There's no doubt about the fact that the Czechs tend to have a good head on their shoulders, not even in America. At the beginning of December, Jan Bednář, a 29-year-old Czech, sold part of his company ShipMonk in the USA, thereby joining the list of Czech billionaires. The investor will pay about 6.3 billion crowns for a minority stake. And now there is another Czech out there who's made success across the big pond! A native of Jeseník, Tomáš Posker, helped to make the lives of many American seniors better, and most importantly easier. Now he also teaches Czech seniors that technology isn't a bad thing, but a tool that can make a lot of situations much easier.
When Tomáš Posker moved to America, he promised his grandmother that they would stay in touch.
"She'd lived most of her life in the communist regime without the opportunity to travel, so she was always very curious about what it looked like elsewhere. Before leaving, I bought her a computer and promised that he would call each other,"
explained Posker, adding that his grandmother wasn't very comfortable with using Skype, which was an incentive for Tomáš. He began looking for a tool that was simplified enough for seniors to work with.
"I quickly sorted my head out and realized that I had enough experience from other companies to put together something very simple that even the oldest and least technically able could use,"
recalls Tomáš Posker.
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Tomáš Posker.Source: archiv firmy Oscar Senior
The system can also be operated remotely
And so the Oskar Senior application was created. It's a very simple program that works on smartphones and tablets. Through it, seniors can easily connect with their loved ones or order a car to go shopping or visit the doctor's office. The good thing is that the service can be operated remotely by a younger individual who takes care of the senior.
It is currently used by care companies in California, Ohio, New York or Georgia to increase the efficiency of care provided and to improve and modernize their services. The distances between caregivers and clients are often large in the United States, and the virtual care platform allows them to be in touch with seniors more often without increasing costs.
Agencies providing care in the place of residence of the elderly, homes for the elderly and residences or entire villages for the elderly also have nothing but good experiences with the system.
The project is being tested in Jeseníky
Because Tomáš Posker comes from the Jeseníky Mountains, he started his project right there. Coincidentally, there is very limited public transport for seniors in the mountains, due to that the locals should find the service much more useful than those living, for example, in Prague.
"At the moment, we are working closely with the city of Jeseník on their Senior Taxi Jeseník project. For them, we adapted our Oscar Senior platform in a way that enables seniors to order discounted rides through it, for example to the doctor. We have also created a user interface for the convenience of taxi drivers, so they can easily record discounted rides, and an administrative interface for the city to keep track of how the service is used,"
says Tomáš Posker.
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Aplikace Oscar Senior. Source: archiv firmy Oscar Senior
Convenient for everyone
Originally, Jeseník had its own car with a driver. However, it was quite expensive to operate it, in addition to which seniors had to book discounted rides at least a day in advance, or wait until a taxi was free. Thanks to the Oscar Senior mobile application, local taxi drivers could also get involved in Senior Taxi.
"We get a triple benefit from this. For the city, because it saves considerable costs on the operation and maintenance of its own Senior Taxi. For taxi drivers, because we support their local business. And of course for seniors, because they can order a ride whenever they need to, and choose their favorite driver on top of that. In addition, it gives the elderly an extra time of independence from children and other relatives who would otherwise have to take them to the doctor."
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Senioři s tabletem. Source: archiv firmy Oscar Senior
