Episode 45 – Social Isolation & Behavioral Health – Supporting Seniors at Home

Social isolation is one of the most overlooked — and most damaging — challenges facing seniors today. In this episode of the Team Senior Podcast, host Jamie Callahan is joined by Heather Childers, RN, Territory Operations Director at AccentCare Home Health, and Shirley, a medical social worker with AccentCare, to discuss how social isolation impacts physical and mental health, and what can be done to address it.

They explore how in-home behavioral health services work, why isolation can be as harmful as smoking, and how wraparound care helps seniors stay connected, supported, and emotionally well — all from the comfort of their own homes.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What social isolation looks like in seniors and how to recognize it
• How home health and behavioral health services work together
• Why AccentCare offers a unique behavioral health program in Southern Oregon
• How insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, and more) fully covers home health services
• When additional counseling or community resources may be needed

If you or a loved one is homebound, struggling with loneliness, grief, or depression, this episode offers practical insight and hope. AccentCare Home Health can often help coordinate care directly with your doctor — making support accessible without extra appointments or long wait times.

🎧 Listen now to learn how connection, care, and compassion can dramatically improve quality of life.

At Team Senior™, our mission is to guide you and support you through the maze of Southern Oregon Long-Term Care.

📞 For Team Senior resources, call: 541-295-8230

Or visit our website for more information: https://www.teamsenior.org/

Transcript

Episode 45 – Social Isolation & Behavioral Health: Supporting Seniors at Home

Hi, this is Jamie Callahan with the Team Senior Podcast. Our goal is to simplify aging, society, groom us to plan for retirement — but what about life beyond retirement, where the rubber meets the road? Perhaps you’ve had a stroke, or you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, or maybe you’re forgetting things and now you have dementia.

That’s our area of expertise, and we are here to share our insight. And now, the Team Senior Podcast.

Hi, this is Jamie Callahan, and I am in the studio today with Shirley and Heather. We’re going to talk about a very hot topic nationwide right now. They’re joining us today to talk specifically about social isolation. Before we get into that, I want to give them both an opportunity to introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about AccentCare and a program that AccentCare offers that is different than any other organization in Southern Oregon.

So we’re really excited to have you guys here today. Heather, we’ll start with you.

Thank you. My name is Heather Childers. I am an RN. I’m the Territory Operations Director with AccentCare Home Health. We cover home health services, which include nursing services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and of course social work — which Shirley is a social worker.

We see patients in their homes.

I love that. Shirley, how about you?

So I’m Shirley, and I am a medical social worker with AccentCare. I go into people’s homes, do evaluations, help them get connected to resources, and especially work with people experiencing social isolation to get them connected to the community.

It’s so important. I was part of a conference — this is going back probably 10 years ago — and I heard a doctor talking about a statistic at the conference. He mentioned that social isolation has such a detriment on your health that it’s equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes every single day.

I believe that’s true. It’s used as a form of punishment if you’re in prison. It’s a big deal. It’s a very big deal.

AccentCare — the reason we wanted you to come here and talk about social isolation — is because you offer a program in the behavioral health area that no other home health agency offers. I just want to stop there and remind everyone that home health is something that is paid for entirely by your insurance — Medicare, Medicaid, all insurance companies cover home health.

So this is something that, if you’re struggling, and especially if you’re homebound, you can definitely take advantage of the program. I want to take a deep dive right into this.

With so many seniors living alone and facing mobility and health challenges, how are you serving them? Give me an example of how you’re going into the home, and what’s the first step?

So the first step — for myself — if a nurse goes in and sees someone and determines that maybe their family is living out of the area, or they’ve recently lost their spouse, they’ll do a referral to me.

I’ll go and see them, do an assessment, and determine what kind of resources could be helpful to them. If they’re on their own and experiencing grief from losing someone, or maybe depression, we can refer them to our behavioral health nurse to come in and see them.

I also refer out to other resources such as Age Wise, which is another nice resource in our community that provides in-home counseling. There are a lot of different ways that we can help them.

Okay, so in consideration of the behavioral health piece, is it traditional counseling in the home — like traditional therapy in their home?

Pretty much, yes. Maybe not on as long of an ongoing basis. It’s more looking at whether medication would be helpful or how we can get them stabilized.

Our behavioral health nurses are so helpful. So yes, it is counseling in the home.

And I would imagine it’s several wraparound services — like the personal care piece, the companion piece. Maybe they’re depressed because they’re having mobility issues and physical therapy might be able to help them.

That’s correct.

Can you walk us through a typical care plan for a senior who’s homebound and socially isolated?

