Senior Reach Boulder County

May is Older Americans month and many local organizations that serve seniors are using it as an opportunity to spread the word about their services. One such organization is Senior Reach – a program for seniors aged 60 plus which offers up to 10 sessions of counseling and support services in the seniors home.

There is a Senior Reach program in all the metro counties, apart from Denver County.

In Boulder County Janaki LeFils and Jennifer Fischer are the outreach clinicians for the program. Fischer says that this being an in-home program is crucial.

“We really want to focus on keeping them in their homes so that’s why this is a home based program. Ageing in place is really important so we want to make sure that they are getting any service that they can that can help them maintain their dignity and their well-being as they age in their homes.”

LeFils says that Senior Reach helps seniors dealing with a variety issues from elder abuse to seniors suffering from isolation “Sometimes seniors find that they are feeling a lot of emotional stress regarding grief, maybe loss of a spouse. Often just adjusting to the effects of ageing, but many times seniors are finding that they are isolated.”

The program also trains volunteers to spot situations where seniors are not coping well.

“We work with bus drivers, we work with hairdressers, mail people…people who are residential facilities, all kinds of people.”

Services are not offered to people who have been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s “we counsel and those diagnoses don’t allow for counseling.” To avail of the services, seniors must be living independently, not in assisted living.