CLEARLAKE — A unique Lake County program, known as Friendly Visitors Program (FVP), helps people who are older, housebound, or who are alone a lot by connecting them with volunteers who visit on a weekly basis.
Rebecca Rees, the program’s director, worked for behavioral health in programs for older adults previous to FVP. She said, “Right now we have 10 volunteers in Friendly Visitors Program and 10 clients. It may seem like a small number but last summer, in 2020, when I started the job, we had only three volunteers. We are always looking for more volunteers and clients.”
“The program,” Rees said, “had dwindled because of COVID, with the older age group being the most vulnerable. Senior services are really sparse in the county at this time, except for Meals on Wheels. Senior centers have been closed down for almost two years and are just starting to open back up. The mental health department has also lost several staff who worked with older adults.”
“Our Friendly Visitors Program,” Rees continued, “enables our volunteers to bring a lifetime of experiences to enrich the lives of homebound older people, to and enrich their own lives as well. Volunteer social activists may coach their clients in accessing community resources, volunteer artists and writers work on creative projects with their artistic clients, and volunteer gardeners work with client gardeners on their own or community garden plots.”
Joey Liik, an artist and Pilates teacher has been a FVP volunteer since 2019. Her client is artist Nancy Sheppard (featured Feb.1, in the Record-Bee for her first art exhibition). “Nancy is very encouraging about my art,” Liik said. “We talk about art, about her husband who passed, about death. Nothing is taboo. I think it’s a fantastic program because there are a lot of seniors who are housebound. If you don’t have connections with other people, you can easily spiral into depression. I’m very proud of Lake County for having this program.”
Liik’s client Sheppard, 89, said, “I think it’s a wonderful program. I think people get lonely when they’re closed in, especially during these times. I look forward to Joey’s visits. It’s a very loving program and I feel very positive.”
When asked what she and Liik talk about, Sheppard said, “We talk about everything, whatever, however the conversation flows, if something is distressing. We sit outside in the sun and talk about whatever we want or are willing to share. Very real things.” Sheppard sighed and then added, “There’s no beating around the bush, I get lonely, I get frightened, thinking we’re very alone, and it takes a while to realize that we aren’t alone. We are human beings among human beings. The Friendly Visitor will help with all that. Joey helps with all that.”
Volunteer Susan Cameron has been with FVP since 2016. She saw a FVP brochure in the library and signed up. “Knowing that you’re helping people who have very few options such as having no family in the vicinity, is rewarding. Knowing that you’re giving someone a tether to the community is what the program is about. Just meeting people and learning something about their life experiences is rewarding. They aren’t has-beens.”
Cameron recalled several clients. “My 94-year-old client was an interpreter for Japanese in WWII. After that he became a physician and worked all over the world. He had some very interesting experiences and it was a pleasure to chat. He was with it, he was in good shape.”
“I was lamenting to a lady client,” said Cameron, “that I had all these great green tomatoes and didn’t know what to do with them. The woman responded that she grew up on a diary farm and her mother made green tomato pie. She gave me the recipe and now it’s my signature desert to take to events.”
Cameron also spoke of her very first clients, a couple. “The woman was 85 and her husband was in his 90s. The husband had to go into a care home because the woman was no longer able to care for him.” Cameron told how she was able to get the husband into a care home. She feels like she saved them. “If I hadn’t been there….”
“Friendly Visitor Program was an eye on the situation,” said Cameron.
Linda Gardiner, 75, lives in a Kelseyville mobile home park. She and her husband enrolled in Meals on Wheels and that’s how she heard of FVP. “My first volunteer got sick and had to retire and Becky (Rebecca Rees, FVP director) took over. “Becky got me back into reading and now my mobile home community passes books back and forth. Now I have another wonderful volunteer.” She laughed and said, “My husband usually leaves the room when the volunteer visits once a week for one hour. We really try to keep it to one hour. We have so much in common; travel to Belize, Alaska (my favorite part of Alaska was all the snow and the people), our numerous cruises, going to Honduras and of course, reading.”
Gardiner said emphatically, “The Friendly Visitor Program really needs to let other people know about the program.”
Visit Friendly Visitors Program or the Senior Peer Counselors Program at konoctiseniorsupport.com or call Rebecca Rees at 707-995-1417
Both programs are part of Konocti Senior Support, an outreach program of Lake County Behavioral Health.
