Caring for aging parents: Finding help in your community

Help for caring for a sick or elderly parent can come from an unlikely source on the North Fork – the elderly themselves.

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Suffolk County is a volunteer organization that offers free services for elderly community members, by elderly community members.

The all-volunteer organization, which is made up of 950-strong seniors (aged 55 and older) has been providing assistance to the North Fork’s sick and elderly residents for 42 years, according to Peggy Orsino, the organization’s director of eight years. Society tends to view seniors as frail and elderly – but the organization’s volunteers are anything but, according to Orisno.

“We have a lot of energy,” said Orsino, who pointed out that RSVP’s volunteers logged around 123,000 volunteer hours in 2013 alone.

Here are some of the services RSVP offers:

Home-visits

RSVP hosts a friendly-visitor program, in which RSVP volunteers make social visits to homebound community members’ homes. The program pairs up participants with senior volunteers, who agree to make home-visits to those they are matched with.

“It is simply a social visit,” said Orsino. Volunteers do not cook or clean, but sometimes do grocery shopping or provide transportation to medical appointments for participants.

Orsino said she wishes that the program could extend further to provide more medial appointment transports because it is a service that is much needed on the North Fork and across Suffolk County, but the liability is too high and gas prices often prevent volunteers from making trips.

As it is today, RSVP provides visits to 60 program participants and has hopes of providing more as more volunteers offer their time to RSVP. There is currently a waiting list of around 60 people for the program.

“We are always in need of volunteers, especially on the East End,” said Orsino.

Telephone Reassurance Program

RSVP volunteers have saved several lives through a program called the Telephone Reassurance Program, which provides daily phone calls by volunteers, free of charge, to over 300 sick and elderly participants. The program, which began 24 years ago, resulted in 14 emergency transports for participants in the program to Suffolk County hospitals in 2013.

“Very often this is the only voice participants hear in a day,” said Orsino.

The volunteers not only take the time to chat with the participants, but also ensure their safety by calling either 911 or an emergency contact if the participant does not answer the phone. Volunteers are also trained to provide information on community resources and services offered in their town.

Community Computer Connections

The Community Computer Connections program is flourishing on the East End with the help of RSVP volunteers. The program, Orsino, said allows volunteers to refurbish donated computers with Microsoft products and then provide those computers to elderly residents.

Through the program, homebound community members are able to not only keep in touch with family, said Orsino, but also order medications and groceries online by themselves.

“It is free and keeps them on the information highway and knowing what’s going on,” said Orsino.

Seminars

As staying healthy is an important way to prevent the need for hiring caregivers or relying on family, Orsino said RSVP offers a variety of healthy living workshops and seminars, including one called, “How to Better Manage your Chronic Conditions.”

“On average people 60 and older have two chronic conditions,” said Orsino. “If you they are better able to manage them, there is less. It is also cost effective because there is often less of a need for hospitalization.”

A series of these seminars will be held in the fall in connection with Peconic Bay Medial Center.

For more information on RSVP to either enroll in one of the organization’s programs or to volunteer, click here or call 631-979-9490.