For Isolated Elderly Jews, Bridging the Digital Divide

Born on a packed and frigid train as she and her parents fled the Nazis and sought safety in faraway Uzbekistan, Talla Kaliujnaya knows she has technology to thank for saving her life.

She’s sure she would have frozen to death if the train’s compassionate and quick-thinking conductor hadn’t moved her and her mother to the car that held the furnace — warm enough to keep a newborn safe.

Now, 79 years later, Kaliujnaya has technology to thank once more. As one of the first JDC beneficiaries in the former Soviet Union (FSU) to receive a JOINTECH smartphone specially designed for the elderly, she’s stayed connected to her Jewish community even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“JOINTECH is a window to the world for me. Ever since my homecare worker and a local volunteer taught me how to use my smartphone, I have participated in every possible program,” said Kaliujnaya, a retired accountant who lives alone in Chișinău, Moldova. “I especially appreciate exercise therapy classes and lectures about Jewish culture and traditions. They help me feel like my life is bigger than just my little apartment.”

“JOINTECH is a window to the world for me. Ever since my homecare worker and a local volunteer taught me how to use my smartphone, I have participated in every possible program,” said Kaliujnaya, a retired accountant who lives alone in Chișinău, Moldova. “I especially appreciate exercise therapy classes and lectures about Jewish culture and traditions. They help me feel like my life is bigger than just my little apartment.”

Kaliujnaya is one of hundreds of JDC clients across the FSU who have received the special smartphones — optimized to be simpler to use for the elderly and even offering streamlined versions of popular apps like WhatsApp and Zoom.

During the pandemic, the new devices — along with ongoing support from volunteers to help clients who already had computers, tablets, and other tools learn how to use them — have connected isolated elderly Jews with virtual programming from JDC-supported Hesed social welfare centers: classes and lectures, Shabbat services, holiday celebrations, and more.

JOINTECH also allows Hesed social welfare center coordinators to remotely monitor the care a client is receiving and provides a platform for virtual onboarding and training of homecare workers.

Though the program is still being scaled, JOINTECH hopes to reach a significant portion of JDC’s clients by 2025, said Pini Miretski, JDC’s deputy director of planning and program development in the FSU.

“We’ve always ensured that our clients have the basics they need to survive — food, medicine, and essentials like that,” he said. “But now we’re offering community connection even to those who are homebound, bedridden, or living in very remote locations. We’re giving them something more than just survival, and that makes me proud.”

Eleonora Leoshkevich, the head of the day center at Chișinău’s Hesed, said it’s been moving to see how clients have begun to structure their days around the online offerings.

“Some of our community members used to stay closed up in their apartments for months at a time, but now, thanks to JOINTECH, they’ve become part of society once again,” she said. “The sparkle in their eyes has come back. Women wear makeup and do their hair, and men dress up and wear ties. Our virtual programming has become a special event in their lives — a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

For Kaliujnaya, the smartphone also kept her in touch withBoris Gamer, a 39-year-old nurse and community volunteer who visited her several times a month before the pandemic. Now, despite lockdown restrictions that have prevented in-person meetings, the pair chat often on Skype.

“Talla never gets discouraged or complains. She meets even the most terrible things with a smile,” Gamer said. “Loneliness has the potential to befall all elderly people, but JOINTECH helps her realize she’s not alone. It’s her salvation, allowing her to communicate with the outside world.”

As for Kaliujnaya, she considers herself lucky to be part of a Jewish community that innovates even during unprecedented times.

“With my health problems and my tiny pension, I know I’d hardly be able to cope on my own — and the pandemic just made everything more challenging,” she said. “I’m so thankful for JOINTECH and for all the other support I receive. Attention, warmth, sincerity, and genuine care … that’s what JDC means to me.”

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