Visits Nurture Freedom and Friendships

Sometimes they play cards--Skip-Bo and Uno are favorites--while other times they listen to music and just talk. And occasionally they go for rides in the younger woman’s vintage Mustang, taking in ocean vistas from the Palos Verdes Peninsula or checking out the Hollywood landmarks etched deep in the older woman’s memory.

“And we always have a good laugh. We’re generally in very good spirits,” said Babs Aydelott, speaking of her four-year friendship with Delia Magee, a client of a multifaceted program to help the elderly and disabled of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach lead independent, fulfilling lives.

Aydelott is a volunteer with the Friend to Friend component of the Beach Cities Health District’s Community Care Services program. After a training period (with sessions held in the evenings to accommodate volunteers’ work or school schedules), the volunteers, ages 18 and up, are paired with elderly or disabled clients with whom they visit at least one hour a week. Volunteers have periodic follow-up meetings with district staff members who provide support and advice as needed.

“We’re here really just to be a friend, a good listener,” Aydelott said. “It’s a very simple, flexible way to help someone else. It doesn’t require much time, and you can do it after work or on weekends.”

But such a simple act makes a big difference to someone who is lonely and has a hard time getting out and about, said Marilyn Rafkin, director of Community Care Services for the health district, which serves residents of the three South Bay cities.

Together with two other volunteer programs, Peer Counselors and Errand Volunteers, Friend to Friend helps the health district stretch its dollars and reach more clients than its tight budget would otherwise allow, Rafkin said. Because volunteers are given training and work closely with the professional staff, they can provide high-quality service, she added.

Peer counselors are older adults who are trained to provide fellow seniors with confidential emotional support and encouragement. Errand volunteers help elderly or disabled clients shop for groceries or pick up prescriptions. They also provide rides to doctors’ appointments or outings at senior centers.

“Just these small services and visits can make a huge difference,” Rafkin said. “Sometimes they are all that people need to be able to stay in their homes.”

The volunteers are an integral part of the program Rafkin oversees. After a prospective client is referred by a physician, clergy member or agency, one of Rafkin’s staff of care managers makes a home visit to assess the person’s needs and help set goals.

Clients can receive help with laundry and other household duties, gain access to health and fitness programs and participate in at least one of 12 support groups. The program has served 527 people so far this year in its care management program and 157 in support groups. There is a waiting list for some services.

The program is funded entirely by the health district. Grants from foundations, and especially from the government, are difficult to obtain because clients live in the largely affluent beach cities. But that doesn’t mean they can afford to pay for their own services, Rafkin said, noting that 82% of the care management clients have annual incomes of less than $25,000.

“People think of the beach cities as pretty affluent, but this is a sort of hidden population. Many of the elderly moved here in the 1940s and 1950s,” when the beach towns were affordable and made up of middle-class and blue-collar neighborhoods, she noted.

Volunteers are always needed, even if they can give just an hour or two a week, Rafkin said. The program can be reached at www.bchd.org or (310) 374-3426, Ext. 144.

Aydelott, for example, fits time with Magee around her work as a travel agent and part-time kitchen manager for a Manhattan Beach synagogue.

Magee said she owes much to the community care program. Her physician referred her eight years ago, when she had undergone heart bypass surgery shortly after moving to senior citizens’ housing run by the Salvation Army in Redondo Beach.

“He was afraid I was going into depression. I didn’t know how I was going to manage. I was a mess,” said the long-divorced Magee, now a lively, outgoing 75. She started with a peer counselor and, as she progressed, was switched to the Friend to Friend program. There she met Aydelott.

“We have so many good times. We are real friends,” Magee said as the two sat one recent afternoon in Aydelott’s comfortable beach cottage, one block from the sand in the El Porto section of Manhattan Beach. They talked about their favorite music, the poetry they like to read together and the swing-dancing classes they took

Aydelott said she, too, has benefited from the friendship, perhaps even more than Magee.

“Volunteering takes you out of yourself and introduces you to some wonderful people with wonderful stories,” Aydelott said. “As time goes on, I am finding it more and more of a privilege to spend time with Delia. She is an open, giving person; she has a heart full of love.”