Innovations from the Field
The COVID-19 pandemic is a strong reminder of the importance of the work that Area Agencies on Aging and community-based organizations do for older adults, and that a disturbance in this infrastructure can have a significant impact on the communities being served. By modifying our approaches to social engagement programming, older adults can continue to stay safely engaged.
To help promote safe connections during COVID-19, AAAs and other community-based organizations have quickly updated their programming and found new ways to offer much-needed resources and services to older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve compiled a list of examples from the field organized by the following categories:
Telephone Reassurance and Wellness Checks
Aging and Long-Term Care of Eastern Washington (Spokane, WA) – Area Agency on Aging
As Washington state became a hotspot for the COVID-19 crisis, Aging and Long-Term Care of Eastern Washington, the AAA in Spokane, WA, expanded its outreach and began making additional telephone reassurance calls to vulnerable older adults. Through a new partnership with Washington State University’s nursing program, older adults in the community can receive calls from a member of the agency’s staff or a nursing program student. Older adults receiving the calls are asked a series of questions to determine how they are coping and whether they have any needs or concerns. If needs are identified, a member of the agency’s staff will follow up with additional resources.This partnership is a win-win-win. Older adults can receive regular contact with agency staff, the ability of Aging and Long-Term Care of Eastern Washington to reach more older adults during this critical time has expanded and nursing students have a way to fulfill their practicum requirements.
Centralina Area Agency on Aging (Charlotte, NC) – Area Agency on Aging
Like other AAAs across the country, the Centralina AAA closed all local senior centers and congregate meal sites in its Charlotte, NC community. To utilize the expertise and relationships the staff of these sites have already established, the AAA staff who normally work at these locations are at work making telephone reassurance calls to check in with older adults. This AAA has also been busy distributing educational materials on eating healthy, ways to exercise indoors and general information on COVID-19 with home delivered meals or through the mail.
Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging (Olympia, WA) – Area Agency on Aging
In addition to launching a telephone-based reassurance program, with the help of its advisory council, Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging (LMTAAA) created a Social Isolation Advisory Council Committee to help develop creative ways to help older adults stay connected. LMTAAA has also launched a survey to help it gauge the real-time needs of older adults and their families during these unprecedented times. This hybrid approach to soliciting input internally and from the community has been essential to informing this AAA’s efforts to continue serving older adults during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Mountain Empire Older Citizens (Big Stone Gap, VA) – Area Agency on Aging
Because all congregate meal sites in the area are closed, Mountain Empire Older Citizens (MEOC) has increased its home-delivered meal services. MEOC staff conduct well checks during meal deliveries and over the phone through “Good Morning, Wise County,” a program of local law enforcement in which officers call frail older adults every morning to learn whether they have a problem or need any assistance. MEOC partners with the local sheriff’s department and their dispatchers for these calls. Their AAA and transit department provide law enforcement with a list of people who are frail who they then call to check in on. These checks help MEOC learn about and address the ways increased social isolation is affecting older adults in its community.
Midland Area Agency on Aging (Hastings, NE) – Area Agency on Aging
The Midland Area Agency on Aging has collaborated with the Heartland Disaster Recovery Group to support older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic through a new program called the Friendship Network. With many older adults experiencing social isolation and needing assistance with essential supplies like groceries and medications, the Friendship Network is working to pair socially distanced older adults with volunteers. The volunteers provide phone calls or porch visits for companionship, assist with grocery delivery or medication pickup, or serve as a pen pal, all with social distancing guidelines in place.
Remote Connectedness
Missoula Aging Services (Missoula, MT)– Area Agency on Aging
Older volunteers from the Missoula Aging Services are connecting with students. Some of the Foster Grandparents and RSVP Tutors have been able to connect with students regularly via Google classroom meetings, Zoom and phone calls. They connect over lunch, for virtual one-on-one tutoring sessions, and parent-approved reading phone calls. They are also connecting by sharing letters and learning-linked handmade gifts. Some of these connections are occurring weekly.
