The Southeast Georgia Health System Foundation, the fundraising organization
for Southeast Georgia Health System, has been selected to receive a grant
from the Georgia Health Foundation (GHF) for the establishment of a unique
volunteer services program at the Health System’s new Senior Care
Center in Brunswick. The Foundation will receive approximately $33,500
from GHF on Dec. 4.
The Senior Care Center opened in September 2008 and will help meet a rapidly
growing need in southeast Georgia for skilled nursing and long-term nursing
care. “Assessments of this region show that our senior population
will quadruple in the next 25 years, and we must start working now to
provide for their housing and healthcare needs,” says the Health
System’s President and CEO, Gary R. Colberg, FACHE. “As we
do that, we must also look at innovative ways to keep seniors active and
engaged. The volunteer program planned at our Senior Care Center will
be a model for other senior communities in the future.”
“The program will pair teen volunteers from the Health System’s
Volunteen program with the Center’s seniors in fun and interesting
activities, many of which are not typically associated with senior living,”
Colberg says. Among the items that will be paid through the grant is a
portion of the salaries for a volunteer teen supervisor, an art instructor,
and dance and music instructors. It will also cover costs for a gardening
area, and pay for equipment that will allow teens and seniors to share
in activities ranging from computer-based communication in a computer
lab to modern video gaming like the highly popular Wii®.
“We recognize that participating in these kinds of activities helps
our senior population maintain higher levels of cognitive and social functioning,
and helps to enhance their quality of life,” says Jim Bishop, chairman
of the Southeast Georgia Health System Foundation. “Active involvement
in activities such as dancing and gardening allows them to preserve their
physical health, while computer interaction and video gaming stimulates
and develops the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and
reasoning. The assimilation of our Volunteens into this program provides
a wonderful learning opportunity for them and allows our seniors to benefit
from their youthful enthusiasm.”
While the first teens participating in the program will come from the Health
System’s existing group of Volunteens, additional volunteers will
be actively recruited. Those who wish to participate must be between the
ages of 14 and 18, have a B average or higher, and show a sincere interest
in helping others. After receiving appropriate training, they will be
able to volunteer during summers, after school, and on weekends. In addition
to gaining valuable life experiences, they can count their volunteer time
toward community service hours.