Moving into a new condo was a trying experience for Kathy Gust, who felt alone as COVID-19 put the world at a standstill.
“There was nothing but COVID when I moved there and it was very, very lonely,” Gust said. “I’m all by myself, I lost my husband in July.”
So she decided to join the Volunteer Lethbridge Keep In Touch program, which pairs seniors — the participants — with volunteers who communicate weekly by phone.
“You feel so much better,” Gust said.
For more than a year, Gust has been chatting with Sharleen Peterson. And while it’s helped Gust throughout the pandemic, it’s also had a lasting impact on Peterson.
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“The one thing I realized — even though we’d never met and didn’t know if we had anything in common — you don’t need anything in common to develop a friendship,” Peterson said.
“Before you know it, you are, you’re just really, really treasured friends.”
Keep In Touch began as a COVID-19 response program roughly 18 months ago. Seniors program coordinator Connie-Marie Riedlhuber says there was plenty of interest right away.
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“Seniors have been in isolation a lot longer than we have,” Riedlhuber said. “They haven’t started venturing out yet and now with the strain of COVID, they’re really, really housebound.”
![Click to play video: 'Calgary senior overcomes loneliness by spreading simple gestures of love'](https://i2.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/news/xkknjbjssl-liy0z5nuqq/web_HUGGING_HELEN_CROTEAU_.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
Now, what started in Lethbridge is expanding across the province, as five more groups — Barons-Eureka-Warner FCSS, Grande Prairie FCSS, Neighbourhood Link Parkland Spruce Grove, Strathmore FCSS and Westlock FCSS — are adopting the program.
“We had kind of identified a need to have a program such as the Keep In Touch program, kind of a friendly caller check-in for seniors in our rural areas,” said Cindy Lauwen, Barons-Eureka-Warner FCSS volunteer services coordinator.
The group hopes to give other seniors a chance to create a connection like Gust has with Peterson.
“You can talk to somebody… you could get along with and she talked my language, like we knew each other forever,” Gust said.
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