Letters to Seniors to Address Social Isolation (Charlottesville, VA; Ontario, OH; Chambersburg, PA) – Area Agencies on Aging
AAAs across the country are looking to pen pal programs and letter writing campaigns as a creative way to combat social isolation during the COVID-19 crisis. Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) in Charlottesville, VA is matching its existing volunteers with older adults and caregivers, allowing them to develop a new friendship over email. With JABA’s Friends in Schools Helping (FISH) program currently on hold with schools closed, there are many parents and children who want to continue or initiate the mentoring program with JABA volunteers, offering another way to stay engaged. Before matching, an intake call is held to help connect an older adult or caregiver to a volunteer with common interests. JABA has expanded this program to older adults in assisted living facilities and nursing homes and received a great response. In Ontario, OH, the Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging partnered with the Ontario Local School District to ask students to send letters, cards and drawings to older adults. After learning of the partnership, the Ohio Highway Patrol then stepped in to help with hand delivering the letter to nursing homes in the community. In Chambersburg, PA, the Franklin County Area Agency on Aging is working with the United Way of Franklin County on a Pen Pals for Seniors program. This new program invites members of the community to send notes, poems, stories and drawings to the Franklin County AAA, with the AAA staff delivering the letters to older adults in the community facing increased social isolation.
Madison Senior Center (Madison, WI) – Community-Based Organization
When physical distancing due to COVID-19 meant the cancellation of all in-person programs and events at the Madison Senior Center, staff quickly shifted to virtual offerings to ensure senior center participants remained socially engaged. As a result, the senior center used the technology platform Zoom to offer Tai Chi and gentle exercise programs to help older adults stay physically active. Staff embraced the virtual environment by sharing links to virtual field trips, concerts and brain activities to help older adults remain engaged. Madison Senior Center also created a program, Pandemic Pen Pals, which matches volunteers with older adults to exchange written communications by mail or email, to help older adults stay connected and reduce social isolation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing Social Isolation of Long-Term Care Facility Residents (Eureka, CA; Camden, AL; Texarkana, TX)
With new rules limiting visitors to long-term care facilities in response to COVID-19, Long Term Care Ombudsman Programs (LTCOP) across the country are developing creative ways to address social isolation of residents living in long-term care facilities. The Area 1 Agency on Aging (A1AA) LTCOP in Eureka, CA organized an outreach campaign for long-term care facility residents. Staff used social media to recruit community members to mail cards with messages of encouragement to the AAA, which then delivered the correspondence to residents of local long-term care facilities. Within weeks, the A1AA LTCOP received approximately 2,000 cards, art pieces and drawings from states all over the country, from Hawaii to Kentucky. In Camden, AL, Ombudsmen with the Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission Area Agency on Aging delivered watermelons to all of their nursing homes to celebrate the Fourth of July. Each watermelon also contained a sticker with contact information for the AAA’s LTCOP. In Texarkana, TX, Ombudsmen with the Ark-Tex Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging visited nursing facilities and gave window hugs to the residents to show the residents their Ombudsman is still there and thinking of them. The residents waved, blew kisses and gave air hugs to the AAA’s Ombudsmen.
Los Angeles Department of Aging and Los Angeles Public Library (Los Angeles, CA) – Area Agency on Aging and Community-Based Organization
In partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Aging in Los Angeles, CA, the Los Angeles Public Library launched the Postcard Program to connect with older Angelenos during the COVID-19 pandemic. The library’s Engagement Outreach Department librarians created the program to continue to engage with the older adults they used to see regularly at senior centers and senior living facilities prior to the pandemic. To encourage reminiscing and prompt memories, the library selected five historic images from the library’s photo collection that highlight the community from years ago to turn into postcards. Library staff write messages on each postcard, which are distributed to older adults through the Los Angeles Department of Aging’s home-delivered meals program. To date, approximately 5,000 older adults have received postcards through the partnership and many have described the postcards as a highlight of their meal.
