Reaching out to seniors

CARING FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE
A staff member of diocesan Catholic Charities delivers a bag of food to a senior resident living at the Governor Towers in Paterson. About 600 seniors throughout the city are receiving groceries from diocesan Catholic Charities through its food pantry.

PATERSON  At the Paterson Adult Day Center located in Governor Towers here, the sounds of a piano fill a room with songs of yesteryear. A wave of memories and nostalgia flashes to the minds of the 120 seniors who enjoy daily activities and socialization at the center with their peers living in their golden years.

Since mid-March that music has stopped. There are no more Bingo games. No more hot meals being served. The senior center has been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and these seniors are left in isolation on top of feeling the economic impact of it. Social distancing mandates have been critical to the lives of the elderly. This population is most at risk of serious complications and death due to COVID-19.

The senior day programs operated by diocesan Catholic Charities, which include the Paterson Adult Day Center and the senior activities programs for more than 300 seniors who live in Paterson, continue to help this most vulnerable population. They have been reaching out to seniors by providing groceries to more than 600 seniors and finding creative ways to be social while socially distancing with these service recipients.

Lynn Gaffney, director of senior day programs, shared some of the responses from seniors during the coronavirus outbreak. “This says it all, these quotes from seniors,” said Gaffney, “One senior said, ‘It has been four weeks since I had a fresh vegetable.’ Another said, ‘I was in the kitchen and I missed your call and then I thought, what I am going to do, you are the only person that I talk to each day,’ Another senior said, ‘I hope you are going to say these words to me and tell me we can go back to the center again.’”

In almost all of the homes of the seniors served by the department, there is limited or no technology available. According to Gaffney, about 20 out of 600 seniors have a computer in their homes so video-conferencing or the means of connecting with others through technology is practically non-existent in this low-income senior community. “Not all of them have phones, and if they do, it is a simple phone such as a flip phone, not a smart phone. Therefore we need to be creative with how to facilitate communication and the means of continuing socializing and stimulating them intellectually,” Gaffney said.

Very few of the seniors have family nearby so currently the seniors are receiving wellness phone calls daily by the senior day activities department, which makes about 1,800 phone calls a month. Each week, the seniors are given an activity packet with word/number games, trivia and art projects. Puzzles have been also given for seniors to enjoy at home. The department is also sending out thinking of you cards in the mail every other week.

The greatest need during the pandemic has been food since the seniors have been unable to leave their homes. Volunteers and staff from diocesan Catholic Charities coming from the Father English Center have put together food packages and delivered them to the seniors at their homes providing a healthy, fresh and well-balanced variety of food for more than 600 seniors.

“Volunteers are the ones who are making a difference during this time,” Gaffney said. “The man that usually plays the piano for the seniors came out to help bag food, bringing his wife and his adult daughter to help as well.”

While food is the greatest need for the elderly, keeping them away from loneliness has been especially important. The senior department is accepting donations of puzzles, word games, books, adult art coloring books, colored pencils or any other activity that a person can do on their own.

Before the pandemic, the Paterson Adult Day Center, which is beginning its 45th year, provided socialization, a hot meal, physical, intellectual activities as well as transportation to the center five days a week to seniors in Paterson. The Senior Activities Program provides activities for more than 300 seniors in Paterson. The program runs five days a week with a variety of activities for small and large groups of seniors, including themed parties, physical and intellectual events and bringing the community to the seniors as well as intergenerational events.

“At first, the seniors wondered why we were calling and the calls were short,” Gaffney said. “As the time went on during the pandemic, the seniors realized they do need the phone calls since for many of them, it’s the only phone call they get. The conversations are now much longer.”