SENIORS IN SERVICE PHOTO
Seniors in Service offers a program called TelePals to address issues of loneliness and isolation in seniors by having volunteers call to check in and connect with them in real time over the phone.
Seniors in Service offers free TelePals program for area seniors
By LOIS KINDLE
Imagine living alone and having no one to talk with, no one with whom you can share your thoughts and feelings, no one even to validate your existence.
Seniors in Service started a program called TelePals to address these issues by having volunteers call to check in and connect in real time over the phone.
“Just having another human being say, ‘Hey, you matter,” can make such a difference for isolated, homebound seniors,” said Robin Ingles, Seniors in Service CEO. “Helping seniors age with dignity, particularly low-income elders, demands urgent attention, and now with COVID-19, it’s even more complex.
“It’s easy to underestimate the danger of isolation,” she continued. “Loneliness in seniors eclipses obesity and even smoking in factors contributing to rapid decline”.
TelePals was made possible by $20,000 in grants Seniors in Service received from the United Way, Community Foundation of Tampa Bay and Community Foundation of Pinellas. The new program also got a boost when it promoted a match campaign sponsored by Suncoast Credit Union that brought in an additional $12,000 in public donations.
“I got a call from a woman in Sun City Center several years ago who told me her greatest fear was she would pass in the night and no one would know to take care of her dog,” recalled Wilma Norton, vice president of community connections for the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, to illustrate the feelings of those without connection. “Isolation in seniors was already an issue before COVID-19, and the pandemic has compounded it.
“Anything we can do to help combat this issue is incredibly impactful,” she said.
The free program is working. Thus far, about 100 seniors have signed up to receive calls and about 150 volunteers have raised their hands to make calls.
Riverview resident Carmen Bennett has been hearing from a woman named Lauren for the past three or four weeks, she said.
“I very much appreciate her calling me,” she said. “I just love her. We have very good, two-way conversations.”
Bennett, 79, feels the TelePals program is of great benefit to her.
“It helps those of us who live alone to have someone to talk to. I look forward to her call every Tuesday.”
According to the Seniors in Service website, volunteer callers are trained to ask considerate questions, communicate cheerfully about interests, check on the client’s well-being and refer concerns to expert resources.
And they often get as much out of it as the people they contact.
Ed Datz became a TeleVolunteer five weeks ago and currently has one TeleClient. The retired executive said he volunteered because he wants to spend his time doing things that do some good.
“There’s a crisis for seniors in terms of loneliness, alienation and a need to connect,” said Datz, 70. That’s always been true but now more than ever.
“I thought, ‘Wow, these people need to be called.’”
The homebound man Datz presently calls is 83 years old.
“We just shoot the breeze,” he said. “We talk about his life, his marriage, his kids…things like that. “He’s always so grateful for my call.”
Datz said being a TeleVolunteer takes little time and yields big results.
“It really does changes lives,” he said.
For information on becoming a TeleClient or to sign up as a TeleVolunteer, visit www.telepalnow.org or call Lily Q. at 813-932-5228, ext. 292. A free sex-offender check will be made online by Seniors in Service to protect both parties.
Seniors who have become TeleClients in the free TelePals program look forward to getting calls from their TeleVolunteers. The calls can make a real difference in their lives.
