My experience with the members I have had the pleasure to speak with have led me down a path that I never would have dreamed of.   

The pandemic has been and is a terrible disease. My family and I have had Covid-19 however, we survived it.  I did lose a cousin and many friends to the disease. And, through it all I lost my job as far as going out in the public.  But, through the 

wonderful programs of SCSEP and Village Connector Experience with the help of Kimberly Crider & Orlene Grant I have been blessed to connect with the elderly and shut-ins. 

Most of my members were really down when I first connected with them.  I only had a couple that were not letting this pandemic get them down. However, they have had a few bad days too.  And, it makes me feel good when I can get them to laugh about something and get their mind off of their stressful situations.   

I have ask some of them if they want to go down from 3 times a week to 2 or from 2 times a week to 1 time but, they all tell me NO!! I look forward to your call.  Some have even told me that they couldn't wait for me to call them because, they wanted to tell me something.   

Some of them are like pulling teeth to get them to open up to talk so, I give them their space and let them talk when they are ready. However, sometime I have to give them a boost.  I will totally go off the subject and start talking about the weather in their area, about what their state bird is, or their state flower is.  If they don't know I will ask them if they think they could find out for me and let me know when I call them back on _Ex._Wed. May 19,2021____   When I call them back and I ask if they found out the information, this is how I handle that situation. If they have the information we discuss it and how they found out. It usually leads to a long conversation.  If they haven't found out the information, I will tell them that I will try to research it and let them know when we talk again. But, I always give them the opportunity to try to find it again before our next call.

I just feel like it gives them something to think about other than their problems. 

I also feel like this is a big circle that comes back around because, they also help me to get my mind off of my problems.  I love helping people and I have been so blessed because, this goes both ways. 

I love my members and my job. 

Thanks,

Vonda

The Juanita C. Grant Foundation Village Connector Program Experience Giving Senior Members a new lease on life resulting from COVID 19 Isolation

Ida, Ambassador for the Village Connector Experience made initial contact with senior member Suellen September 1, 2020. Suellen, is a 66-year-old widow, stricken with a stroke which left her paralyzed on her right size. Suellen stated that her stroke was from stress taking care of her late husband. She expressed how much she and her husband enjoyed dancing, going to the movies, travelling and dinner prior to his illness and death. She stated how good her husband was to her and how much she misses him. Suellen prior to the death of husband and her stroke, worked as a bookkeeper for five restaurants and that her husband was a Chiropractor. Suellen’s daughter sold her home, and she now lives in a studio apartment in a senior complex where she has two friends in Colorado.

During my initial contact with Suellen, her voice tone was of sadness, angry, hesitant, flat, slow, deliberate, and soft spoken. I asked Suellen what she enjoyed doing, she indicated since the stroke she basically did not do anything but walk around her senior complex. I asked her if there was something she would like to do or go, she stated that she would like to go far, far away, I asked exactly where, she said far away. Since she did not state where she wanted to go, I surmised that she was referring to heaven. I asked her if she watched TV, read books or the newspaper, she indicated she watched little TV and did not read the paper or books. I kept trying to determine what else did she like to do, then she indicated she enjoyed comedy, and her favorite comedian is Steven Wright. So, I asked her if I retrieved on my computer comedy by Steven Wright would she be interested in listening to him, she indicated in an excited tone “yes” she would, so we would listen to Steven Wright twice a week and she genuinely enjoyed it. I also noticed with engaging her she would become frustrated when she could not pronounce some words, so I started noticing certain words she was having problems pronouncing, I asked her if she would like for me to research phonics that we could make into a game to practice, she gleefully said yes, and we did that for a couple of weeks and I told her that I noticed an improvement in her pronouncing words, she was happy to hear that.

Suellen stated that she was Jewish and that she celebrated Rosh Hashanah, so that I could intelligently talk to her about a religion she enjoyed, I learned about the religion and the types of food they eat during this celebration and I also learned how to say “have a good and sweet year” in Hebrew, she really got a kick out of that. She told me one day that she enjoyed me calling her and I could tell in her voice tone, how much she appreciated the weekly conversations. To further emphasize the value of my engagements with her, her daughter an only child invited her to babysit for her two small children a couple of Saturday evenings which was a first and she genuinely enjoyed spending extra time with her grandchildren and got a joy talking about them.

During my engagement with Suellen, she had come from a person who during my initial call, voice tone was of sadness, angry, hesitant, flat, slow, deliberate, soft spoken, and I would say did not have a will to live. Now, Suellen had excitement in her voice and was going out on day trips in the mountains with a male friend and having lunch at a local restaurant. I always applauded her motivation to be happy.

I discovered later, that Suellen’s stroke caused her to have memory lapses, she later revealed to me that she was having group meetings on her computer weekly, she previously stated she could not use the computer anymore and she enjoyed word puzzles.