Car Bingo for Oklahoma Elders – Title VI Native American Aging Programs, Area Agency on Aging and Community-Based Organization
After the Wyandotte Nation, Eastern Shawnee Tribe, Ottawa Tribe, Peoria Tribe and Quapaw Nation Title VI programs cancelled in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they worked with other Oklahoma Aging Network partners to come up with a creative and safe way to engage Oklahoma’s tribal elders. Good Shepherd Hospice approached the Title VI programs about implementing a Car Bingo program for elders to participate in during the spring and summer. Working also with the Grand Gateway Area Agency on Aging, Good Shepherd Hospice and the five Title VI programs used casino parking lots as a space for cars to gather, with casinos closed due to the pandemic. After the casinos re-opened, a church parking lot was used to hold Car Bingo. To ensure adequate physical distancing, program staff asked attendees to park in every other space and stay in their cars for the entire event. Staff distributed goody bags, tickets and bingo cards to attendees and each Car Bingo event included four rounds of bingo, drawings for door prizes, prizes for decorated cars and signs, and other surprises for the elders like musical guests and an ice cream truck. While Car Bingo paused as the weather got colder, it was a big hit among all elders who participated.
Virtual Wellness Programming
Piedmont Triad Regional Council Area Agency on Aging (Kernersville, NC) – Area Agency on Aging
Recognizing the importance of staying healthy at home while practicing physical distancing, the Piedmont Triad Regional Council Area Agency on Aging (PTRC AAA) modified its Living Healthy with Chronic Conditions evidence-based program, which typically is offered in person and in community settings, to be offered through a mailed toolkit and weekly phone calls. The program, called Living Healthy at Home, focuses on healthy eating, appropriate use of medication, being active and developing communication skills to help participants take charge of their health and make connections from home. Offered at no cost to consumers at several different times and days, the phone calls are held in small groups of four participants and one trained facilitator for an hour once a week for six weeks to walk participants through the toolkit. The mailed toolkit includes a book for the program, a relaxation CD, an exercise CD and a self-test to determine focus area.
Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities (Annapolis, MD) – Area Agency on Aging
Following the closure of seven senior centers in response to COVID-19, the Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities developed and launched a new series intended to keep senior center participants and the broader community engaged while practicing physical distancing. The new series, titled Remote Online Virtual Education Resources for Seniors (R.O.V.E.R.S.), offers a daily message, activities and virtual socialization to keep older adults safe, connected and informed. Community members can participate in online exercise classes, art classes, crafts, line dancing, music and history lessons through R.O.V.E.R.S. videos shared on the AAA’s website, Facebook and Twitter. The videos are also broadcast on Anne Arundel television channels.
Eastern Area Agency on Aging (Brewer, ME) – Area Agency on Aging
To combat the negative effects of social isolation and help keep older adults active in their homes, the Eastern Area Agency on Aging launched a new Wellness Group that offers a series of online exercise classes such as classes focused on yoga, meditation and falls prevention through daily Facebook Live presentations. The instructors keep the classes lighthearted and fun and participants are able to hold conversations with others in the classes, helping them feel connected to others while staying active during the COVID-19 crisis.
Centralina Area Agency on Aging (Charlotte, NC) – Area Agency on Aging
When North Carolina first began considering a stay-at-home order at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the Centralina Area Agency on Aging cancelled all in-person workshops and began exploring ways it could provide evidence-based programs virtually. The AAA partnered with the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness and the North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services to offer virtual Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) through the Self-Management Resource Center’s CDSMP Tool Kit Plus. Learn more about the steps the Centralina AAA took to implement and launch this virtual program here.
Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging (Waterloo, IA) – Area Agency on Aging
To connect with older individuals who are feeling isolated while staying safely at home, Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging (NEI3A) developed Facebook Live sessions featured on Mondays and Thursdays. Monday sessions have focused on providing information about utilizing pantry foods to make healthy meals, raising awareness of potential scams during the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighting smart shopping tips to minimize time in the store. Other sessions have provided information on immunity-boosting foods, tips for starting a container garden, and ways to incorporate plant-based proteins into diets. Thursday sessions have been dedicated to Tai Chi. Future Facebook Live sessions being planned by NEI3A will include tours of a farm and ambulance, nail care tips, and a review of talented local musicians.
Average views have been approximately 400 viewers per session. Viewers appreciate the tips and look forward to the presentations: “Thanks a lot for offering this valuable information & ideas” and “I love these segments. Thanks for doing these fb lives!”
