Resident receives award for embracing new technology

Mary Furniss, who lives at The Manor House Harrogate care home, won our Loving Later Life Resident Awards in the Digital Dynamo category to show that older people can do remarkable things with modern technology.

Mary has Macular Degeneration, a condition which causes visual problems and makes acts such as reading and writing very difficult. However, Mary has not given up easily and instead partnered with the Russell Sergeant Charity for Vision Health and visual technology company Optelec to get a personalised device that allows her to read and write. 

Mary was nominated for the award by Rebecca Higginson, Manager of The Manor House Harrogate. Rebecca recognised Mary for her willingness and efforts to use technology to write fun and informative pieces on world news and events.

Rebecca Higginson, Manager of The Manor House Harrogate, said:

Mary is an inspiration to other residents and proves a disability does not define who you truly are and with assistance and determination you can achieve good things.

Everyone at the care home loves reading Mary’s Diary and they all look forward to hearing the interesting facts and news she’s researched and to hear her thoughts about world events! We have a lot of fun with her news diary, she can write an incredible amount with her Optelec device, and it shows how much hard work she puts into this.

Mary was thrilled to receive the award and touched by her win saying: 

I’m deeply honoured just to have been nominated! I’ve always been interested in new technology and it’s wonderful that we now have machines that can do so much for us.  

I’ve loved writing all my life but thanks to this wonderful technology I’m able to write regular pieces for an audience, something I never thought I’d be able to do! Thank you so much to Rebecca for nominating me for Loving Later Life Award and for encouraging me to use the Optelec machine for writing my diary for The Manor House newsletter.

For more information on Be Digital click here.