Circles of Care: New program, same mission

Providence wanted to expand and transition the Volunteers in Action to a community-based program, said Age+ President Stephanie Hooper, and sent out an RFP (request for proposals) in April. She and HRVAC Executive Director Amy Mallett thought it made sense for the two entities to take it on, as they have worked closely together during the pandemic.

“Amy and I have known each other for four years now and we’ve worked even more closely during COVID in terms of older adult outreach and education,” Hooper said.

Age+ is a “capacity building program,” meaning they don’t operate programs but rather help pilot them. “We’re program innovators,” Hooper said. “We bring some technical expertise in aging, program development and adult education.

“… Our goal is that the community capacity is strengthened to better serve older adults and their support networks and families. And that comes from partnering, not operating, a program for a community.”

Mallett said that the program is a good fit for the adult center, which runs the county’s Meals on Wheels program and already has a relationship — and trust — with area seniors.

“Our Meals on Wheels drivers go out to our clients and they see that the yard is overgrown, the stairs are rotting away, all that kind of stuff, so those are seniors that we want to capture … We have volunteers that go out and connect with seniors already,” Mallett said.

“(It’s a) three-year process to learn how to take on a new project like this that has already been established, and the partnership with Age+ is invaluable to me,” she said. “At this point, I’m just doing it by myself, and they have a lot of staff they can rely on to help get this thing running. I have to build the staff to be able to take it over.”

Mallett helped Age+ get Circles of Care off the ground in The Dalles, “so now it was our turn to help the community expand to Hood River,” Hooper said. “Amy is perfectly positioned to do this work all by herself; we’re just lending a hand to get it going.”

As before, volunteers will provide assistance such as transportation to and from appointments, grocery shopping and/or prescription pickup, light chores and/or yardwork, and friendly check-ins for older adults. “Just a little bit of help now and then to stay where you want to be,” said Hooper.

One component of the Circles of Care program is that everyone has something to offer, from the volunteers to those being served.

“Everybody has a purpose — that’s why it’s a circle,” Hooper said. “Because if someone who gets a ride to Portland wants to pick up the phone and be a text buddy or check-in buddy with someone else, that’s really valuable and helps everyone. And we’re not making that mandatory, but we’re creating pathways so that can happen.”

“It makes it easier for them to accept the help, if they know they can help somebody,” Mallett added. “Then it’s a fair balance to them.”

Those interested in volunteering — or families and seniors interested in Circles of Care’s services — are invited to an informational meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at noon at HRVAC. Lunch will be provided. Mallett and Hooper plan to start matching volunteers with older adults by Oct. 1 (see sidebar). Age+ is currently in the process of hiring a community liaison to run the program.

“We want to get as many people as possible to the informational meeting to see if they’re a fit to be a volunteer, if there’s something that we offer that they want to be a part of, or for family members or seniors who need help, to come out and see the services that we’re going to be offering and how to get signed up,” Mallett said. “We’d love to have a big community showing.”

Volunteers in Action was serving between 50-80 people a quarter, and the two expect similar numbers.

“Volunteer recruitment right now is key so that we can get folks trained, background checked and ready to help. We’re also reaching out to all of the existing Volunteers in Action volunteers and clients to let them know that the services are starting back up,” Hooper said.

“We’re really focusing on continuity for those folks who have already experienced the program and we always have more people in need than we have volunteers, which is why we’re really focused on doing this volunteer drive before we’re signing up and resigning up clients,” she continued. “Amy gets calls every day from people needing just a little help so they can stay in their home and age successfully, remain independent — not because they want to but because they have to from a financial standpoint.”

Volunteers can pick which duties they’re interested in. “Some people just aren’t going to be comfortable going into houses still — we have lots of COVID precautions in place, (but) we don’t force anybody to do anything they’re not comfortable with.”

The program will not have heavy administrative oversight, Mallett said; rather, the volunteer and senior will “have a dialogue back and forth and kind of take the middleman out of it, build that relationship.”

“We’re really excited and really grateful that Providence is continuing to invest in their community in this way. They are an incredible partner,” Hooper said. “It’s invaluable. They’re helping with the transition, and they are financially supporting the transition. They’re giving us all their knowledge, all their tools, and funding for us to adapt however we want.”