Wood County Committee on Aging (Bowling Green, OH) – Community-Based Organization
Who doesn’t like to play games? Getting people “together” to play games in the middle of a pandemic with social distancing restrictions poses challenges, but ones that the Wood County Committee on Aging found a way to overcome. The Committee on Aging, which is funded in part by the Area Agency on Aging in Northwest Ohio, created a way for older adults in their community to play virtual Bingo. A Bingo card template was shared on Facebook. In order to achieve Bingo, several tasks had to be completed related to health/wellness-promoting activities listed vertically, horizontally or diagonally. These activities include connecting with friends/family, learning, doing something creative and listening to music. When a player thinks they have achieved bingo, they contact the Committee’s staff via Facebook messenger or email. Bingo winners then receive raffle tickets, and they can receive a maximum of five raffle tickets per week. Raffles are conducted live on Facebook once a week. Prizes include mystery gift bags and grocery store gift cards. Given the benefits of social engagement, this is a game that everybody wins!
Mather Lifeways (Evanston, IL) – Community-Based Organization
In order to connect older adults in nine different Mather locations (three Mather cafes in Chicago; three life-plan communities in Evanston, Wilmette, and Tucson; two Chicago neighborhood locations in Skokie and Morton Grove; and the telephone program called Telephone Topics), former talk-show host Dick Cavett was interviewed by University of Illinois at Chicago television history instructor Walter Podrazik. The one hour Zoom session included video clips of celebrity guests from Cavett’s past shows including Katherine Hepburn and Salvadore Dali. Approximately 150 older adults participated.
SeniorAge Area Agency on Aging (Springfield, MO) – Area Agency on Aging
SeniorAge Area Agency on Aging in Springfield, MO is using their weekly radio show to present new information and answer questions about COVID-19 and how the virus is affecting their community. The program is broadcast on AM 1340 or FM 92.3 KICK every Tuesday at 11:00 am.
Aroostook Area Agency on Aging (Presque Isle, ME) – Area Agency on Aging
The Aroostook Area Agency on Aging is finding creative ways to address the social and emotional needs of older adults while following physical distancing guidelines by offering virtual wellness programming. Through a joint venture partnership called Healthy Living for ME with two other Agencies on Aging in Maine (Spectrum Generations and Seniors Plus), the agency is offering two free programs that older adults can complete in the comfort of their own homes until in-person workshops can safely be conducted. The Tai Chi program is being presented by video call through 16-session classes, while free interactive toolkits are being offered for its Better Health Now program. Participants in the Better Health Now program receive weekly support calls with a certified facilitator over the course of the six-week program and learn techniques for action planning, problem solving and decision making.
Neighborhood House Senior Center (Portland, OR) – Community-Based Organization
Once staff at the Neighborhood House Senior Center began working from home at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they realized that participants may be missing vital social connections. So, the Neighborhood House staff contacted all 335 senior center participants to identify older adults who were living alone and have started making weekly calls to these individuals to provide that missing social connection. In addition, Neighborhood House has used online platform Zoom to move some of its exercise programs such as Tai Chi, Rhythmic Chair Exercise, Qi Gong, Yoga and Meditation online. In response to the pandemic, Neighborhood House also created several new programs and activities that promote social engagement and combat social isolation, including Zoom classes focused on how to use social media and visual chat programs, an Italian learning class, a pen pal program that engages students from a nearby school, a food box delivery program to homebound older adults through the organization’s food pantry and a volunteer group that runs errands and grocery shops for homebound older adults.
LifeTime Resources (Dillsboro, IN) – Area Agency on Aging
To help older adults remain socially connected and engaged, LifeTime Resources implemented different virtual or remote activities for participants in their Senior Nutrition Activity Centers (SNAC), including socially distanced walks with SNAC participants who live in the same housing complex. Staff are also providing wellness checks via telephone or FaceTime.
Trumbull Senior Center (Trumbull, CT) – Community-Based Organization
When COVID-19 placed a halt on in-person activities, the Trumbull Senior Center decided to move much of its scheduled programming to Zoom. The livestreamed classes include AAA safe drivers’ presentations, COVID-19 question and answer, brain games, travel trivia, AARP income tax question and answer, book club, healthy eating with a ShopRite dietician, caregiver presentations and online exercise classes. In response to COVID-19, Trumbull Senior Center also created a weekly question and answer session with an Injury Prevention Nurse from a local hospital to answer questions of senior center participants. To encourage social engagement and combat social isolation, staff have also been conducting bi-weekly check-ins with participants. Trumbull Senior Center also implemented weekly food deliveries for those who are in need and cannot get to a grocery store.
