Senior citizens and college students to pair up, virtually, through innovative program
Friendship Village and Create Circles are partnering to help combat the loneliness many older adults are facing due to social isolation as a result of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. The non-profit Create Circles, with the support of Washington University’s geriatricians, is focused on bringing the university’s students, as well as various students from colleges around Missouri, together – virtually – with older individuals to bring humanity and social connection back.
Student volunteers communicate and build relationships with the residents at Friendship Village, and are in turn mentored by these residents, which helps develop purpose and combat loneliness for everyone involved. The volunteer/older adult pairs will work toward a project – for example, writing articles, developing a recipe book or crafting a memoir – which will showcase the older adults’ insights and add value to the mentee and the community.
“We want to get students involved in helping combat the isolation happening for our older adults, now more than ever,” says the Director of Create Circles, Harsh Moolani. “We have over 260 volunteers signed up who are trained in topics including: how to have meaningful and engaging conversations with older adults, how to make the older adults feel valued and validated, things to avoid when speaking with older adults, creating a lasting impact on the older adults that they work with, and much more.”
The two organizations are in the process of matching students and residents based on shared interests and compatibility with the goal of establishing meaningful friendships and learning from one another. Calls are occurring two to three times a week with the program starting a week and half ago at the senior living community.
“Friendship Village is proud to work with Creative Circles on such an important project. We have amazing residents at our two communities who have been and remain leaders in the St. Louis community. This is a wonderful way to not only combat loneliness during the pandemic, but also an opportunity for our residents to impart their knowledge to the younger generation. We can’t wait to see the projects and positive health outcomes that result,” says President and CEO, Terry Walsh.
Friendship Village’s guiding principles ensure their residents are cared for physically, mentally and spiritually in order to help them stay independent longer. With the help of this program, the retirement community will provide one more way of helping its residents do just that.
For more information on Create Circles visit their website at www.studentstoseniors.com or click here.