So what I’m going to be asking them about is: where is their family? How much contact do they have with their family? Maybe they’re not close by, but they talk on the phone frequently.

I would encourage them, as much as they’re able, to be socially active. If they’re living in a facility like assisted living, I’m going to encourage them to be involved in the activities the facility offers. A lot of people are shy about getting involved, so that’s one of the things I help with.

Maybe even walking down with them to an activity to introduce them and get them started. And then, of course, we’re offering socialization just through the presence of clinicians coming into the home and visiting them on an ongoing basis.

Absolutely. When you have a nurse coming twice a week for many weeks, you get to know them, and that’s helpful as well.

Shirley, when a nurse is coming in for the home health portion and you’re also coming in for the social work portion, how often are you seeing them?

I’m seeing them as frequently as two times a month. My role is a little less frequent than the nurses, but I generally see them at least once a month on an ongoing basis.

So if you were going to provide, as part of those wraparound services, some companionship — I imagine that’s not actually provided by AccentCare — what do you do in that scenario? What are your suggestions?

I might make a referral to agencies such as Interim or other agencies in the area that provide caregivers who offer companionship services.

So it’s really about being that connector.

Okay. And I understand that, in itself, is very important work. Is there a time, in your opinion, when the therapy someone receives in their home isn’t enough? Do you refer out for additional therapy?

I do often, yes.

And where do you refer to?

Depending on their insurance. Different types of insurance cover different therapists. I’ll refer to Options or ColumbiaCare at times, or therapists in the community. I actually have a booklet of therapists and the types of insurance they accept.

So it’s doing the research — finding out who takes that insurance and works with that particular type of problem. There typically is insurance that will pay for those services.

Absolutely, yes.

Let’s talk about how to recognize social isolation. We know it can lead to depression, but not everybody is capable of recognizing their own symptoms. How do you help with that?

By asking good questions. Are they sleeping more than usual? Have there been changes in the family — a spouse passing away, children moving away?

One thing I would say is that social isolation can happen even if someone is in an intact married couple. If you’ve been married for 50 years and the person you talk to every day is your spouse — let’s face it — they already know all your jokes. They know all your stories. Sometimes you need someone outside the home to talk to.

So it’s asking what’s going on in their life, what’s changed, and how they’re feeling about it.

Understood. How many social workers are at AccentCare?

There are a total of three of us right now — two in Jackson County and one in Josephine County.

Okay, that tells me you definitely have the ability to get out there and meet with folks.

Shirley, I know you’ve been doing this a long time. How long has it been now?

Eleven and a half years.

Oh my gosh. That tells me you probably have some incredible stories — how social work or the behavioral health program has improved quality of life. Can you share one?

One thing I love about our clinicians and our program is how we work together. I work closely with our behavioral health nurse, and we often see patients together.

There are so many stories it’s hard to pick one, but we’ll go into homes where people initially seem despondent or hopeless. After several visits, they start telling us how much they look forward to seeing us. Even those small visits improve their lives because they have something to look forward to.

I’m sure many of our listeners can relate to that.

Yes, definitely.

When you think about the biggest challenges society faces around social isolation, what are they?

I think social media is causing people to be far more isolated. We’re not getting out into the community and having in-person socialization. Society is moving away from face-to-face interactions — grocery stores with self-checkout, ATMs instead of bank tellers, not seeing familiar faces.

That’s just where society is headed — away from regular human connection.

I agree. It’s unfortunate.

I want to touch quickly on a few important takeaways. First, AccentCare Home Health is paid for by insurance. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re questioning affordability — it’s covered.

AccentCare Home Health is also the only home health agency in Southern Oregon that offers the behavioral health support piece. If you’re looking specifically for that, AccentCare is who you want to contact.

You do need a referral from your doctor, but if you reach out directly to AccentCare, they can often help with that process. They can contact your doctor, obtain orders, and make it happen without you having to leave your home or wait months for an appointment.

Shirley and Heather, I want to give you the chance to share anything else and let folks know how to reach you.

We have a wonderful behavioral health program. Our nurses are very experienced. You just need to reach out to your doctor. Our phone number is (541) 414-1800, and we’re happy to take your call and answer any questions.

Very nice. Again, that’s 541-414-1800 to reach AccentCare Home Health.

Thank you ladies so much for being here today.

Thank you.

Thank you for listening to the Team Senior Podcast. We’re here every week sharing new and relevant information. Remember, we’re just a phone call away. Team Senior can be reached at 541-295-8230. Again, 541-295-8230.

Until next time, this is Jamie Callahan.