Guest:  Molly Snyder

Topic:  New TRAID Covid-19 process

Duration:  05:55

Published:  June 23, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Molly Snyder, Senior Research Support Specialist and Occupational Therapist at University at Buffalo’s Center for Assistive Technology (CAT)and your host is yours truly Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program Molly.

Guest:   Thank you so much for having me Ernie.

Host:  It's our pleasure, and as many other institutions are doing in these days, there are changes in how the Center for Assistive Technology or CAT as we call it, is doing things in these days of the coronavirus CPVID-19 crisis. But first for the benefit of people that might not have heard of it before, could you tell us what TRAID stands for and what it does as it is under their auspices that you are here?

Guest:   Yes, absolutely. So, TRAID stands for Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities. We are the TRAID Center for the Western New York region and the counties we serve are Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming County. What the program does is it provides device loan for people in their, in our community. So, we demonstrate different pieces of technology. We conduct training for professionals on pieces of technology, we can provide information and referral.

And we also do some public awareness events with this technology and we have everything available for loan. It is a free loan. It is a 60-day loan and with that people can come and loan out wheelchairs, wheelchair ramps, bathing assist, feeding assist, the magnification technology for people that have low vision, hearing devices and the list goes on. We have a lot of devices here that are available for the community.

Host:  And I suspect people might have gotten the idea from the list of sample devices you mentioned at the beginning you simply said that you supply technology on loan to people that need it. And it's not just, say, a history student that wants a free laptop you're talking about people with various disability that needs assistive technology, right?

Guest:  Yes, so we do serve anyone in the community. We have devices that range from early intervention all the way up to our seniors. We do have a variety of different pieces of technology, you don't need a referral or script to come in. Anyone can come in at all and receive the services in the Western New York Community.

Host:  Well, that's an incredible resource, because people definitely need experts in the areas of assistive technology to let them know what might benefit them and make their lives better. But, on to the main topic of the day. COVID-19 has made you change up how you do things in certain ways. How can people avail themselves of your services in a shelter at home environment?

Guest:  Yes, so there have been some changes traditionally we would have people physically come to our office and they would get the demonstration and you get the loaner equipment right in our office, but our office is currently closed due to COVID-19. We still have items that are available and we can actually ship items directly to people in the community, and we can provide over the phone or Zoom demonstration s online, but we are not having people come to the office. Therefore, if you are interested in getting a demonstration, or loaning out a device, we are asking people to please send an email, if you could put in the subject area of the email TRAID which is T-R-A-I-D, and if you could send the email to ksnaus@buffalo.edu. That's k-s and then n-a-u-s@buffalo.edu, and just let us know what devices you're looking for and we can go from there to determine if we can ship the item out, or if we need to come up with a social distancing transfer of the device.

Host:  Very good. And if people have a quick question, how can they reach you?

Guest:  They can reach us at 716-836-1350, and we are located in Amherst, New York.

Host:  Thanks for being with us, Molly.

Guest:  Thank you so much for having me.

Host:  You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Molly Snyder, Senior Research Support Specialist and Occupational Therapist with the University at Buffalo’s Center for Assistive Technology and your host was yours truly, Ernie Churchwell.