A volunteer program that sends visitors into long-term nursing facilities is looking for new recruits willing to spend some time with residents who don’t have family and friends who see them on a regular basis.
Anyone interested in helping may attend the Friendly Visitor training and orientation session from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the Pennyrile Area Development District office, 300 Hammond Drive, Hopkinsville.
Cindy Tabor, the long-term care ombudsman for PADD, said volunteers are needed at 30 nursing facilities in the Pennyrile region, which includes Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Todd and Trigg counties.
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The volunteer program “has been devastated” by COVID-19, said Tabor.
“Our nursing home residents have been through enough over the past two years and could really use seeing some new faces and having some visitors,” Tabor said in a letter seeking new volunteers.
Tabor estimates that 60% of nursing home residents do not have visitors to check on them.
“Research shows that long-term care residents receive better care when they have regular outside visitors,” a PADD flyer on the program states. “With just a few minutes each week, you could change a resident’s life and help improve the quality of care they receive.”
Anyone interested in attending Wednesday’s training session should contact Tabor in advance at 270-886-9484 or cindy.tabor@ky.gov.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
