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Greenwich House launches volunteer phone outreach to connect isolated seniors
Summary
Greenwich House described a neighborhood volunteer phone network that in five weeks trained about 60 volunteers, made roughly 800 calls and identified 30–40 seniors who requested recurring check‑in calls; organizers say about five callers had acute needs requiring case‑manager follow‑up.
Greenwich House has launched a volunteer "neighborhood network" to make recurring check‑in calls to older adults in the West Village, the nonprofit told the Community Board 2 Social Services Committee on a June virtual meeting. The program was developed after COVID‑19 increased isolation among older residents and was designed so volunteers could make repeated outreach calls rather than single one‑offs.
The project matters because it targets a known public‑health and social‑isolation problem among older adults, and organizers said the model could be scaled or replicated by other senior‑service providers in the city.
Darren Block, president of Greenwich House, said the program moved from planning into a small public rollout “about five weeks ago” and is still in early beta. “We’ve trained, just about 60 volunteers in the approach. We’ve made a little over 800 phone calls and outreach. We’ve connected with 30 or 40 seniors who want some kind of ongoing…
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