BEND, OR -- Deschutes County Health Services has been given approval to apply for a 5-thousand-dollar grant to buy seven devices called Grand Pads. Molly Darling at health services says many elderly patients have complex psychiatric and medical conditions and struggle with technology. She says the Grand Pads have a larger screen and a user-friendly application for older adults unfamiliar with technology. Darling says the device allows the elderly to connect to the doctor for assessments, physical therapy, crisis stabilization and coordinated care. She says the 7 devices are relatively cheap at a total cost of 17-hundred-50-dollars, but the cost of a year’s worth of connection is over 3-thousand-dollars.