At Friends of Seniors it is our mission to deliver volunteer services to individuals 60 years and older to promote independence, to strengthen participants’ receptivity to giving and receiving support, and to deepen community belonging both for senior participants and our volunteers.

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Volunteer Information

ABOUT
Friends of Seniors is a Catholic Community Service volunteer program that offers non-medical, advocacy and daily living support to Juneau individuals 60 years and over. The program reinforces Juneau’s strong community ties by supporting our elders’ staunch desire for independence and their essential place in our larger community. (Scroll down for more about Friends of Seniors and our COVID-19 safety measures.)

SERVICES
Friends of Seniors services are provided by Juneau volunteers for adults age 60+.

• Emergency & COVID planning -Volunteers discuss with participants COVID-19 precautions and concerns. Volunteers guide seniors in creating emergency planning lists and kits. Initiatives include emergency contact lists, medication lists, ‘go bag’ and food, water and medical supply storage. 
• Companionship visits - Volunteers provide companionship visits that may include reading and playing games, writing letters to friends and family, making telephone calls, or going to movies or lunch outings. Companionship visits foster camaraderie and home safety.
• Patient advocate - Volunteers interface with medical caregivers such as home health nurses, primary care physicians, etc. As note keepers, and eyes and ears for participants, volunteers setup reminders in the home to improve compliance and relay information to out-of-town family.
• Wake-up & evening service - Volunteers support participants with morning or evening routines providing a daily check-in, ensuring meals are offered and providing medication reminders.   
• Subsistence hunting and fishing - Volunteers fish or hunt on behalf of participants 65 years and older. Volunteers support participants in completing all necessary proxy and hunting fishing authorization including a physician’s affidavit. For participants who can fish and hunt however may not be comfortable doing so alone, volunteers accompany them on boats or in the backcountry.
• Food prep - Volunteers support participants with preparing meals either alongside participants or for them. This may include creating a series of freezer meals. Volunteers accompany participants on grocery runs or support them with grocery shopping online and curbside pick-up.
• Medical equipment delivery - Volunteers deliver and setup hospital beds, walkers, wheelchairs, and other medical equipment and supplies from local lending organizations. 
• Light housekeeping + outdoor maintenance - Volunteers bring trash reciprocals to the curb, shovel snow, de-ice steps and walkways, mow lawns, weed and garden for or alongside participants.
• Technology support - Volunteers support participants in using technology such as Alexa, Facetime, and Zoom to support connection and improve communication with distant family. Volunteers interface with wireless providers and out-of-town adult children to setup devices and simplify its functionality in participants’ home. Volunteers provide instruction and companionship in operation of technology to improve participants’ enjoyment of online resources and increase confidence of safe use. 
• Heat maintenance - Volunteers check fuel tank levels and interface with supply companies, on senior participants’ behalf, to maintain fillings according to participants’ budget. Volunteers split and/or transfer wood and wood pellets into participants’ homes.
• Home safety - Volunteers offer home safety checks with an emphasis on falls and emergency planning. Volunteers source and install safety equipment or supplies such as grab bars and ramps.
• Mail maintenance - Volunteers collect mail from participants’ mailboxes and read mail aloud when helpful. 
• Pet assistance - Volunteers walk pets, change litter boxes, accompany participants on veterinarian visits and provide pet sitting during illness or decreased mobility. Volunteers pick up and deliver heavy food and supplies from pet stores.  

 
REFERRING SENIORS TO THE PROGRAM
Our senior participants come to us from (1) the individual seniors themselves who are seeking services, (2) their family members, and from (3) local medical and advocacy organizations.

Our initial intake from the referral source is received by phone or email to our staff volunteer coordinator.

• A visit with the potential participant is facilitated by a volunteer. A participant agreement is signed.
• If accepted to the program, both the referral source and participant will receive confirmation.
• As we develop this new program, surveys for referral source feedback are conducted for some participants.

To request to volunteer call 907-500-3934
or email Jessica.Kinville@ccsjuneau.org

MORE ABOUT FRIENDS OF SENIORS
Alaska is built of the strong and independent, evident in our elders’ staunch resolution to maintain independence. However, aging in Juneau presents unique environmental and cultural challenges. And yet, despite the challenges, our seniors hold deep traditional roots to Southeast Alaska. Our elders are native Alaskans, legacy homesteaders, long-standing residents raised to hunt, fish and develop our community; they are determined to live independently in their homes throughout their life.

Friends of Seniors supports this independence by addressing two underlying challenges—Juneau’s environmental and cultural barriers to safe, independent aging as well as a second more universal challenge. This second challenge we recognize as the social and physiological barrier associated with aging into a phase of life in which ability becomes limited. We seek to address resistance to asking for and accepting help, as it presents a significant risk to older Juneauites’ health and independence especially in our community.

Integral to Friends of Seniors is a fluidity between serving and receiving services. We seek to dissolve a hierarchical model of givers and takers and instead create mutuality between providing and giving care. It’s this deeper expression of community, of recognizing each participant’s value to support and be supported that is woven into the framework of the program. We accomplish this by learning each participant’s goals for independence, their capacity and interest to be part of the larger community and the wisdoms of their life experiences. Through these interactions, through defined procedures and tracking mechanisms, we mine for what’s alive inside each person and invite them to express this in their own meaningful way within the community.

Friends of Seniors seeks to alleviate stigma associated with asking for and receiving help. We recognized that loss of control and fear of losing independence is a barrier to seeking help. We anticipate that some volunteers will cycle from volunteer to participant during different phases of health and ability.
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Friends of Seniors discovers the unique experiences, interests and gifts of our participants. We recognize how and when individuals can support another or share their experience and expertise, and we create avenues to make these opportunities possible. 

How is safety addressed during COVID?
Friends of Seniors is born from Hospice and Home Care of Juneau in which homebound patients have been safely seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognize the need, now more than ever, to address both the physical and mental risks of our senior population. Our volunteers fill gaps in services that could jeopardize older adults’ independence and their mental and physical safety.

To ensure the safety of both our volunteers and seniors, volunteers receive training on infection control and, for in-home visits, follow strict protocol. Volunteers wear surgical masks while in the home and use sanitizing wipes and gloves per protocol. 

Participants are also given surgical masks and instructed to wear while the volunteer is present.
Since many of our volunteers are of an at-risk age, not all feel comfortable doing home visits. In these cases, volunteers can provide services outside the home including dog walking, check-in calls, shoveling snow, lawn maintenance, grocery shopping, etc.

Click here to see our COVID-19 Precautions for volunteers.