The FB Portal

Gosh, there sure isn't much to talk about these days.
We received something called Facebook Portal through the Red Cross for Veterans that are pretty much stuck at home. I learned about it from the VA's Vantage Point Blog.

I was very leery of anything 'free' so I called the Caregivers folks and they said yes indeed the items were free and the promotion was free to the first 7,400 veterans that applied. I applied and then forgot about it.

I got an email from the Red Cross notifying me of a delivery date via FedEx and lo and behold, this was delivered.

It works by using contacts through Messenger on FB [yeah I don't like FB that much, but I have it]. When set up you can activate the voice and camera and ask it to call someone on your contact list.

So we talked with his daughter on Friday with the grandkids using the Portal. There is a 'smart' camera that detects motion so if one walks out of the room and back the camera sort of follows.
The sound is good and the video is excellent.

On Saturday Rich wanted to talk with Kristi from Missouri and see the boys. Kristi is like a second daughter to him. The kids showed Rich all of the lego stuff, talked about their Advent Calendar and Rich was able to see everyone.

On Sunday he wanted to do a Portal call to my oldest son. Again, lots of waving and laughter, checking out Covid Hairdos and holding up dogs to the camera.

The Portal has a slider to put over the camera to shut it off or you can manually shut it off. It will show a slide show of photos and you can connect it to Alexa through Amazon to play music or ask for the weather. 

I use it once in a while to play music while I am in the kitchen doing things. Otherwise I just unplug it and stick it off to the side.
All in all it really put a huge smile on Rich's face to be able to SEE and interact with those he loved. 

The premise behind the Red Cross effort with the VA was to put isolated veterans in touch with their friends and family. Sure most people can use zoom or a smart phone or duo...or they can be like Rich and not have a smart phone or computer. This is perfect for him.

Last night I loaded photos from my FB feed onto the Portal and let it cycle through while we ate supper. Rich enjoyed looking at the photos of old hound dogs, Morris, mules that had passed on, and the grands when they were little. 

After we 'hung' up with Eddie, he leaned back and smiled. "Boy that was fun, I sure like that a lot!"

I have read mixed reviews about the Portal and some people hate it. All I know is that it is making one Veteran very happy. And that is good enough for me.