Local seniors are the big beneficiaries from a recent upgrade to the Seniors Services Society website.

"We've just launched a completely redesigned, multilingual and user-friendly website," said Kara-Leigh Jameson, director of operations for the society that has its offices on the second floor of the Royal Square shopping centre. "This will be a one-stop shop for seniors."

Jameson pointed out that some of the new features at the www.seniorsservicessociety.ca website include larger size fonts and more information on housing and support services for seniors.

"This will support the society's mission to encourage, inform and support the independence and wellness of the older adult," said Jameson, who said the work on the new site took approximately six months. The new site went live on Aug. 15.

"The feedback so far has been that the new site has been absolutely phenomenal," said Jameson. "We've had no complaints and a lot of compliments."

Another new service being offered by the society is Textnet for TTY users.

"We are the first in B.C. to have this and this will benefit the deaf and hard of hearing," said Jameson of the synchronous chat program that will allow users to chat online in real time.

The society received the technology from the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, which needed the equipment for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"This is one-of-a-kind, and we are very glad to be able to offer this to seniors who use our centre," said Jameson.

Jameson said she's heartened to see more seniors embrace technology and finding out that there is a wealth of services they can access with a computer.

"We usually service about 1,000 clients each year, and more of them are using the computer," she said. "Seniors have always been very good about accessing information through libraries, hospitals and their local MLAs, and now they're doing it online as well."

The Seniors Services Society is located at 209 - 800 McBride Blvd. For more information, www.seniorsservicessociety.ca.