Solano Volunteers teams up to support older adults with resource phone line

Learn more about how we’re supporting elderly neighbors, older adults and those living with disabilities during this pandemic

Solano Volunteers, a partnership between the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership (CVNL) and Solano County, is privileged to be able to provide volunteers and help oversee the COVID-19 Older Adult Resource Telephone Line in Solano County. Since the start of the pandemic we’ve worked in collaboration with the County Administrator’s Office and the Health and Social Services Department to give residents the tools and resources necessary to check in with, care for, and support elderly neighbors, older adults, and persons living with disabilities.

To help alleviate public health workers who ran the phone line in the beginning, CVNL recruited nursing students from Solano Community College: they are now fully staffing the hotline and have made a total of 1,126 wellness check calls. Many of those contacted have appreciated just hearing a warm voice and someone who cares.

Our work is far from over: there are approximately 38,000 individuals to make calls on. We expect to be running the hotline until July.

The telephone number, a free service, is 707.784.1607 and operates from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays to Fridays. Rhonda Smith, Program Coordinator, Solano, is overseeing the phone line, and calls are being made in English, Spanish, and Tagalog.

“The nice thing about the nursing students is that they have some sort of medical background and have some experience in geriatric medicine,” noted Smith.

Call for Volunteers:

Volunteers are urgently needed to help the community respond to other challenges related to COVID-19 in Solano County. Critical volunteer roles include food distribution and packing and delivering supplies. We have established a volunteer page specific to addressing ongoing community needs: http://cvnl.org/covid19help.

Donate to Support Disaster Response Efforts:

CVNL helps oversee and manage physical and monetary donations by distributing them to nonprofit agencies helping individuals directly affected. A fund to support disaster services has been established. Visit cvnl.org/donate and select “Support COVID-19 Relief Activities.”

Support for Nonprofits:

Nonprofits who have disaster-related volunteer opportunities can post on CVNL + VCSC’s Volunteer Portal for free: https://volunteer.cvnl.org. If you need support with your volunteer postings or have questions, please email volunteering@cvnl.org.

CVNL has been a leader in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery work for nearly 30 years. Our hearts go out to everyone affected this pandemic. Along with our partners, we are dedicated to helping coordinate volunteers and to getting funds quickly and directly dispersed to meet community needs

We’re in this together, and we are #strongertogether.