Area Agency on Aging District 7 (Rio Grande, OH) – Area Agency on Aging
Due to physical and social distancing requirements in Ohio, the Area Agency on Aging District 7 (AAA7) has come up with a creative solution to offer wellness programs to older adults. The AAA7 now offers various educational classes, such as a Chronic Pain Self-Management Program through a telephone conference call. The new format allows the AAA7 to connect with and support participants while they learn how to deal with chronic pain. The class provides older adults with tools and proven strategies to manage chronic pain and feel better. Once registered, participants will receive a free Chronic Pain Self-Management kit in the mail and the conference call information prior to the start of the class. Contents in the kit will be used for the weekly calls. The AAA7 plans to offer other wellness classes in the future using this format or an online format. Classes include Chronic Disease Self-Management, Diabetes Self-Management and Tools for Caregivers.
Engaging Older Adults At Home
St. Paul’s Senior Services (San Diego, CA) – Community-Based Organization
St. Paul’s Senior Services in San Diego, CA has started a ‘Sunshine For Seniors’ program’ to provide activities for older adults to do while home during this time of physical distancing. San Diego residents are being asked to donate the following items so that they can be delivered to older adults in the community:
Cards with encouraging messages (store-bought or handmade)
A nice letter
A drawing
Coloring book pages
An inspiring story or message
Large print puzzle books such as crosswords or Sudoku
Jewish Family Services (San Diego, CA) – Community-Based Organization
Matching community needs to skills, the San Diego Jewish Family Services encouraged older adults to use their sewing skills to make face masks that can be used during the COVID-19 pandemic. The masks adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and are being disseminated to food distribution workers and drivers. This innovative program highlights the ingenuity of older adults and supports their desire to contribute to the community while following shelter-in-place guidelines. This is a great example of how older adults can make their mark and give back at any age.
Advantage Aging Solutions (Tallahassee, FL) – Area Agency on Aging
Advantage Aging Solutions, the Area Agency on Aging for North Florida, joined forces with longtime partner Elder Care Services, a local community-based organization, to help older adults in the community stay active—both physically and mentally—throughout the COVID-19 crisis and combat social isolation that comes about from physical distancing. To complement other opportunities offered for social interaction online, the AAA and Elder Care Services wanted to offer hands-on activities that allow the hands, mind and body to work together and help older adults stay sharp in their activities of daily living. Thanks to more than $3,000 in donations from the community, the two agencies are compiling goody bags filled with hands-on activities like painting and puzzles and will be delivering the bags to 500 older adults in their community.
Silver Linings (Oldbridge Township, NJ) – Community-Based Organization
We all love selfies but the older adults at the Silver Linings at Old Bridge (formerly the Old Bridge Senior Center) took them to a whole new level. As a way to engage older adults in learning new technology, the Silver Linings’ “Selfie Project” encouraged older adult participants to get out their smart phones and take photos and “selfies” that they could text and to share with family and friends and the Center. The photos that the older adults took showed them doing a range of activities, including exercise, and dancing. The Center collected the photos and organized them into a collage which was shared on social media in an old-fashioned Polaroid frame graphic. The successful project encouraged the older adults to use their phones in new and different ways to stay visually and virtually connected. And, the project won first place in the National Senior Center Programs of Excellence Contest!
Area Agency on Aging District 7 (Rio Grande, OH) – Area Agency on Aging
With COVID-19 postponing scheduled evidence-based health and wellness classes, the Area Agency on Aging District 7 recently launched a new feature to continue to provide wellness information and resources to clients and the community. This new feature, “Wellness Tip of the Day,” offers wellness tips every Monday and Thursday through the agency’s Facebook page to help encourage older adults to remain active and healthy throughout the pandemic.
Union County Division on Aging (Elizabeth, NJ) – Area Agency on Aging
The Union County Division on Aging has partnered with the local Jewish Community Center to have its social workers and recreational therapists provide virtual exercise classes and other activities online. For those who aren’t familiar with Zoom, the agency is also providing tutorials to help older adults in its community learn to use the platform. Additionally, nurses from this AAA’s closed adult day care facility are now performing remote health and wellness checks for older adults in its community.
