Peer-to-peer: Program aims to bring the aging population together

EASTERN PALESTINE — When Barb Kliner shared her plans to start a community organization to support and benefit East Palestine’s aging population, she had a long list of services she hoped to implement in the village. One such service was the buddy system, a network of volunteers looking to connect with older residents who live alone.

Thanks to the newly launched district program of EPGO — the organization Kliner founded in September — such outreach is now possible.

“One of the things I talked about when I started this group was partnerships and working to find county and state programs to help our older population.” – said Kliner. “And after just a few months, we found a partnership thanks to a district grant that offers the Golden Friends program. This kind of ties in with the program I was talking about, the buddy program. In this case, volunteers connect with people who cannot leave their homes, and all they ask is to visit them twice a month.”

Golden Friends is a partnership program that connects volunteers aged 55 or older with homebound people, also aged 55 or older. According to the Lisbon-based Seniors Support Action Group (SSAG), the program requires volunteers to visit isolated residents twice a month to share stories, laugh and spend time.

“We all have parents and grandparents who are sometimes home alone. Think about what a visit would mean to this person.” – said Kliner. “Or as you get older, you start to understand how much a visitor or a phone call during the day when you’re not talking to anyone really means to some of these people.”

SSAG — a nonprofit organization that serves homebound seniors 55 and older in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Jefferson counties who live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level — describes Golden Friends as a home-based program compassionate use program designed to reduce isolation and improve the emotional well-being of homebound seniors in Columbiana County. Seniors trained as volunteers provide emotional support and companionship to their peers, creating meaningful connections that improve quality of life and reduce the risk of suicide. Each participant is paired with a peer volunteer. Visit twice a month to combat loneliness.

In addition to training, volunteers undergo background checks, paid for through the grant.

Kliner herself had already completed training with Paige Fortner, program manager at SSAG, and was surprised that there was attention on suicide prevention.

“I went to training and it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. The focus was on suicide prevention. I had no idea that the suicide rate in our district was very, very high, especially among older people and especially men,” she added. – said Kliner. “I went through all the training, learned all of it, raised my hand and said, ‘Is this really a problem,’ because I don’t know.”

The Ohio Health Policy Institute reports that suicide rates in Ohio vary greatly by county, with higher rates often found in Appalachian counties and rural areas. Columbiana County has the unfortunate distinction of having higher rates in the state. The statewide suicide rate among Ohioans 65 and older is 16.9%. A Summary Assessment of Older Ohioans found that Ohioans age 60 and older have high rates of depression and suicide deaths among this group have increased by 40% over the past 10 years, while the National Council on Aging reports that attempts suicide attempts are more likely to result in death for older adults than for younger adults. Older men die by suicide at a rate more than seven times higher than older women and four times higher than the overall suicide rate in the country.

“Old men, their wife died, their children disappeared, they have no one to tell them what to do, and they are lost.” – said Kliner. “They are only thinking about being placed in a nursing home, so there is a need.”

Golden Friends hopes to fill this need and is looking for community partnerships that can make a difference through networking. The program invites volunteers who want to take part in the training and seeks referrals for homebound seniors who could benefit from companionship and support.

To learn more about Golden Friends or to get involved, contact Fortner at 330-271-6622 or [email protected]. The program partners with SSAG, Retired, Senior Volunteer Program, Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and Jerry Williams Memorial Fund.

As for EPGO, Golden Friends is just one of many services the group hopes to provide to the village in East Palestine.

“We’re on track to do a lot of the things we have planned in terms of going out there and finding programs that we can put into the city to make people aware.” – said Kliner. “We search the bushes and look for things that can help our community. The programs are placed there.