Senior volunteers offer companionship

     By Lynn Collier
     View staff writer
      Aletha and Arlandres Tarvins spend their week helping other senior adults.
      The married couple of 37 years are senior companions, part of a program sponsored by Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada.
      They've been assigned to visit three single seniors and two couples in their 80s every weekday for four hours.
      They take their five clients shopping, dining and to the doctor's office. They remind the seniors to take their medication and check to see if their companions have plenty of food stocked in the refrigerator and cupboard.
      "I was bragging to my wife that I didn't need a job," said Arlandres Tarvins. "But now I wouldn't take anything for it. I love helping people."
      He talks about the simplest things that become difficult for seniors.
      "For instance opening an aspirin bottle," he said. "Sometimes it's too difficult for them so they give up taking their medication."
      Arlandres Tarvins, a Las Vegas resident of 40 years, retired in 1994 as the grounds crew leader for Las Vegas' Parks and Recreation Department. He'd worked there for more than 20 years.
      "It gets me out of the house," he said. "And I'm grateful for that."
      Senior companion Helen Spiering agreed.
      "It was getting too lonely by myself," said the retired nurse from Chicago.
      The senior companions agreed their major task is keeping their assigned clients from becoming depressed. Their clients live at home and are isolated from the world by the very thing that represents their independence.
      Spiering talked about one client who met her at the door, crying because she didn't have any batteries for her television.
      "I went to the store and bought her batteries and she was fine," she said. "It's the simplest things that make them happy."
      The program, which was started in 1974, provides companions to about 400 seniors living at home. They also assign senior companions to assisted living facilities, nursing homes and adult day care services.
      The seniors who receive the services are referred to the program by state welfare social workers. The services are bundled with other services provided by the state and charged on a sliding fee scale. In most cases the service is free, said program manager Mary Thompson.
      The senior companions, who volunteer their time, are given $2.55 an hour as a stipend and 25 cents a mile for traveling. The volunteers' income must be less than $838 a month and they must be more than 60 years old.
      When the senior companions fill out all the paperwork it's time for a three-day training course on how to handle seniors with Alzheimer's disease, how to report elder abuse and refer seniors to their site supervisor for financial aid.
      Thompson said to keep up with the growing retirement population in Las Vegas, the Senior Companion Program needs more volunteers. The program has about 70 volunteers and Thompson hopes to increase that to 130 by next year.
      To volunteer, call program supervisor Doree Valante at 832-0721.