Robotic Pets to Reduce Social Isolation (New York, Florida) – Area Agencies on Aging
With the results of a 2019 pilot test conducted in New York state showing that robotic pets help decrease social isolation among older adults living at home, the New York Aging Network turned to robotic pets as a tool to help combat social isolation, loneliness and depression resulting from the need to physically distance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York state association of AAAs (Association on Aging in New York, or AgingNY), New York State Office for the Aging and Ageless Innovation, a robotic pet manufacturer, joined forces to distribute more than 1,100 robotic Joy for All Companion Pets to older adults in New York most at-risk for social isolation. The partnership allowed the New York AAAs to purchase robotic cats and dogs at a discounted rate and distribute them to older adults who would most benefit from the companionship the robotic pets provide.
The robotic pets allow socially isolated older adults to receive the positive benefits they would similarly receive from a live cat or dog, without needing to worry about the cost of food or vet bills. In Florida, the state’s Aging Network is also providing robotic pets to socially isolated older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias through a partnership with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and Ageless Innovation.
Kingsport Senior Center (Kingsport, TN) – Community-Based Organization
When the Kingsport Senior Center closed its facility and all branch locations due to COVID-19, staff turned to Facebook to keep its clients engaged. With more than 2,600 senior center participants connected to its Facebook page, staff began using Facebook to offer a variety of programming including “name that tune,” Pictionary, Jeopardy and trivia games through Facebook Live as well as other opportunities for senior center clients to interact and engage, such as “mystery staff” and “caption contest” Facebook posts.
Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services (Fairfax, VA) – Community-Based Organization
With its 14 senior centers closed indefinitely, the Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS) created a Virtual Center for Active Adults to continue to enrich the lives of older adults in Fairfax County while combatting social isolation. The virtual center offers a space for older adults to connect with peers and engage in activities over Zoom, including fitness classes, brain games, trivia and art classes. The virtual center also uses Zoom to host lunch bunch gatherings for older adults three times a week to provide an opportunity for social engagement among participants and lunch bunch gatherings for caregivers two times a week to support and engage caregivers around various topics.
Greater Lynn Senior Services (Lynn, MA) – Area Agency on Aging
After Greater Lynn Senior Services (GLSS), the Area Agency on Aging in Lynn, MA, adapted its core programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff began brainstorming how else the agency could support clients and reduce social isolation through its programs and services. To offer ways its clients could stay engaged from home, GLSS created GLSS TV and Lunchtime With GLSS. GLSS TV is a 30-minute television program that airs three times each week and features a variety of activities targeted to older adults, including cooking segments, chair exercises and information about GLSS programs and services. The program airs on local cable stations, though those who live outside of Lynn can also watch the show live at lynntv.org and view past episodes at glss.net/glss-tv. Lunchtime With GLSS is a twice-weekly telephone call-in program where clients can enjoy their home-delivered or homemade lunch over the phone with other older adults. Both programs ensure that older adults with or without internet access can participate and engage with GLSS and other older adults in their community.
Transportation and Social Isolation
NV Rides (Fairfax, Virginia, VA) – Community-Based Organization
Through the technology it uses as part of its volunteer transportation program, NV Rides can locate alternative volunteer transportation providers to address priority ride requests. Currently, “rides of necessity” (e.g., medical and grocery trips) are continuing, with rides to dialysis and chemotherapy appointments considered to be priorities. Like many volunteer transportation programs, NV Rides relies on drivers age 65 and older to serve as volunteers, many of whom may not feel safe driving during the coronavirus crisis. As a result, NV Rides is stepping up its recruitment of younger volunteers during this critical time, to provide high priority rides or training to help older adults use technology to order groceries and other goods online.
