Mitigating Isolation and Fostering Social Connectedness During COVID-19

Join Christina Neill Bowen and Sara Link (from Virginia's No Wrong Door System) as they discuss strategies to support social connectedness during COVID-19. 

Transcript

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Narrator 0:00

Welcome to the No Wrong Door podcast series, brought to you by the Administration for Community Living. In this episode, we’ll focus on ways ADRCs can support and foster social connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our featured host, Christina Neill Bowen, with the No Wrong Door Technical Assistance Team, talks with Sara Link, Director of the No Wrong Door System for the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services. 

Sara Link 0:31

“…So what we've seen comparing our data in Virginia is an uptick of over 600% in telephone reassurance. So these types of programs are really vital. People are really craving these types of opportunities.”

Narrator 0:45

This engaging interview highlights how we can work to mitigate social isolation and promote more connectedness, even during the current pandemic. So now, let’s hear from our featured host, Christina Neill Bowen.

Christina Neill Bowen 1:05

I'm Christina Neill Bowen, and I'm an independent consultant working with the Lewin Group and supporting ACL to support the No Wrong Door ADRC grantees. And over the past several years, the importance of social connection has been gaining attention in the aging and disability networks. A surprising statistic that really caught my attention around this issue a few years ago was that social isolation is as bad for your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. That really sunk in for me. And this current global pandemic has required all of us to become more physically distant, anyway, from the populations that ADRCs and No Wrong Door serve. So how can we better promote social connectedness during COVID? What are some best practices? Well, Sarah Link, the Director of the No Wrong Door System for the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, joins us today to share her thoughts on mitigating social isolation and fostering connections both before and since COVID began. Prior to her work in Virginia, Sarah worked at the New York City Department for the Aging and the Virginia Commonwealth University's Age Wave Readiness Coalition. Sarah, thanks so much for joining us today.

Sara Link 2:26

Thank you. Thank you, Christina so much for the introduction, and I want to give a huge shout out to ACL and Lewin for really elevating this conversation. And I really also want to give a huge thanks for asking Virginia to participate in this. And I'm both humbled, delighted, and honored to share. Hopefully, I'll spark new ideas and interests, as we all know that social isolation has very much intensified during the pandemic.

Christina Neill Bowen 2:51

Great, Sarah. So let's just dive in. I'll start by asking, how were you addressing social connectedness prior to this crisis in Virginia?

Sara Link 3:00

So if you don't mind humoring me since COVID has brought us into each other's homes, welcome to my house. I'd like to say that social isolation has been something that's very personal for me as I've experienced it in my life already and have grappled with it. I was formerly a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in Guatemala for two years. And that in itself had its moments of isolation. And then the other significant event in my life was when I turned 30 years of age, I suffered a significant trauma in my life after losing my hearing and going fully deaf in my left ear. It took me an entire year to fully recuperate, gain my balance. And during that time period in which I was contending with the physical and mental health of going through such a trauma in my life, which I know so many are in this space, so if there's older adults or individuals that have suffered significant trauma and loss in their life, and feeling like I was disconnected from people, not being able to participate in conversations, feeling like I was disconnected and not able to really articulate to people what I was going through and people really understand. The type of trauma is something that we see within our older adult population often, or anybody who has some type of chronic condition. And I've really brought this into my work and philosophy for how I've been able to think about how social isolation can really have a significant impact on how we approach those initiatives and projects. And just specifically, I'd like to speak to the projects that I was working on formally through my years with VT Gerontology as being part of a University-Community Partnership, as I was a former director for the Age Wave, now Longevity Project, and creating really a framework at that time period to identify global best practices in determining some of those really core risk factors for measuring social isolation. During that time period, we really dug into the research and literature around us, we're both looking upstream and downstream for prevention and intervention measures and tools that could be used by communities to really address some of the communities that we were identifying as higher risk. So while I was also at VTU, we had a terrific partnership with Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, which is Virginia’s State Unit on Aging. And we worked really closely at that time period also with the No Wrong Door System in looking specifically at data that is pulled in and extracted from our statewide system of comparing individual level data to weighted predictors of social isolation. Even during that time period, we had our local United Way host a day-long event that focused on this issue of social isolation. And we even at that time period with DARS and other community-wide partners, Jessica Retrum, who's the lead author and researcher of AARP's founding report and framework for isolation in older adults 50 and over. So to more specifically answer your question, DARS has really been in this space, of social isolation and the No Wrong Door initiative, for a long time. And I feel it is really embedded in the mission and the goals of the No Wrong Door System, a coordinated system of entry that's person- centered, and not only has providers, but also one that really recognizes each individual's unique experiences and goals and really supports them on their journey.

