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.
- RELATED: Restoring a sense of belonging: the unsung importance of casual relationships for older adults
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. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
