section and news from that country. There is a communication section with Google photos, and its own photo section with a family portal where caregivers can upload old pictures that they will remember or current pictures to see what grandchildren are doing. We had someone take their iPhone to a wedding and broadcast it back to a person who was unable to attend so they felt like they were there. There are also all kinds of opportunities for virtual visits and playing games.  There are even bookmarked internet sites that people can visit if they want to do their email or other things. 

Gary Barg: How does the Birdsong tablet help caregivers?

Ben Unkle: I know that there are caregivers out there who are overstressed and overtaxed, who need a break. When you find by joint exploration on those tablets and something that really rings the bell with your loved one, it allows you to get a break.

Gary Barg: So, it helps respite?

Ben Unkle: It does, it's a respite tool. There are plenty of people who have told  me “Until I got the Birdsong Tablet, I had run out of things to talk about and do with mom, to just have fun, to have an enjoyable visit.”  One lady said, strange as it sounds, “we love the stupid cat video section because mom loved cats, she can't have cats anymore, we would watch those together and she was happy.” The Video Chat lets distant relatives who are having trouble making as many visits as they would like to have to interact with your loved one which also allows for caregiver respite. 

Gary Barg: So, the Birdsong Tablet is also developed to help seniors stay connected to their family members and their loved ones. 

Ben Unkle: Amen, that's a big part of it. You want an easy video chat function so they can stay in touch with everybody, and everybody can share their family news which help stay connected. Study after study proves that loneliness and social isolation is the number one threat to their health and well-being and for aging in a healthy way, with a good mood and just being healthy overall. 

Gary Barg: How are you getting the Birdsong tablets into the hands of people who need it?

Ben Unkle: Consumers can buy it directly at the website birdsonglife.com. It operates on your own Wi-Fi and we also make it Bluetooth accessible for Bluetooth devices, blood pressure machines and things like that. My vision for the future is that it becomes a flat screen hub easy enough for both your loved one to operate. There are also opportunities for virtual doctor's visit.

Gary Barg: What I love about this is that it helps our loved ones, as well as the family caregivers.

Ben Unkle: That's right, we did a double study, with randomly assigned groups with and without the tablet in the nursing home section of our community. We found a 20% self-reported decrease in caregiver stress for the aides who were working on the floors that had the tablets versus the other aides. So 20% help in caregiver stress is a beautiful thing that we'd like to make available. We're a non-profit and this part of our faith-based ministry, Westminster-Canterbury of Chesapeake Bay. This part of our ministry has been funded by donations, so as we sell more tablets, we want to be able to keep lowering the price and finding more and better ways to enhance the simplicity of the tablet.

Gary Barg: Ben, what is the one most important piece of advice you'd like to share with family caregivers?

Ben Unkle: Take care of yourself. I have seen so many burnout, and it's not good for your health, you're going to give care that is less than the quality care you would give if you were rested. Stay on the rested edge, not the ragged edge of life as much as you can as a caregiver. Share the burden and the joy with other people, lean on other people, hire respite care if you need it, but you've got to take care of your own health first. I've watched too many people crash and burn who were saints and martyrs and tried to do the whole thing themselves.