A new social media campaign from Cox Communications features the virtual senior center created by San Diego Oasis, as part of the technology company\u2019s Connection Project initiative, a non-branded campaign which began the COVID-19 period by reaching people with messages of connection.<\/p>\n
A short film (visit bit.ly\/2YMIBjX<\/a>) captures the importance of connection and the real power of technology to bring us closer to one another at a time when it is needed.<\/p>\n The production team also created a second short film (visit bit.ly\/2NIFJOM<\/a>), which focuses on one student\u2019s story. Vickie Daleo from Escondido was a caregiver for her husband, and after his death, she sought new connections through San Diego Oasis.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing video conferencing and live streaming, Cox partnered with the Oasis Senior Center in San Diego to help take their curriculum into a virtual world and reunite older adults with their friends and communities,\u201d said Chanelle Hawken, vice president of government and public affairs, Cox California. \u201cWe have always known that the most meaningful connections are the ones people share with each other. As a digital connections company, we know that we are really in the business of human connections. It\u2019s our purpose and why we do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Valanciute described social isolation among seniors as \u201can epidemic\u201d before COVID-19, with some studies indicating social isolation is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.<\/p>\n \u201cSo when Cox connected with us to create this documentary style film to feature a virtual senior center, we immediately said yes, because if we can reach more people to inspire them to stay connected, we can combat the detrimental effects of social isolation, among seniors in San Diego, throughout California, and across the United States,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Grandfather and granddaughter relationship strengthened<\/strong><\/p>\n Longtime San Carlos resident Ed Robles is not someone who stays at home easily. Before California\u2019s shelter-in-place orders went into effect, the 93-year-old World War II veteran was busy and active, filling his time with personal training sessions, coffee club, and volunteering with the San Diego Police Department\u2019s Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP), where he even won \u201cLaw Enforcement Volunteer of the Year\u201d in 2015.<\/p>\n Almost as soon as the pandemic hit, his granddaughter Christianna Ortiz set Robles up on Zoom, and he dove right into the San Diego Oasis course catalog. He now takes eight to ten classes per week, in subjects such as philosophy, tai chi, history, and technology. His new online life isn\u2019t limited to educational pursuits, either.<\/p>\n \u201cHe loves Instagram,\u201d said Ortiz with a laugh. \u201cHe has his own page and spams me.\u201d<\/p>\n However, she emphasizes online learning has been the key to preserving Ed\u2019s mental health \u2014 and thereby his physical health \u2014 while he\u2019s social distancing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe classes make him think and engage while at home. It\u2019s amazing the amount of questions he has.\u201d \u201cEd\u2019s experience shows that our 65-plus population can confidently navigate life online, which will be crucial for combating social isolation in the long months until it\u2019s safe for seniors to re-engage physically with society \u2014 and, even more importantly, demonstrates that the solution to isolation in older adults may very well be virtual, especially for those who are already homebound or have limited mobility,\u201d Valanciute said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the onset of the shelter-in-place orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, the leaders at the nonprofit San Diego Oasis had to make very quick decisions on how to continue to deliver their classes and workshops virtually. Until then, all of their classes were delivered in-person at more than 40 locations throughout the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":231990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"San Diego Oasis featured in virtual senior centers videos","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11558,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mission-times-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"San](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/San-Diego-Oasis-Ed-and-Christianna.jpg\")
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\nRobles has eagerly embraced virtual learning, fitness classes and social groups, and he will likely keep these up long after the state re-opens.<\/p>\n