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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
A Web-based lifeline
for seniors gets local
tech enhancementSENIORS now have a more efficient way to get hooked up online -- with programs and services and cheaper medications -- and a Hawaii-based company is part of it.
AssistGuide Inc. and the National Council on the Aging have entered into a partnership that seeks to link a larger number of older and disabled people with services, and will save time and money for all involved.
"It is a Web-enabled system anyone can use," said Kevin Sypniewski, president and chief executive of AssistGuide.
The NCOA is a national network of 3,800 member organizations providing a range of services for senior citizens including senior centers, adult day-care centers and housing facilities.
"We are the oldest of the aging organizations. We were founded 54 years ago. We're way older than AARP, however that counts," smiled Scott Parkin, NCOA vice president for communications.
AssistGuide provided NCOA with technology that enhances its www.BenefitsCheckUp.org site, which helps people determine their eligibility for programs and services, and savings on pharmaceuticals, for instance.
People have to apply for each program, service or discount medication offer, and each form asks many of the same questions.
The AssistGuide technology makes it possible to fill out one form, one time, to apply with desired providers. The service-seeker can choose to save the information and apply it to additional forms later on.
AssistGuide employs 17 people who serve clients in 28 states; it receives tax benefits under Act 221.
NCOA's member organizations serve an estimated quarter of a million people in senior centers, but via the Web its potential is exponentially greater.
"People find all kinds of things they may not have known about," Parkin said.
NCOA receives funding from various sources including public and private grants and contracts, said Jay Greenberg, executive vice president for business development.
"In BenefitsCheckUp we have programmed in the eligibility rules of more than a thousand public and private programs that older persons could be entitled to," he said.
AssistGuide's technology takes NCOA's services to the next step, said Greenberg.
"We had been looking extensively for a partner that had that capability," he said. Somebody in NCOA's tech office knew somebody and the connection was made. While NCOA checked out different companies, "the combination of things that really attracted us to this one is that they have very state-of-the-art technology, they really have a passion for serving older persons and the disability community and third was actually conversations with an investor and board member," Greenberg said. The man in question is John Dean, a past chairman of Silicon Valley Bank, who is seen as a credible believer in AssistGuide.
The next level of service NCOA would like to provide is to enable clients to file the forms electronically.
"The technology is now there to do that and what we need is the political will to do that."
Kaimuki parking
Businesses in Kaimuki and the customers who love them will get an update on proposed parking solutions tomorrow morning.
Urban Works, which proposed four short-term solutions at a December meeting, will present its long-term ideas after the 8:30 meeting convenes in the Liliuokalani Elementary School cafeteria.
The short-term solution previously approved would establish attendant parking in both municipal lots bounded by Waialae, Harding, 11th and 12th avenues.
One long-term proposal is to build a parking structure.
Neither solution is free, so funding must be secured, according to Kaimuki Business and Professional Association President David Chinaka.
"The funding may not be available until next fiscal year," he said. It would have to come from the City and County of Honolulu.
The revitalization of Kaimuki is on hold until the parking problem is fixed. "Until we get this resolved, we can't go forward with ideas we want to do," said Chinaka.
Area businessman Lane Muraoka, president of Big City Diner, has his own idea that would kill two birds with one stone. Kaimuki needs parking and the Honolulu Police Department needs an East Honolulu substation.
The park on Waialae Avenue near the gym, featuring basketball and volleyball courts "is public land. Why not just use the space above and below?" The courts would be on top, he said.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