Volunteer Assisted Transportation (Knoxville, TN)– Community-Based Organization
In response to COVID-19, Volunteer Assisted Transportation (VAT), operated by Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, has identified rides to medical appointments and grocery stores as “priority rides” to be provided by its volunteers. VAT has experienced a reduction in ride demand, noting 40 cancellations in two days. VAT sanitizes vehicles at least once per day to ensure they are clean for the next driver on the following day. VAT has made it a standard practice to provide hand sanitizer, tissues and wipes in all vehicles. In addition to providing priority rides, VAT is working with other Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee programs to deliver meals and shop for clients who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes. VAT’s mobile meal delivery service and companion calls are helping to address social isolation among their riders. VAT has also committed to contacting their regular and more frequent riders who have not requested rides recently to make sure they are receiving the services they need.
Mountain Empire Older Citizens (Big Stone Gap, VA) – Area Agency on Aging
At the time of its conversation with National Aging and Disability Transportation Center in March 2020, Mountain Empire Older Citizens (MEOC) had noted a 15 percent decline in ridership in its demand-response public transportation system as a result of COVID-19. MEOC’s Call Center now identifies riders who have chronic health conditions, such as dialysis patients and those receiving cancer treatment, enabling MEOC to provide rides to those with high-risk conditions separate from rides for the general public. To keep drivers and riders safe, MEOC is sanitizing its buses more frequently, at least two times per day. In addition, drivers sanitize vehicles after transporting riders who display signs of a cough before the next rider is picked up.
Caregiver Social Isolation
Central Vermont Council on Aging (Barre, VT) – Area Agency on Aging
The Central Vermont Council on Aging is maintaining its USAging-recognized bi-monthly Caregiver Tea during this time by utilizing the agency's conference call line. Keeping up the tradition of having a "Poems We Love" Caregiver Tea during April’s National Poetry Month, the AAA invited family caregivers to brew a cup of comfort from home and call in to read poems that they’d like to share for the enjoyment of all to uplift, strengthen and sustain their fellow caregivers or just listen to the poems their fellow caregivers decided to share. Following the tea, attendees sent selfies of participation, along with enthusiastic messages of appreciation including, "It was really fun and comforting to hear everyone's voices—thank you!!”
Meeting the Needs of Caregivers Virtually (Rio Grande, OH; Boulder, CO) – Area Agencies on Aging
With many informal and family caregivers finding themselves more isolated, stressed and confused during this crisis, Area Agencies on Aging around the country are launching new virtual caregiver support programs. In Rio Grande, OH, the Area Agency on Aging District 7 launched a new monthly Caregiver Telephone Support Group to bring caregivers together for support, education, resources and connection. In Boulder, CO, the Boulder County Area Agency on Aging took a multimedia approach for its new four-week, eight-hour virtual caregiver program, offering video clips, art, poetry, self-reflection and discussion via video conferencing to provide participants with tools to help ensure they thrive during their caregiving journey.
Dementia And Social Isolation
AgeGuide (Lombard, IL) – Area Agency on Aging
The Good Memories Choir, run by AgeGuide (the Area Agency on Aging for Northeastern Illinois) and the Sounds Good Choir, creates a space for people in AgeGuide’s service area living with early-stage memory loss to sing familiar songs that they love with their care partners through structured weekly rehearsals. The Good Memories Choir provides a fun, upbeat community to those living with Alzheimer's or another dementia and an opportunity to make a new friend—something AgeGuide knew needed to continue in some way. To reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 during in-person choir practices, AgeGuide turned to Zoom to ensure singers could participate in the choir during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rehearsals for Good Memories Choir: Summer Rocks 2020 kicked off June 18 and will run weekly through August 6 via a dedicated Zoom rehearsal room with password access, allowing singers and their care partners to safely participate in the rehearsals. The eight-week program will culminate in a virtual concert performance at AgeGuide’s 25th Annual Senior Lifestyle Expo on August 18th.
ADRC of Ozaukee County (Port Washington, WI) – Community-Based Organization
To continue to serve people living with dementia and their care partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ADRC of Ozaukee County successfully shifted its in-person memory cafés, Music and Memory Program and Support Group to the Zoom technology platform and telephone calls. The use of Zoom has allowed the ADRC of Ozaukee County to modify the social events for individuals living with dementia and their care partners by incorporating interactive activities to provide a visual connection between participants while encouraging engagement and activity. The ADRC of Ozaukee County is also continuing to reach and engage older adults, people with disabilities and caregivers during this time by shifting to virtual caregiver support groups, virtual Medicare classes and drive-through meal pickup in place of congregate dining.