Gathering the elderly into a village is both beautiful and essential

This summer, I had the pleasure of serving as Community Caregivers’ intern for eight weeks. After completing my first year of medical school at Albany Medical College, I wanted to spend my summer outside of the library, gaining experience learning about the people I hope to treat someday.

Geriatrics has interested me since I applied to medical school because I had a close relationship with my grandparents and I have thought I would enjoy working with older patients. Prior to this summer, I assumed the main challenges facing this group of people was treating multiple medical conditions and finagling health insurance.

From my first day with Community Caregivers, my eyes were opened to the significant needs facing older people living in their homes or “aging in place.”  There are a vast number of older adults living alone or isolated who are trying to get by with little assistance, especially in rural Albany County where resources like public transportation and home health care are unavailable or overwhelmed.

Access to health care is only one facet of the problem. Simple needs like purchasing groceries and checking mail are crucial tasks, but not manageable for some people who lack another option aside from living in their homes.

However, as I learned about this need, I was simultaneously learning about the remarkable effort by Community Caregivers to aid this population and meet the growing need. Each staff member at Community Caregivers goes beyond his or her job description to coordinate over 150 volunteers, identify needs for hundreds of clients, direct clients to necessary resources, develop educational tools for the community, and obtain resources to maintain and expand the organization.

Witnessing the passion and skill each staff member, board member, and volunteer possesses for the people the organization serves has been rewarding to say the least.

Community Caregivers’ mission to bring older individuals in the community together into a village and help provide care, support, and relationships is both beautiful and essential.

This summer, I gained professional experience through writing, meeting clients, learning how a not-for-profit operates, reading literature, etc., but by far the greatest gain for me was becoming educated about a huge gap in our society for geriatric residents and how a group of committed individuals can band together and work tirelessly to fill that gap.

Community Caregivers Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that provides non-medical services, including transportation, and caregiver support at no charge to residents in Guilderland, Bethlehem, Altamont, New Scotland, Berne, Knox, and the city of Albany through a strong volunteer pool of dedicated individuals with a desire to assist their neighbors.  To find out more about Community Caregivers’ services or volunteer opportunities, visit www.communitycaregivers.org, email , or call (518) 456-2898.

Editor’s note: Brandi Heinz, a student at Albany Medical College, was a summer intern at Community Caregivers.