Program connects volunteers with older patients

GRANDPARENTS – AS THEY AGE. THE HOSPITAL ELDER LIFE PROGRAM – OR ‘HELP’ AT METHODIST HEALTH ALLOWS VOLUNTEERS TO BETTER CONNECT WITH OLDER PATIENTS WHO OFTEN CAN GET CONFUSED. KETV DEVERA HAS THIS NEW STORY AT SIX. 80 YEAR OLD DORIS LIEN(LEAN) SPENDS HER DAYS IN AND OUT OF THE HOSPITAL. SHE HAS CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE BETTER KNOWN AS C-O-P- D. SO SHE NEEDS HELP — LITERALLY — TO GET THROUGH EVERDAY TASKS — LIKE WALKING.. AND BREATHING. THAT’S WHERE JOY MAHONEY COMES IN.(NATS: you got a tiny JOY IS A VOLUNTEER WITH HELP — THE HOSPITAL ELDER LIFE PROGRAM AT METHODIST HEALTH. SHE’S HERE ONCE A WEEK.. AND WHAT LOOKS LIKE SMALL TALK ACTUALLY SERVES A GREATER PURPOSE.(Joy Mahoney, HELP Volunteer: it’s designed to help reduce, eliminate or prevent delirium)( Joy Mahoney: a lot of people think it’s similar to dementia but it’s different.delirium is a rapid onset in a change of mental state it could be confusion or anxiety basically they’ll start to act like somebody they haven’t been before) SO “HELP” VOLUNTEERS SPEND TIME WITH PATIENTS DOING THE THINGS THAT THEY’VE ALWAYS ENJOYED.(Joy Mahoney, HELP Volunteer: we FOR DORIS LIEN…IT’S A NICE BREAK FROM THE NORM.(Doris Lien, Patient: it’s nice to interact with someone that’s not family that you can talk other things over you know) (NATS: so tell me about when you were younger what did you do) AND FOR THE VOLUNTEERS LIKE JOY..THE PROGRAM TEACHES PATIENCE.(Joy Mahoney, HELP Volunteer: we live in such a have to take time to slow down and not get frustrated) WHICH IS SOMETHING METHODIST TEACHES ALL THEIR VOLUNTEERS DURING ORIENTATION.(Joy Mahoney, HELP Volunteer: they would tape our fingers together, or put rice in our shoes that way we could feel how it is to be a patient with neuropathy) EVERYTHING — STRATEGICALLY DONE TO HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF ELDER (Joy Mahoney, HELP Volunteer: i’m getting way more out of this program than i thought i ever would) IN OMAHA JOBETH DEVERA KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN. WE’VE LINKED TO MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HELP PROGRAM AT METHODIST. JUST UNDER ‘AS SEEN ON SEVEN.’