Volunteers Set Senior Center Apart

For nearly 14 years the Senior Health and Peer Counseling Center in Santa Monica has provided health care services to meet the physical, mental and social needs of thousands of elderly residents.

What sets it apart from other centers is a network of more than 300 volunteers who serve as peer counselors.

That component of the center caught the eye of the White House, which last week named the center an official “Point of Light” under President George Bush’s program to recognize individuals and institutions working to solve problems in their own communities.

Bush has called on people to make community service a central part of life to brighten society like “a thousand points of light.”

According to a White House statement, the center was selected because of its low-cost health screenings, its internship program for health professionals and its volunteer program that trains people to “provide peer counseling, in English and Spanish, to seniors who need help--such as the handicapped and mentally ill and those who just need a friend.”

“We consider it a real honor to be selected the 31st point of light and the first health and human services organization,” said Don Cohen, the center’s associate director. “It’s an affirmation of the services and concept of preventive health care.”

Cohen said center Executive Director Bernice Bratter--who is credited for much of its success--was awakened at 1 a.m. with the news of the award in the London hotel where she is vacationing.

The private, nonprofit center, at 2125 Arizona Ave., was founded in 1976 by five retirees who wanted to start a free preventive health center for elderly adults. It now has a staff of 37 offering programs ranging from blood pressure and glaucoma testing, nutrition and fitness workshops to support groups for widows and widowers.

“As one gets older, you find you have fewer people to hug,” said Anne Jackson, 70, during a break at a recent support-group meeting. “I can hug people here. This place is like a family to me.”

Indeed, the concept of integrating volunteer peer counselors with professional health care providers has made it a national model for other programs. The center has published a 250-page manual for other agencies to establish peer counseling programs. Cohen said more than 100 agencies have purchased the manual.

“Rather than having simply a professionally trained clinic, the program is based on a concept that you can have people helping people with the proper training,” Cohen said.

The center’s annual budget has climbed to $1.5 million, with 25% of it coming from government grants, including one from the city of Santa Monica. The balance comes from private and corporate donations. Five years ago, Cohen said, about 70% of its funding came from government grants.

More than 10,000 clients receive direct assistance annually, with another 15,000 served annually through educational presentations. The more than 300 volunteers put in more than 40,000 hours a year.

The center’s programs have grown such that a second facility will be opened in the spring. The center will occupy about 7,400 square feet of space under a favorable 20-year lease in the city-owned Ken Edwards Multipurpose Service Center being completed on 4th Street across from the Santa Monica Place shopping mall. The senior center contributed $100,000 toward the facility’s construction.