CAPITAL REGION CARES
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
E Eskaton
Facilitating connections in time of need.
E
skaton has offered Telephone Reassurance since 1996, but
the outreach program is especially critical in the midst of the
COVID-19 pandemic. These challenging times have inspired
a wellspring of volunteers, dramatically expanding the number of
daily calls made to socially isolated older adults throughout the
greater Sacramento area.
Typically, volunteers place phone calls from Eskaton’s
Carmichael-based call center to older adults living alone, providing
social contact, resources and well-being checks. During the
pandemic, calls are still made seven days a week, though volunteers
now leverage technology to practice social distancing, calling from
the safety of their homes. Eskaton’s trained staff continue from the
call center.
“Before the declared pandemic, we had plans in place to double
the program’s reach within 18 months,” says Therese ten Brinke,
director of strategic initiatives. “Therefore, we were perfectly poised
to implement new call-center technology to expand the program
during this crisis. Though the governor’s recently implemented
pandemic hotline for older adults will certainly be helpful, Eskaton
already has an established, proactive program to address a vast
spectrum of participants’ issues before they become emergencies,
and we’re building on that.”
Prior to the pandemic, approximately 40 volunteers made calls
to nearly 500 older adults on a daily and weekly basis, and those
numbers have already doubled. “We saw a spike in volunteers even
before there was an increase in participants, thanks to social media
and good-hearted community members,” ten Brinke says.
About 75 percent of participants live alone, and the program
connects them with resources to help them sustain their
independent living. “As this pandemic has taught us, connections
to people and services is crucial to everyone’s well-being, but
especially so for older adults,” says ten Brinke. “This service
is completely free to participants. We now encourage other
organizations to partner with us to provide essential resources that
support and uplift the older adults in our community.”
ESKATON.ORG
May 2020 | comstocksmag.com
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