Seven Generations Energy volunteer and Director, Community Engagement, Cindy Park visits with her matched senior, Ida Koss, a resident of Mackenzie Place. (Photo courtesy of Seven Generations Energy)

By Liam Verster

Building connections

Pilot project connects Mackenzie Place seniors with volunteers through video calls

Jun 10, 2020 | 1:44 PM

A pilot project launched at the Mackenzie Place Continuing Care Centre is connecting seniors in isolation with volunteers through video calls.

Seven Generations Energy has partnered with Alberta Health Services and the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation to offer this program. Seven Generations has also donated the tablets to Mackenzie Place to accommodate the calls.

Cindy Park, the Director of Community Engagement for Seven Generations who spearheaded this project, says the company is always looking for ways to volunteer, build connections and support the community. Park says she saw this as a way to help out those in need when the COVID-19 restrictions forced people into isolation.

“When we realized that seniors are being isolated, among many others, but senior isolation is quite a health impact that exists and is recognized, actually, worldwide now. The reality is that it affects senior’s health and it affects mental health and it affects well-being.”

Parks adds that, because of social distancing measures, a lot of seniors in long term care don’t have access to open lines of communication with the outside world.

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Seven Generations set up this program, donated the tablets, which are under the care of Mackenzie Place staff, and started connecting seniors with volunteers from Seven Generations. She says it has been incredibly successful so far.

“We’ve had some seniors that have been really engaged, some that were a little nervous to start because we were strangers at the beginning. But now it’s really grown into even relationships, I would say, lovely relationships.

“So I have a senior that I speak with every week and she looks forward to my call every week, and always connects and we always have a good chat. We’ve had some seniors who made cards for their volunteer’s children for birthdays. I remember one of my staff members saying that ‘Cindy, I had no idea that I needed this just as much as they do in times of isolation.'”

Seven Generations Energy volunteer and Director, Community Engagement, Cindy Park visits with her matched senior, Ida Ross, a resident of Mackenzie Place. (photo courtesy of Seven Generations Energy)

To date, the program has 10 seniors who make regular, hour-long video calls to their volunteers.

Dawn Miller, the Major Gifts Officer for the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation, says this program has already made a huge impact on those involved.

“I think for the volunteers as well as the residents, they’re finding a new friend and finding out new information, and it gives the seniors something to look forward to, and to make those connections. It can be quite lonely, especially now with COVID.”

Miller adds that the Rec Department at Mackenzie Place is in charge of the tablets, and helps the seniors get connected to the video call, then sterilizes the devices afterward.

Park says she hopes this project continues to grow and expand to other long term care facilities, not just in Grande Prairie or the Peace Region, but province-wide. She also hopes other seniors within MacKenzie Place get involved in the short-term.

“There will likely be new seniors that may have heard from other residents of the program. So we hope that it does increase, we have a lot of staff that are engaged, and would like to do even more.”

The program currently only uses volunteers from Seven Generations, due to privacy and screening requirements, but Park says she would be happy to see AHS or the Hospital Foundation either join in on the project, or find a way to expand on it, and get more people involved.

Miller says the Hospital Foundation is looking into some other ways to help build connections between seniors in isolation and the public, but they are still in the planning stages.