During the month of May residents of Briarwood Continuing Care Retirement Community will embark on a new pilot program to simplify video calling for older adults and bring residents and families closer to one another through the use of this technology. This pilot program will access the unique needs of older adults. The program will start with an “Introduction to Video Calling” presentation on Thursday, May 6 for all Briarwood residents, families and friends. The hands-on portion will continue Wednesdays May 12, 19, 26.
Using the computers in Briarwood’s existing computer room and computers in Briarwood residents’ apartments and cottages, they will use Skype to communicate via video calls with their children, grandchildren and far away friends. Skype is a software application that allows users to make video conference calls over the Internet.
The video calling program will be offered to independent, assisted living and Knoll wood Nursing Center residents. Participating residents will be assigned Skype account names, and a letter will be sent to their family and friends inviting them to participate.
Briarwood has teamed-up Serge Kogan and Tim Miller, Cornell graduates with over 25-years of technology experience. They will be training Briarwood residents and assisting their families in setting up their computers to use Skype.
Backgrounders on Serge Kogan and Tim Miller
Serge Kogan is pioneering the use of visual communications as a catalyst in bringing the aging, boomer and younger populations closer to one another. Serge is an experienced market development executive with over 25 years high-value solution sales to global companies in the electronics, telecommunications, semiconductors and financial services industries, as well as to government institutions in the US and Latin America. He regularly participates in conferences and affinity groups looking to create new business opportunities in telehealth, aging-in-place and living-independently markets. Serge held sales management, marketing and product development roles at iSuppli, Interleaf, Digital Equipment and Eastman Kodak. He is a graduate with Bachelor and Master Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and received his MBA from the University of Rochester.
Tim Miller has 25 years of entrepreneurial and general management experience focused on building businesses based on innovative technology. Most recently, he was CEO of Dolphin Interconnect Solutions, a Norwegian public company providing high performance computer solutions to industrial and enterprise system OEMs. He was formally the CEO and founder of StarGen, Inc. a venture capital backed semiconductor company which designed and marketed products for creating high speed computer clusters. Prior to starting StarGen, Tim was at Digital Equipment Corporation where he held management roles in various product groups including workstations and semiconductors. Tim received a BS in Engineering from Cornell. He also received an MBA from Wharton, and a MSE in computer science from University of Pennsylvania.
Briarwood is a non-profit community that includes Independent Living cottages & apartments, Assisted Living apartments, and the Knollwood Nursing Center for skilled nursing & rehabilitation services.