Call-ins Throw Seniors a Lifeline

Call-ins Throw Seniors a Lifeline

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Center for Health Reporting
December 26, 2016-San Francisco Chronicle

The phone rang the other afternoon inside 91-year-old Lynnie Rayburn’s disheveled South Berkeley apartment. Although confined to a wheelchair and unable to move more than a few inches, she had little trouble picking up the receiver.

“Hello, Lynn?” came a woman’s bright voice through the speaker. “I’m going to connect you to your class.”
Across the line, six other seniors waited with Rayburn, ready to flex their vocal muscles for the afternoon’s call-in session, “Sing-Along Broadway.” Over about 50 minutes, participants gave a cappella renditions of songs from “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The session is one of dozens of over-the-phone classes and support groups available to seniors in the Bay Area and beyond. Senior Center Without Walls in Oakland runs more than 80 of them. The small nonprofit is among several organizations in the region striving to tackle a growing and frequently unrecognized problem among seniors: loneliness and social isolation.

For Rayburn, who lives alone, has no surviving family members and is besieged by a variety of health issues, the call-in groups are a lifeline. She participates in classes daily, and facilitates five classes as a volunteer, including a session that encourages callers to talk about things they’re grateful for and another that allows them to participate in philosophical debates.

When not on the phone, Rayburn dedicates hours to dreaming up discussion topics and ideas for new groups, which she refers to as her “art form.” A retired Alameda County social worker, Rayburn is convinced her mind would have long ago floated “into outer space” if not for the mental stimulation and social interaction the calls provide.

“I have this need to be of service,” Rayburn said. “I couldn’t handle life without being needed.”

In the United States, an estimated 1 in 5 adults over age 50 are socially isolated, according to the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. That’s at least 8 million people nationwide.

In San Francisco, about 22 percent of the population is over age 60, according to estimates by the California Department of Aging. That’s the highest concentration of people over 60 in any of California’s 12 most populous counties. Of that group, about 24 percent reside by themselves, compared with a statewide average of 18 percent. A report by the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adults Services described isolation — social, physical and cultural — as a “bright red thread” of concern when it comes to providing services to the elderly and disabled population.

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