uWink WOWs Arbor Court Residents with E-COURT
uWink has finished the installation of 100+ uWink terminals at Arbor Court – dubbed E-COURT – and the results are amazing!
Here’s what the Antelope Valley Press (the local paper in Lancaster that doesn’t post articles on its website) said about it:
Enjoy!:
Arbor Court seniors love their computer games
It was a day everyone had been waiting for.
And when they kicked off the technology center at the Arbor Court senior complex on Thursday, it didn’t disappoint.
“I love it,” said Alma Ruiz, sitting in the far back row with a huge smile as she tapped her computer screen. “I like to play games and to challenge myself and see what I can remember. This will be one of my hangouts. Whatever they have here, I’ll be here.”
What they had Thursday was senior trivia, word scramble, a picture game and bingo.
Within what was once the Essex House Hotel, down the hall where meeting rooms used to be, the technology center is a wide open, airy space with row upon row of computers, 90 in all, and big screens on the wall alternating beautiful color nature photographs.
Officially known as E-Court (Experimental Center for Organized Recreation and Therapy), the center features touch-screen terminals running digital technology developed by a company called uWink.
Arbor Court developer Scott Ehrlich, a man with huge vision and an even bigger reserve of energy, said this is the first senior housing complex in the country to come complete with a technology center like this, with computers loaded with some 80 games for seniors (not to mention PCs in each apartment). But these are not your basic computer games; they’re all based on scientific research.
“They have proven that the brain can grow like any other muscle,” Ehrlich told the seniors as they took their seats and waited to see what would happen. “There are certain computer games that can improve cognitive function, help the brain muscle grow. So if you’ve had a stroke or you’re just getting forgetful, these can help you.”
Indeed, there are fitness centers for the brain beginning to open up around the country as aging baby boomers, worried that their gym-toned bodies might outlast their minds, do all they can to train their brains for the long haul.
And if the entertainment and the brain benefits weren’t enough, there’s another motive for seniors to take their seats at the computer prizes. Residents walked out of there with nifty prizes And if the entertainment and the brain benefits weren’t enough, there’s another motive for seniors to take their seats at the computer prizes. Residents walked out of there with nifty prizes such as a steam iron, throw blanket, electric can opener, 9-inch wall clock and other handy gadgets for their apartments.
Not only do the games benefit cognitive function, the multi-player technology everyone’s competing with everyone else with scores visible on the big screens makes for a social event as well. The biggest complaint about kids playing computer games is the way they become isolated, not interacting with others. There’s none of that at Arbor Court.
I watched as they played trivia. The question comes up: Presidents George Washington and Jimmy Carter shared what occupation? And the quicker players select the correct answer, the more points they score. Wrong choices disappear from the screen, one by one. The answer to that question, by the way: farmer.
Next was scramble: letters such as L-A-L-F come on the screen and the quicker the player can type in F-A-L-L, the more points they earn. As it happened, Alma Ruiz, behind whom I was standing at the back of the room, won the scramble, and it came up instantly on the screen. She was most pleased.
Next was the picture game. A picture appears on the screen for a few seconds, then goes away, and you have to answer questions about what you saw. Example: What color was the curb behind the bicycle? The next game was bingo, with two “cards” on each player’s screen.
Ehrlich’s right; you can just feel your brain working as you look at the screen and try to think, especially with the word scramble and picture game. You can hear the wheels turning, as the saying goes.
Outside, construction continues around the complex, which also features a sewing room, art room, fitness center and beauty salon, among other amenities, remarkable for the affordable-housing rents that residents pay.
As the population ages, Ehrlich and his partners hope they’re starting something here in Lancaster that will spread across the country. “Maybe we can be a model,” he told me.
His words were on my mind when one of the players called out in triumph: “Bingo!”
William P. Warford’s column appears every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
P.O. Box 4050,
Contact him:
(661) 267-4166
William.Warford@avpress.com
Palmdale, CA, 93590-4050