In Washoe County, the percentage of those age 65 and older who live alone is 27.9%, the second highest in Nevada, according to Nevada Tomorrow. Older adults living alone are at risk of social isolation and limited access to support.

Sanford Center for Aging provides the Senior Outreach Services (SOS) program to isolated, older adults seeking companionship and friendship. In its current iteration, the program focuses on building a connection between the client and a volunteer, with the volunteer visiting weekly, providing emotional support and friendship, sharing a skill or hobby together and assisting with accessing essential resources. The clients must complete an assessment to determine eligibility and to ensure they do not have higher needs than the volunteer and the program can provide.

“Our current programs support isolated older adults, but through our work, we identified a new opportunity to support caregivers too,” said Crissa Markow, director of Community Services at the Sanford Center for Aging. “Caregivers need our support.”

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the National Alliance for Caregiving reported that in Nevada, 24% of adults serve as family caregivers, equating to 603,000 caregivers in the state. These caregivers in the Mountain Division report multiple negative impacts to their well-being: 45% reported moderate to high levels of stress, 37% did not receive any assistance (paid or unpaid) with caregiving tasks and 47% experienced financial stress. The Mountain Division includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

A new grant provided by Community Care Corps through the Administration for Community Living (ACL) allows the Sanford Center to expand services by addressing a critical service gap. The grant-funded program will deliver direct, in-home, integrated support to both caregivers and care recipients.

The grant amount is a total of $175,369 supporting caregivers who will benefit from sustained emotional support, normalization and reduced isolation, while care recipients will gain consistent, meaningful social connections that enhance their quality of life. The program will be volunteer-driven and help address caregiver burnout while providing additional support. The funding will provide personnel with the capability to provide the resources, training and foundation a volunteer will need to build a connection.

“With funding from Community Care Corps, we will pilot an in-home volunteer companionship program supporting both caregivers and care recipients equally,” said Markow. “The funding Community Care Corps is providing to organizations throughout the nation supports its goal of expanding access to resources for caregivers to protect their health and well-being. We are proud to be part of that network working toward this goal.”

Existing caregiving supports typically encompass counseling, support groups, training or resource guidance. Those resources generally include respite, companionship or adult day programming. These services can be limited, difficult for caregivers to find, and once found, the burden falls once again to the caregiver to coordinate, schedule and navigate what is available. 

With the new Sanford Center for Aging caregiver program, the organization will pair volunteers with clients to provide in-home visits based on the availability of the caregiver and care recipient, typically for a few hours once a week. Once trained, volunteers will:

• Nurture a personal, relationship-based connection through regularly scheduled visits that incorporate conversation, active listening and engagement with the caregiver and recipient.
• Support caregivers in planning and prioritizing responsibilities for both self-care and care recipient needs; assist with reviewing eligibility for supportive services, accessing available resources, and coordinating medical appointments.
• Share a fun activity with the caregiver and care recipient, such as playing a card game or working on a craft.
• Accompany the care recipient door‑through‑door for appointments, social visits or shopping.
• Provide respite, allowing the caregiver to take a break to attend to their own needs, knowing their loved one is with a familiar, caring volunteer.

“Our goal for this program is to ease the stress of the caregiver while also supporting the older adult,” said Markow. “Since its founding in 1993, Sanford Center for Aging has been dedicated to older adults, and this new program allows us to continue that mission while also supporting a population often overlooked: the caregiver.”

Those who are interested in participating in the program can call (775) 784-4774 Option 3 to learn more.