Welcome to Roland’s Good News File.. brought to you by Royal LePage Don Hamilton Real Estate… I’m Roland Archer.
In these times of social distancing and social isolation it’s become difficult to stay connected to the people we love and the friends we care about and feel like we are a part of the world we once knew.
The Municipality of North Perth and the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health have partnered to launch an initiative to change this for seniors with the “Lonely No More” program supported by the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund and Community Foundations of Canada.
The program was initially launched in 2018 in Huron County to provide free weekly phone based programs for targeted at rural isolated seniors.
The calls were done by trained community members to offer peer support, coaching conversations and system navigation assistance. Seniors who took part in the program reported increased social connections as well as making their support systems stronger and larger in scope.
The Lonely No More Peer Senior Volunteers are people who are able to bring their personal experiences to the job in battling isolation with at-risk older adults while also working with getting to the root causes of the factors creating the trying situations with residents.
The program is recruiting community members as volunteers for North Perth’s Lonely No More Program. Gateway is providing free educational opportunities via e-learning courses and webinars to those who are interesting in learning more about peer support, coaching and system navigation.
If you are interested in beging a volunteer or participate in the Lonely No More Program contact North Perth Program Coordinator Kelly Broughton. You can reach her at 519-292-2055. If you would like to participate in the weekly over-the-phone chats with groups of other North Perth Seniors you can call Sarah at 519-612-1053.
For Roland’s Good News File… brought to you by Royal LePage Don Hamilton Real Estate… I’m Roland Archer.
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