VENTURA : Phone Friend Volunteers Offer a Bit of Cheer to Homebound Seniors

Anne Ramirez has spent an hour or so every day for the past three years making calls to senior citizens across Ventura.

The 25-year-old Ramirez, who lives in Ventura, said her primary mission is to ensure that none of the three seniors she currently calls has had a medical emergency, but she is proud that her efforts also brighten up the lives of people who may not hear from anyone else all day.

“They always tell me they look forward to my phone calls,” Ramirez said. “Some of them tell me that they don’t get phone calls, even from their families, on a regular basis.”

Ramirez is a Phone Friend, a volunteer in a 7-year-old program begun to check up on homebound seniors, according to Betty Krause, recreation supervisor for the Ventura Parks and Recreation Division’s senior support services department.

The volunteer program now reaches 34 seniors across Ventura, each of whom gets a phone call several times a week at a regular time from one of 22 volunteers, Krause said.

Krause puts volunteers through a one-day training program that teaches them to be good listeners. They are also familiarized with emergency processes in case their phone friend does not answer at a prearranged time.

Since Krause took over the program three years ago, there has not been a medical emergency, she said.

“Knock on wood, we have been very, very lucky and not had to go through any lifesaving operations at all.”

Aside from the program’s preventive medical value, it also fills a need in many of the seniors’ lives, volunteers said.

“I just put myself in their spot,” said 66-year-old volunteer Marjorie Langin, a former executive secretary now living in Casitas Springs. “I figured it sure would be nice to get a phone call once in a while, to know someone out there cared about me.”

While Langin said she has visited her phone friend on occasion, Ramirez said she has never met any of her calling buddies.

“You just really develop friendships with these people over the phone,” she said, adding that the relationships do not suffer from a lack of personal contact.

One of the seniors to benefit from the Phone Friends Program is Viola Jensen, 89, who has been speaking with Ramirez for several years.

“I sure do enjoy getting her calls. You have no idea how nice it is to have someone call you up and just say, ‘Hi, Viola, how are you?’ ”

Krause said the program is always looking for new volunteers to make calls. Call 653-5594 for more information.