By Marta M. Keane, Chief Executive Officer JABA (Jefferson Area Board for Aging)

JABA has two staff members who have been working on their masters in Gerontology at VCU. Emily Foreman is the Manager of the Senior Nutrition Program, which encompasses the Community Senior Centers for congregate meals and socialization, and the Home-Delivered Meals program. Kaleb Campbell is an Options Counselor for Charlottesville and Nelson County.

When the first positive case of COVID-19 was identified in our region, the way in which JABA provides services and supports to seniors changed immediately.

Emily has been facilitating a task force on Community Centers of the Future, so that gave her a platform for applying agility and creativity to how to handle shutting down the physical locations and yet staying connected with the seniors during a time of increased isolation for them. It has been inspiring to see how the centers had a plan in place within the first week. All members are called once to twice a week by a staff member, sometimes the center manager or the activities assistant or the nurse or the options counselor.

The members were also offered home-delivered meals since they would not be getting a congregate meal, and more than half applied. And the fun part is that staff are conducting conference call bingo, trivia and health talks. They have also sent out activity kits and newsletters monthly. These are well-received and they like they are connecting with each other. Staff and volunteers are also putting programming on Facebook Live-Healthy Steps, cooking classes, musical numbers, jokes, poems. The list goes on!

Kaleb has been fielding new requests from seniors in the community to help them identify the resources they need to stay in isolation and stay safe. He has worked with the community center manager in Nelson on the Senior Food Bag program, through the local food bank. And his creativity was on display as he was the first Options Counselor to create a video to post on Facebook to introduce himself to the new (to him) community of Nelson and explain what an Options Counselor does.

Earlier this year, Kaleb was trained to present the evidence-informed workbook, "Dealing with Dementia: Caregiver's Guide," to groups. He has adapted this review of the workbook to be presented virtually so that as more caregivers need more support this is a wonderful way to provide it.

These two students are a great example of the VCU Gerontology program and the services that JABA can provide in our region.