the REACHER e-Newsletter

Assistive Technology Resource Centers of Hawaii

In This Issue

Employment Opportunities at ATRC

Eric Dishman's The Promise of Aging: Building an Age Friendly Future

Latest and Greatest in Technology

ATRC's Upcoming Outreach Events

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT ATRC

ATRC continues to provide top quality programs and services across our state. We are seeking employees committed to working with persons with disabilities. We
have employment opportunities for the following full-time positions:

VOCATIONAL SPECIALIST (VS)
The VS will work collaboratively with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors to provide job placement and retention services to individuals with significant disabilities (SD) and most significant disabilities (MSD). Individualized services are to be provided to enable the individual with SD/MSD to achieve meaningful employment consistent with his/her strengths, resources, concerns, abilities, interests, and informal choice.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY TRAINER (AT Trainer)
The AT Trainer will work with the AT Manager to demonstrate a wide range of AT software and devices and trains individuals with varied abilities in the use of AT to meet personal, social, academic, and/or vocational needs.

Visit our website: www.atrc.org for detailed descriptions of the positions and other employment opportunities. Contact Barbara Fischlowitz-Leong via barbara@atrc.org to express your interest and/or to ask questions.

Eric Dishman's The Promise of Aging: Building an Age Friendly Future

ATRC is proud of recently hosting the series of public presentations by Mr. Eric Dishman of Intel Corporation. We were excited and motivated as he addressed our health care, gerontology and business community about the role of technology and the aging population; impact and opportunities for our economy; and the development of an age-friendly city infrastructure. We look forward to these community dialogues continuing and honor the momentum that he helped stimulate as the State moves forward in creating a better society for people of all ages.

Image 1: Eric Dishman talking with the business community as the audience at the Plaza Club "end of image"

ATRC acknowledges the event steering committee organized by Cullen Hayashida of Kapiolani Community College's Kupuna Education Center. We are also appreciative of the generous sponsorship and support from many organizations and agencies:

Hawaii Pacific Gerontological Society
Executive Office on Aging
Senior Living with Aloha
Limited Liability Cooperation
Ho`okele
Hawaiian Electric Industries
Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition
University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawaii Shidler College of Business
University of Hawaii Center on Aging
Phillips Lifeline
`Ohana Health Plan
Pacific Health Research and Education Institute

Special thanks to Healthcare Professional Teleconference Training Series, Hawaii Public Health Training Hui, University of Hawaii Office of Public Health Studies, and Iolani School.

Image 2: A photo of Eric Dishman with the governor (Neil Abercrombie), ATRC Executive Director (Barbara Fischlowitz-Leong), and a member of the event steering committee (Cullen Hayashida) "end of image"

LATEST AND GREATEST TECHNOLOGY

1) Reminder Rosie is a talking clock, originally intended for visually impaired individuals. It has been found to be useful for a wider variety of needs.

Image 3: A clock of Reminder Rosie "end of image"

Voice commands - Just walk into the room and say "reminder assistant" in a loud distinct voice and it will respond with "Can I help you?". To hear a list of commands, once the clock has finished talking, you can say "Help" within 3 seconds.
The clock can record voice reminders, such as "take your medication" or "Take the roast out of the oven" and it prompts you for the time and whether it is a one-time only reminder, or repeating.
Try it out to see if it responds to your voice. The website is: http://reminder-rosie.com

2) Z-Band is a vibrating alarm that you wear on your wrist. It is originally intended for deaf individuals. It has been used for other needs, as well. It came all the way from Ireland.

Allows you to wake up without using a super loud alarm, bed shaker, or strobe, so has not to disturb a significant other.
It is programmed via bluetooth from an Android or PC (iOS coming soon).
Can provide discreet reminders without needing a fancy device.
Located in the Hearing cabinet drawer - it's every simple to use. The website is: http://zband.biz

3) Livescribe 3 puts smartpen technology directly into Apple iPhones and iPads.

Uses bluetooth technology to instantly transfer writing to the iOS device
Has built in intelligence to use OCR and recognize phone numbers, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, and appointments with options to convert hand written text to accessible typefont text.

ATRC's Upcoming Outreach Events
Look for ATRC's booth and staff at the following events May 6, 2014 Manoa Gardens Senior Group May 14, 2014 Kaimuki-Kilauea Kahala Senior Group May 19 & 20, 2014 Pac Rim Conference, International Conference Center.