14
COMMUNITY NEWS
SANTAN SUN NEWS | WWW.SANTANSUN.COM | DECEMBER 7-20, 2019
Chandler developing program for ‘isolated’ adults SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF
The Chandler Parks & Recreation program has become the first city in Arizona to offer online wellness classes to combat social isolation among people over 50. “Social relationships are important to quality of life across one’s lifespan, and can bestow life with meaning, purpose, and a general sense of well-being,” a city spokeswoman Tiffanie Hawkins said, noting that the National Poll on Healthy Aging reported that one in three seniors is lonely. The city is partnering with other organizations “to create resources that help our 50-plus community build the social connections they need to thrive,” Hawkins said. With the help of televëda – a Phoenixbased company that offers live online wellness educational and recreational programs – Chandler starting this month will offering Empowered Living classes. The classes are “virtual body and brain wellness” sessions where participants can “exercise to upbeat music from the past and play brain games to help stimulate the mind,” Hawkins explained. For a limited time, the community will
be able to join the Empowered Living series for free and from anywhere by using their smartphone, iPad, tablet or laptop to access televeda.com at 10 a.m. Dec. 12 and 19. People can click the “join class” button to be connected to the online community. Once they’re in the virtual classroom, participants can see, hear and talk to the instructor and their classmates and ultimately begin forming personal relationships. Recreation manager Joe Petrella said being around other people is the best cure for loneliness but maintaining connections “gets more challenging as you age.” “Finding solutions for loneliness is highly personal, and some of the best interventions are those that involve meaningful social contact – whether that’s volunteering, meeting a friend for coffee or now participating in an online wellness class,” Petrella said. “It’s really about the meaningfulness of the activity and forming relationships. “Recreation is dedicated to providing activities that meet the aspirations of today’s 50-plus adult that gives them the flexibility to participate from anywhere,
including the comforts of their homes,” Petrella added. Recreation coordinator Ray Kaniut said televëda’s flagship class is just the first step: “Our aim is to create an infrastructure to bring the community experience directly to individuals and help our community mobilize to prevent isolation. From socialization classes to art classes, we’re helping older adults engage with their communities both on and offline.” Chandler plans to debut more online classes later in 2020. The televëda partnership coincides with the division’s push to “rewrite the rules of age-defining programs, appealing to the aspirations of Chandler’s highly-energized modern adult through modernized lifelong learning, promotion of health and wellbeing, and socialization,” Hawkins said; “We applaud the city’s innovation and willingness to implement this innovative partnership to make an impact in the lives of seniors,” said Shruti Gurudanti, CEO and co-founder of televëda. “We look forward to bringing our signature programs to the residents of Chandler and helping make it easier for them stay active, engaged and social.”
About televëda: Televëda was founded in 2018 with the mission to combat social isolation among seniors. televëda offers live online educational, wellness and recreational programs that are designed to reduce social isolation, build friendships, and encourage seniors to stay active. televëda has pioneered the creation of “virtual senior centers” by partnering with senior living communities across North America to offer residents both in-person and live online programming so that seniors can access educational, wellness and gaming programs wherever they are. For more information, visit televeda.com or visit our social media pages at facebook.com/ Televeda, instagram.com/ televeda_ and linkedin.com/company/televeda.
Officials: Upcoming election won’t see mistakes BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
County officials predict next year’s presidential election won’t produce the same blunders seen that resulted in voters waiting for hours to cast their ballot in 2016. Speaking recently before a group of Chandler business leaders, Maricopa County Supervisor Jack Sellers highlighted the millions of dollars invested to improve how the Recorder’s Office conducts elections. These new resources are intended to keep the past from repeating itself on March 17, when Democrats vote in Arizona’s presidential preference election. The state’s last presidential primary ended in disaster due to a severe lack of polling places across the Valley. Only 60 polling sites had been set up to serve 1.25 million eligible voters. One site in Chandler saw hordes of voters standing for hours in long lines that stretched out the door. Then-County Recorder Helen Purcell admitted she made a mistake by reducing polling sites. Voters responded by booting her out in 2016 and replacing Purcell with Democrat Adrian Fontes. Sellers, whose district encompasses Chandler and who was a two-term Chandler City Council member, doesn’t think the long lines were anybody’s fault – it was simply a poor estimation of voter turnout, he said. Steps have been taken by the county, he added, that will ensure 2020’s elections will be an improvement. “I’m really encouraged at the partnership we now have with the Recorder’s Office,” Sellers said. “This isn’t about partisanship or anything else; it’s about serving our constituents.” Sellers voted with the four other
Recorder’s Office to ensure each election will run smoothly. It’s one of the recent changes made to revise the board’s role in conducting the county’s elections. Sellers and the other supervisors decided this year to take on more responsibilities – breaking with a 65-yearold agreement that let the Recorder’s Office handle most election duties. The board is now Long lines like the ones at several Maricopa County polling places during the Democratic presidential preference election in Arizona in responsible for Election 2016 are a thing of the past, election officials told Chandler business leaders last month. File photot) Day matters, while Fontes deals with early voting supervisors in June to spend $6.1 million best in-class elections in 2020,” Coleman and registration. on leasing a new tabulation system that’s said. The new arrangement is intended supposed to count ballots faster and Another problem in 2016 involved poll to add oversight to the planning and more securely. workers misinforming several voters they execution of election operations. Sellers said they purposefully signed could cast ballots in the wrong precinct. Cybersecurity became a topical subject a lease agreement for only three years in As a result, these voters did not get their during the 2016 election after Russian case something better and faster comes ballots counted. hackers attempted to penetrate Arizona’s out before 2024. To remedy this, Coleman said, the voter-registration system. The security “The technology for that equipment Recorder’s Office has ramped up its breach was the result of an elections is changing so rapidly that we felt by the communication efforts by redesigning its worker in Gila County opening an infected next election cycle we didn’t want to have website to be easier to navigate. email attachment. our money tied up in something that had “We are looking to ensure we are Coleman said there’s much more already become obsolete,” the supervisor communicating concise, accurate awareness about security than a few years said. communications out to our voters over ago. The Recorder’s Office now has a fullKathren Coleman, deputy director the next four months,” she said. time security officer and regularly keeps in of communications for the Recorder’s A staffing analysis done by the contact with law enforcement officials on Office, said the agency’s old tabulation Recorder’s Office indicated it had about potential threats, she said. machines dated back to the 1970s and had 30 fewer employees than agencies “2016 was definitely an alarm bell for less memory than the most basic cellular serving areas comparable to Maricopa all election administrators across the phone. County. Coleman said new funding from country,” Coleman added. She said their newer equipment will the county has allowed the Elections One week before March’s presidential be better at counting close races – a Department to expand its staff. primary, Chandler will hold a special common occurrence during the 2018 Earlier this year, the Board of election to amend its charter. The all-mail midterm election, which had several Supervisors created a new position – election will ask local voters to change statewide races taking days to call. Election Day and Emergency Voting the dates of future elections in order to “We’re gonna be able to provide the Director – that will work with the conform to state law.