One of the most difficult parts of this pandemic is not being able to meet face-to-face with people due to the COVID restrictions. Face-to-face meetings and discussions are important to all of us. In a face-to-face discussion, we communicate through feelings, body language and other non-verbal cues, which help us understand other people and lead to building trust. You just can’t communicate like this over the phone!
For me, face-to-face communication is almost essential to assure that people I talk to understand and have full information, because important decisions may be made from information I provide. Especially distressing to me is the lack of ability to talk face-to-face to my clients in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. I can’t assure myself that these people, who may be facing critical medical conditions, fully understand important information that I am communicating to them.
We do have face-to-face meetings on our offices. We take full COVID precautions (our COVID protocols are posted on our website), keep the meetings to only two or three participants, and take affirmative steps to reduce the possibility of COVID exposure to our clients and our staff. Nonetheless, because our clients are older and may have medical issues that increase their risk to COVID exposure. Many of them are extremely hesitant to come to us for face-to-face meetings.
In the legal community, the courts have been virtually closed to in-person hearings and proceedings. Most courts are holding “virtual” hearings using the program ZOOM. As the pandemic goes on, In and my staff are becoming proficient at holding and attending ZOOM meetings.
ZOOM is an application that runs on computers, laptops, iPads (tablets), and smart phones. You can have many people participate in a ZOOM meeting (My 50th wedding anniversary celebration was a ZOOM meeting with 43 people participating!) If your device has a camera and a microphone, you can easily be seen and heard. If you don’t want to be seen or heard for all or part of the meeting, you can turn off the camera and mute your microphone. Most newer laptops, tablets, and smart phones have built-in cameras and microphones. Personally, I prefer to use my computer because the larger screen is easier for me to use. If you have an older computer without a camera or microphone, you can buy a webcam with microphone that plugs into a USB port on your computer and installs itself. I just checked, and Amazon has several that can be purchased for less than $20.
For many of the seniors I work with, ZOOM can be intimidating. But if you can use e-mail, you can ZOOM. To have a ZOOM meeting with us, our office arranges a date and time with you. Before the meeting, we send you an invitation via e-mail. You can join our meeting by clicking on a link in the e-mail. That’s all! If people are still wary of ZOOM, my staff can arrange a “practice” ZOOM meeting, and guide you through the process via phone, if necessary.
There is a plethora of resources on the internet on how to use ZOOM. Here are a few that may be helpful:
- If you are just beginning and are joining a ZOOM meeting for the first time, here is a short YouTube video just for you. Click on the link (and skip the ads) to view the video: Joining a ZOOM Call for the First Time
- AARP has an excellent article, geared to seniors, that introduces ZOOM. It includes a video that comprehensively goes through ZOOM’s capabilities and takes you through using ZOOM to participate in meetings. The video is about 50 minutes long, so set aside enough time and get comfortable so you can take it in. The video appears at the top of the article; simply click on the video to watch it. Here is the link: How to Use ZOOM to Stay Connected During the Coronavirus
- If you want to host your own ZOOM calls, maybe to ZOOM with grandchildren or friends, there are resources that can help you with that, too. I’m not yet to that stage (I have a husband and very capable staff members that handle that for me!), but I have seen You Tube videos than can help you set up your own ZOOM calls. Here’s one that looks good to me: How to Host a ZOOM Call for the First Time
At the Nawrocki Center, we encourage you to meet with us (almost) face-to-face via a ZOOM meeting. With a ZOOM meeting, we can include all the involved parties, even if they are outside the Detroit area. We can schedule the meeting at a time when it is convenient for you, or when all the involved parties are able to participate. And our staff will help guide you in how to participate. So don’t be wary or afraid of ZOOM – we’re here to help make it work for you!