Christina Neill Bowen 6:36

That's great. Sarah, thanks for sharing both your personal and professional experience with this topic. So it sounds like you had a pretty good foundation. Then when COVID hit, what happened at the state unit, and what were you thinking, and what changed?

Sara Link 6:52

Yeah, I think one of the things, we had a really solid foundation. And so we know with the pandemic, it accelerated everything in the space that we were working towards with some of our social isolation work. And specifically, we had two changes in our system in Virginia that have really impacted new ways to do business. And one of them is that our system now accepts verbal consent as a referral. And this process has gone as far up, as been run through approval through Virginia's Office of the Attorney General. So we know that this is going to have a significant impact on the space of individuals now being able to refer through a verbal consent process. Other significant events and efforts that we have is that we just pivoted our No Wrong Door state system that is traditionally focused on really linking our provider network to a single technology platform. So last Friday, we had a soft launch of a new tool that we're calling No Wrong Door Direct Connect. It's on our public facing consumer site, which is maintained through Virginia Navigator, which is a suite of websites that includes Senior Navigator, Disability Navigator, and Veterans Navigator. So through this new tool, an individual can self-direct into the system and come into our provider database. And this provider database is maintained by a network of 25 Area Agencies on Aging, a network of CILs, and a network of providers who are all linked on the same technology platform. So now an individual and consumer can come into our website and be able to access some of those really important critical supports and services.

Christina Neill Bowen 8:37

That's great. So two, kind of, tech interventions that have helped move this along. Can you also talk a little bit, Sara, about how you've gathered those local promising practices and disseminated them across the state?

Sara Link 8:51

Yeah. So one of the things that we've done is, with our aging unit, we put out surveys, we've collected stories, we've had conversations, and we put them together into some issue briefs. And these issue briefs, right now it's a two-part series. They're available on our No Wrong Door website. We're going to be issuing a third one, which is a really nice culmination of all of the ideas and innovations that we're hearing from our network of partners. And these, again, are promising practices and best practices in looking towards the lens of social connectedness in communities.

Christina Neill Bowen 9:26

That's great. And another thing that I think people might be really interested in is your work with the hospital system in your state and the fact sheet that you prepared.

Sara Link 9:35

Yeah. So in Virginia, we were approached by Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association to develop a one-page overview as experts and leads as the State Unit on Aging. And this type of flyer would be used in order to educate hospital systems, more specifically, their case managers, their hospital administrators, on mechanisms of resources to connect individuals to resources that are very valuable, that provide opportunities for social connectedness. In addition, it's very much an emerging partnership right now with the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. And we've been in discussions, too, about launching a more broader kind of email campaign about this work in part as well as to try some webinars. And that informational sheet about what is isolation, how is this impacting populations, some of those resources, it's something we've been putting together and something that we will continue to develop in partnership with them.

Christina Neill Bowen 10:37

Fantastic. I guess one final question, Sara, we didn't hear from the rapid assessments and just conversations with states that in terms of low tech interventions to address social isolation and connectedness. What would you suggest for your peers in terms of that low touch?

Sara Link 10:54

So I think one thing that will never change is, we as human beings, we need interaction, engagement and physical presence. And this work can be done without, again, all these high tech types of solutions. We know there's reassurance. For example, what we've seen comparing our data and Virginia seeing one of the hugest areas that's really been impacted by COVID, is an uptick of over 600% in telephone reassurance. So these types of programs are really vital. People are really craving these types of opportunities. So some AAAs, some CILs are doing these weekly check-ins and calls. We have also been seeing some distance visiting from either a neighbor, friendly volunteer, often meal delivery as a part of the volunteer's route to wait and communicate with the individual and make sure that they're being supported. And then one other really innovative practice that we were seeing, too, specifically in the Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging, is the car parade. And the car parade was specifically for Mother's Day. And they had staff that dressed in '50s-themed gear, and they laughed and waved and they were able to connect in that type of way. You know, I'd be remiss if I didn't also speak to other really important innovations that everybody can exercise right now, which is the importance of reframing our language and thinking around being inclusive, inclusive in the community that we're stamping out ageism. And as we know that through COVID, this is really led to more of a prevalence of discriminatory language. So we can think of physical distancing which save lives, but social shaming can push people into isolation.

Christina Neill Bowen 12:33

Thank you so much for sharing these strategies on all the ways that you're promoting social connectedness in Virginia. And we hope that it'll inspire your peers and spark some new ideas.

Narrator 12:47

Thanks for listening. For more information, visit TA-Community.com. Views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the view of ACL or any of its officials.