Arc seeks state funding to purchase technology to help its clients stay in touch | News Sun


Arc seeks state funding to purchase technology to help its clients stay in touch | News Sun

LAGRANGE — The Arc of LaGrange County is waiting to hear if the state will approve a grant that will help them provide a bit of modern technology to their clients, to help them better stay in contact with loved ones.

The organization held a public hearing Friday morning in the Commissioners Chambers of the LaGrange County Office Building as it works with Region 3-A to secure more than $100,000 in funding from the state’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs to purchase iPads equipped with keyboards and money to fund internet access as it works to help clients stay in touch with family and friends.

Deb Seman, the CEO of The Arc, said only about 10% of LaGrange County’s developmental disabled population has broadband access to the internet, and the coronavirus pandemic cut many of those people off from any reliable means of contact with their family or friends.

Part of the problem is without a grant, organizations like Arc have no real ability to help provide its clients with technology like iPads to help them stay in contact.

“For a majority of us, we were able to stay connected with family, friends, co-workers, and medical providers through our time of isolation,” she said. “However, that wasn’t the same for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Many of Arc’s clients were locked in group homes for their safety during the pandemic, and that meant an end to personal visits with family. Without devices like laptops and iPads that would have allowed them to digitally visit with their loved ones, those home residents had to rely solely on telephone landlines to be able to speak with family and friends.

Seman said that kind of isolation can lead to increased feelings of abandonment and depression among many people within the local intellectual and developmental disability community.

“They have severely missed that human connection to others,” she added. “They have a propensity for routines and when those get interrupted, it tends to throw their whole world off kilter.”

Arc is seeking $167, 743 in grant funding to purchase technologies and provide Internet access to people within the community to help them stay in touch. In addition, the organization hopes to create a sort of lending library of those devices, consisting of 50 iPads that can be used to provide access to electronic books, digitally attend church and other community events, and visit with friends and family.

“Also, with these devices, residents will also be able to work with local mental health facilities, to ensure that they are given the support needed to help navigate dealing with COVID-19,” said Sandra Tamez, a grant administrator with Region-3A, who is working with Arc to help them secure the state OCRA grant.

She added that the devices would help give those Arc clients the tools needed to help them enrich the quality of their lives.

The LaGrange County Commissioners signed an agreement with Region 3-A Friday morning in a special session saying the county is willing to work with OCRA and Region 3-A to help secure the funding for Arc.

The cost of the new iPads is estimated at $27,999.50. The keyboards add an additional expense of $6,499.50. The hard cases to protect the devices would add another $3,244.50. The cost of a wireless plan for each device is estimated to cost an additional $40 a month.

Seman said organizations like hers, a not for profit, typically don’t have a line item in the budget that allows them to purchase this kind of technology, or purchase this volume of technology, for clients to use.


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