ST. GEORGE — Falling and being unable to get up off the floor is often an unfortunate occurrence for older adults living alone. St. George widow Barbara Bartell experienced this firsthand and is grateful she was already a member of the Good Morning Sunshine Telephone Reassurance Program.
Without it, she said she would not have received the lifesaving care she needed after her fall.
The Good Morning Sunshine program hopes to expand from five to seven days weekly. LuAnn Lundquist, founder and executive director of Memory Matters Utah/Nevada, said volunteers are vital for the weekend shift.
“I will be forever grateful to those loving volunteers who make a difference in the lives of seniors at Memory Matters Utah,” Lundquist said. “They make the world a better place.”
When Bartell’s accident happened in February, she said it seemed like any other typical weekday. She awakened and started to make her bed when her leg hit the corner of a bench causing her to crumble to the floor. Pain gripped her left leg. When she tried to move, the severe pain took her breath away. She was stuck on the floor.
Bartell said she feared no one would find her as she had no immediate family in Utah and is one of the many widows who live alone in Southern Utah. Having been independent after her husband died 12 years earlier, Bartell said she was not used to feeling so helpless. She could not reach her landline and doesn’t own a cell phone.
Her fear subsided as she realized someone would be checking on her eventually, thanks to being a part of the Good Morning Sunshine Telephone Reassurance Program.
She prayed and dozed on and off for the next 12 hours. Thankfully, her neighbors Brad and Terry Cottam received a call from Memory Matter’s telephone reassurance program, Good Morning Sunshine. They asked the couple to check on Bartell since the program volunteers had been trying to reach her.
When the Cottams arrived, they found Bartell lying on the bedroom floor where she had fallen. She was transported by ambulance to the St. George Regional Hospital.
At the hospital, the doctors took X-rays and discovered she had a spiral fracture in her left femur, requiring a metal plate to be attached to the bone to help it heal properly. Bartell spent several weeks recovering in a rehabilitation center and is now continuing to heal at her home with the assistance of home health professionals.
Before the accident, the Cottams had suggested she sign up for the Good Morning Sunshine program. Anyone who lives alone is eligible, and each participant selects an emergency contact. A Memory Matters Utah/Nevada volunteer calls every participant five days a week to check their well-being.
Suppose a participant doesn’t answer one of the three calls made throughout the day. In that case, Lundquist said the volunteer calls their emergency contact and asks them to check on the participant.
The telephone Reassurance program was the brainchild of one of Memory Matters’ caregivers. He was caring for a wife with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and he had a heart problem.
“It concerned him that if something were to happen to him, his wife would not know to call 911 or get help for either of them,” Lundquist said. “He called me to ask if we might consider starting a program to help others in the same situation.”
Memory Matters decided on a personal calling program rather than a Robo-type wellness call.
“Our mission is to reduce isolation and these folks need to visit,” Lundquist said. “At our office each day, a friendly volunteer calls one of 21 people and begins the conversation with, ‘Good morning Sunshine, this is… .'”
One of the volunteers, Terry Witkowski, joined Memory Matters almost six years ago for the Good Morning Sunshine program.
“We do a daily wellness check on our clients each day. This has proven to be such an amazingly rewarding experience,” Witkowski said. “Some of our clients have no one around to check on them and they are very grateful for our caring calls. I personally have become so attached to these folks.”
She said the volunteers donate their time for approximately two to three hours a week. Witkowski hopes more volunteers will come aboard to expand the service to the weekends.
“Memory Matters is such a wonderful giving and caring group. We are always in need of volunteer help, either regularly or on an as-needed basis,” Witkowski said. “If you are looking to contribute some loving communication with both staff and clients, we would love to have you join us for several hours a week.”
The Good Morning Sunshine program is co-sponsored by the Five County Area Agency on Aging. Memory Matters obtained a new telephone system and volunteer space when the city of St. George gave them a Community Development Block Grant, Lundquist said.
A local philanthropy group, Three Corners Women’s Giving Circle, approved a grant that covers the following year’s cost for Memory Matters. Lundquist said that other women’s philanthropy groups, Vino and Dinero and the Southern Utah Ladies Society, have raised funds to keep this lifesaving program going, too.
To volunteer for any of the programs or to learn more about services provided by Memory Matters, Utah, call their office at 435-319-0407 or reach them by email.
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