Covid Check-In Qld app leaving Toowoomba seniors behind

For many, checking in using a QR code is as easy as opening your phone’s camera, but for our senior citizens it can be a more daunting experience.

They’re in shopping centres and supermarkets, at the entrances of restaurants and on menus of cafes. They’re at pubs and clubs, cinemas and schools, hairdressers, gyms, libraries and festivals. In fact, they're nearly everywhere you look and everywhere you go.

Relatively unheard of two years ago, QR codes are now widespread and checking in is mandatory.

For many in the community using the Check-In Qld app is as easy as opening their phone and scanning the code, but for our senior citizens it can be an intimidating prospect.

Janette Butler wants to do the right thing but finds it difficult without a phone to use the Check-In Queensland QR code reader. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It’s a bit daunting, I’m from the old school and didn’t grow up with all this technology and it’s a bit hard to learn when you’re older,” 76-year-old Highfields resident Janette Butler said.

“I feel like I don’t go out as much since Covid, and there are people who aren’t doing the right thing by not signing in on the phone, but there’s a lot of places that aren’t set up for people that don’t have a phone.

“I haven’t got a mobile phone, and when I walk into a shop they don’t always know what to do. A lot of smaller shops don’t know what to do, they grab a bit of paper and write your name down and phone number.

“Some of the shops have got a form or a book, and you can sign in that way, but not all shops are set up like that.”

Janette Butler is one of many Toowoomba seniors who have had a hard time in keeping up with Covid technology and QR codes. Picture: Kevin Farmer

As QR codes and mandatory check-ins become commonplace, Ms Butler said it had had an impact on how often she headed out.

“I haven’t been going out very much at all,” she said.

“If you’re going into a shop for something that would only take five minutes, it takes a while to sign in and not every shop has a book I can sign in with, so I just don’t bother.

“I can understand that we need to do this sort of thing, it’s just hard if some of the shops don’t know what to do if you haven’t got a phone.

“People aren’t doing the right thing by not signing in, but probably half of the reason they’re not signing in is because they haven’t got the provision to do so.”

Not everyone walking past the QR code to check in at a business is doing the wrong thing, says Janette Butler. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Ms Butler isn’t alone in her struggle with adapting to the new technology.

Toowoomba Senior Citizens Club’s Vickie Stevens said dozens of members attended meetings and events daily and couldn’t sign in with the QR code.

“A lot of members don’t have the phones that can scan the check-in code,” she said.

“We have quite a few come in, and a lot don’t have phones and can’t do it. It could be up to 12 a day, it is a bit of a problem.”

Ms Stevens said the club manually took note of members who were unable to check in with the app.

A QR check in code at Grand Central in Toowoomba. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Tech classes take stress out of phones for seniors

When the Check In Qld app became mandatory and QR codes prevalent, Toowoomba U3A president Rhonda Weston expected teething problems among members.

However, among the hundreds of people that attend a variety of classes, Ms Weston said there’s only been a handful of people struggle with the app.

“A majority of U3A members have embraced it wholeheartedly, I was expecting it to be more challenging,” she said.

“Some members don’t have a device so we might have to check them in when they arrive but a majority of members are so used to checking in everywhere that when it became mandatory (in July) it was second nature.”

Ms Weston said the group held many classes on technology if people aged above 50 needed help to learn more about their phones to use them to access the Check In Qld app.

“We’ve ran iPhone and iPad classes for years and had hundreds of people attend because they needed help and wanted to embrace new technology,” she said.

Ms Weston said while there are some that struggle with new technology there’s no need to let that stop people from living their lives.

“Some members have decided their old phone wouldn’t accommodate what we have to do now and very happily purchased themselves a new phone so they’re able to do their part and participate in what they need to do to comply with the rules,” Ms Weston said.

“A few years ago we ran a class called Out Of The Box because so many of our members received smart phones or tablets as Christmas or birthday presents and didn’t have any idea what to do with them.

“It was much easier for the tutors to run a class and literally help them take the device out of the box and get them up and running.”

For more details call 4687 7659 or email [e-mail].