A 24-hour, toll-free telephone help line is now open to foothills residents.

The Friendship Line provides reassuring support and help in getting to needed care for older adults who may be lonely, depressed, bereaved, or possibly suicidal. The line is open for calls at any hour, and connects callers with a staff member or trained volunteer who can provide assistance, support, links to other services or just a listening ear.

A program of the San Francisco Institute on Aging, the help line has been extended to foothill residents in partnership with Calaveras and Tuolumne county behavioral health departments and the Mother Lode Office of Catholic Charities.

“Older adults can call and talk about any issue – if they’re lonely, in crisis, not in crisis – any topic,” says Dr. Brock Kolby, who runs a senior peer support program for Calaveras County Behavioral Health.

The help line is intended for those 60 and older, their family members, or others who may be concerned about that person. It offers a range of help, says Catholic Charities’ Kathi Toepel, including support, reassurance, counseling, crisis intervention, abuse prevention, medication reminders, well-being checks, and information and referral sources.

In both counties, efforts are under way to reach more older adults experiencing loneliness and isolation. “Some of them are just sitting there with nothing to do except talk to scammers,” Kolby told a recent meeting of the Calaveras Senior Network, a coalition of agencies and groups focused on senior services.

Suicide prevention is an underlying goal of the help line, Kolby says, noting that the foothill counties have suicide rates higher than the state average. The highest risk group, says Kolby, are senior men 70 and above, often those who are widowed, isolated and have access to a gun.

Both counties offer free senior peer counseling, connecting older adults with trained volunteers ages 55 or older who visit their peer clients regularly. More volunteers are needed. “The community needs to step up,” Kolby says. “There are just so many people in great need here.”

For information on Calaveras County’s senior peer counseling, call Kolby at 754-6537. In Tuolumne County, call Linda Happel, 533-5400.

© 2010 Friends and Neighbors