{"id":7410,"date":"2020-08-13T14:24:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T18:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/aging\/?p=7410"},"modified":"2020-08-14T11:36:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T15:36:33","slug":"student-outreach-to-older-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/aging\/student-outreach-to-older-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Outreach to Older Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNC Geriatrics clinic’s SOCO program (Student Outreach to Older Adults) began in spring 2020, just after the pandemic sent most people into near lockdown conditions. At that time there was an immediate and widespread shift to telemedicine. SOCO\u2019s initial focus was on connecting medical students to patients, through phone calls, to troubleshoot technical problems and ease access to virtual appointments with their providers. Student volunteers from medicine and social work were each partnered with several older adults for phone calls that could take place weekly, or bi-weekly, depending on the patient\u2019s preference.<\/p>\n

\"Mary
Mary Wurzelmann, SOCO co-manager and volunteer and UNC Medical Student, Class of 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cInitially the patients I was assigned to needed some tech support, and that\u2019s what we thought the program would do. But once the technical issues were solved, many patients continued in the program just to get the social check-ins,\u201d says Mary Wurzelmann, UNC School of Medicine MS3 and program co-manager, along with the clinic\u2019s social worker Bryan Godfrey.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of the ladies who I call have large families themselves, and plenty of people to talk to, but they miss being able to meet new people,\u201d says Wurzelmann.<\/p>\n

SOCO\u2019s goal is to reduce social isolation among clinic patients \u2013 many of whom still are largely homebound, five months into this pandemic \u2013 and give students a fulfilling volunteer experience. Godfrey points out that the intent of the program is to provide older adults a friendly, listening ear and empathetic voice, if needed or wanted.<\/p>\n

\"Bryan
Bryan Godfrey, LCSW, UNC Geriatrics clinic social worker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI really wanted the patients to understand that this is not a medical service, this person is not part of your care team,\u201d says Godfrey. \u201cThe student is calling to give people more contact, and be sort of like a friend, with an empathetic voice and good listening ear. To be someone patients can talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godfrey says that the clinic started the program soon after Covid-19’s initial impact, but isolation and ways to lessen it for older adults is an issue he has been focused on, as a social worker, for a long time. Wurzelmann agrees: \u201cEven before there was a pandemic, social isolation was an issue, so I\u2019m glad we\u2019re able to continue with the program.”<\/p>\n

The first SOCO cohort ended in early summer; the second cohort of 16 volunteer student callers are continuing with 23 patients. Surveys were sent recently to Cohort 1 participants, and the findings show evidence of the program\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody had nice things to say about the program and the students they were interacting with, things like \u2018this person had such a good bedside manner,\u2019 or \u2018this is someone who I would want to be my doctor,\u2019” says Wurzelmann. “It was great to hear that so many patients really enjoy connecting with our student volunteers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNC Geriatrics clinic’s SOCO program (Student Outreach to Older Adults) began in spring 2020, just after the pandemic sent most people into near lockdown conditions. At that time there was an immediate and widespread shift to telemedicine. SOCO\u2019s initial focus was on connecting medical students to patients, through phone calls, to troubleshoot technical problems and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31116,"featured_media":7412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[121,27,141,144,143,142],"class_list":["post-7410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bryan-godfrey","tag-geriatrics","tag-geriatrics-clinic","tag-isolation","tag-mary-wurzelmann","tag-unc-geriatrics","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStudent Outreach to Older Adults | Center for Aging and Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/aging\/student-outreach-to-older-adults\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student Outreach to Older Adults | Center for Aging and Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UNC Geriatrics clinic’s SOCO program (Student Outreach to Older Adults) began in spring 2020, just after the pandemic sent most people into near lockdown conditions. 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