Butler County Area Agency on Aging seeking grant to adapt seniors to broadband
BUTLER TWP — Several agencies in Butler County plan to apply for a Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority grant — which can net up to $2 million per project — including the Butler County Area Agency on Aging, which would use the money to expand access to seniors.
Beth Herold, administrator for the agency, said Tuesday, April 16, broadband access is increasingly vital to older adults, who may order prescriptions or groceries online, or learn about other resources through online means. The U.S. Department of Treasury awarded $279 million to the Pennsylvania Capital Projects Fund to disseminate funds to organizations improving access to broadband.
Herold said the agency needed members of the agency’s advisory board to write letters to the department on the agency’s behalf, to have a better chance at obtaining the “very competitive, big grant.” She also said internet improvements could help alert more seniors in Butler County to the offerings of its area agency on aging.
“We are not just there playing bingo sitting there looking at each other — we do programming, we have iPads, we do trips,” Herold said. “Due to the food desert in the county, it would be technology that could be used to put online grocery orders in that could be delivered to senior centers for pickup.
“It has very many prongs on it.”
Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche said the grant application deadline lined up well with the expected construction of the agency’s new senior center on Duffy Road, with the county anticipating putting the building project out to bid this fall.
While the county is working to strengthen internet connectivity throughout the region, Osche said the expansion is useless if people don’t take advantage of broadband access.
The county’s senior population is good to target, she said, because elderly residents could benefit from the use of smart technology, and the new senior center would be a good place to teach them about it.
“One of the things we learned for aging and veterans is a lot of long-term care facilities have adopted smart technology to be able to call for help from their space,” Osche said. “(The grant) is intended to promote the use of community space for health care, employment and education. Essentially providing space for people along with the assistance of navigators to access avenues to health care, employment and education using broadband.”
“The grant can pay for some of the renovation costs,” Osche said. “We want to be able to have a room set up there where they can practice using smart technology so if they need that assistance in their homes or if they have to go to a facility, that they know how to use it.”
The Butler Art Center & Gallery, Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company, Butler Memorial Hospital and the Butler Area Public Library are also applying for the grant, Osche said. The deadline to apply for the grant is Friday, Herold said, but according to Osche, agencies probably won’t know if their projects are approved until at least this fall.
Herold also reminded the attendees of the advisory committee meeting Tuesday that the agency has scheduled weekly Walk and Talk events, with the first taking place at 8 a.m. May 7 at Alameda Park.
Staff members of the area agency on aging will be at different locations each week, alongside representatives of an agency that serves older adults, to speak with seniors with questions and concerns, or just people who want to get some exercise. Agency on aging staff members will be the speakers at the first Walk and Talk on May 7, but guests at other sessions include the Veterans Affairs, Transitions Healthcare, LIFE Butler County and more.
“We’re trying to get different presenters at each walk, we’ll walk the loop a few times and then the presenter can talk to people individually,” Herold said.
