REACHING OUT

KEEPING AN EYE ON OLDER ADULTS IN THE COMMUNITY

BY SHAWN RYAN

Things were going pretty well in the Older Adults Community Task Force. Older adults stuck in their houses to escape COVID-19 infection were getting food and medicines delivered; transportation to doctors and other appointments was provided when needed; social isolation was relieved by phone calls and some socially distanced visits.

Then tornadoes hit on Easter Sunday in April.

“Resources for COVID had to be diverted to the the tornado, which is understandable,” says Dr. Kristi Wick. “Things kicked along pretty well until the tornadoes really ramped things up a lot.”

Phone, internet and electricity disappeared in the hardest-hit areas, sometimes for more than a week. No phone calls or text messages or emails for anyone, including those 65 years and older.

“How are they getting their healthcare without a phone?” asks Wick, Vicky B. Gregg chair of gerontology. “How do they know who to contact if they have health care needs? Certainly they’re not getting online.”

Even before the tornadoes, Wick had spent weeks scrambling to make sure older adults got what they needed in the Chattanooga area. Seeing the desperate need, she became the hub for local organizations and others wanting to help older adults who might not be able to fend for themselves during the pandemic. She organized daily Zoom meetings to discuss the who, what, when and how of helping the elderly with others.

“All the structure around COVID response was building, and there wasn’t a particular group that was looking at older adults,” she says.

Reaching out to those who needed help, she worked with more than a dozen groups and agencies, including the Hamilton County Health Department and Office of Emergency Management, the Southeast Area Agency on Aging and Disability, St. Alexius Outreach Ministries, the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, the United Way and the Greater Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Students and faculty from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga pitched in, including the School of Nursing, music therapy and social work programs.

COVID testing was part of the effort, taking place in public housing communities, senior living facilities and other neighborhoods where older adults congregate, Wick says. More than 500 were tested and, surprisingly, all tests came back negative, she adds.

Lack of human contact is an ongoing and critical need for those who are homebound, she says, and it may be the toughest one to address.

“We knew we could meet the basic needs, but the isolation piece is the one that we worry about the most,” she explains. “People just give up. They’re lonely. They haven’t seen their family. They’ve seen incredible amounts of death, and some people just lose the will to live.

“We’re still really active in trying to deal with this.” To address the issue:

• The City of Chattanooga created a phone bank and recruited volunteers to call older adults.

• Bags were made and distributedto public housing residents. The bags included donations of small activities by local volunteers and books from the Chattanooga Public Library. AARP also donated hand sanitizer.

• The Social Isolation Community Group sponsored multiple pop-up, socially distanced events, including animal parades, signage, goodie bags, entertainment provided by UTC music therapy students and dance companies.

• The Enterprise Center and EPB set up Wi-Fi hotspots in neighborhoods to increase internet access for local residents.

• Local volunteers created door decorations that were delivered and hung at a local nursing home to spread cheer.

The effort to help senior citizens across the region is ongoing and will continue as long as the danger of coronavirus remains, Wick says. Despite the seemingly never-ending work and moments of confusion, dismay and worry, she says the outreach effort has been worth it.

“Looking back, it’s been extremely rewarding,” she says. “It’s been a community collaboration. It’s not one person. It's not one entity. It's everybody really working together.”

AGENCIES IN ADULT OUTREACH PROGRAM

• Hamilton County Health Department

• Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management

• The Southeast Area Agency on Aging and Disability

• St. Alexius Outreach Ministries

• The Partnership for Families, Children and Adults

• Erlanger Behavioral Health Hospital

• The Bethlehem Center

• The United Way

• Hamilton County Medical Society

• The Greater Chattanooga Area Food Bank

• YMCA Mobile Food Market

• The Chattanooga Housing Authority

• BlueCross BlueShield

• Cigna Healthcare

• Galen Medical Group

• Chattanooga Public Library

• The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga

• CHI Memorial Center for Healthy Aging