'Get a life'
Program puts seniors back into workforce

When the grey-headed sixty-somethings were mere thirty-somethings, a popular phrase was "get a life."

Most people involved in researching health and aging agree that getting a life and staying active and involved seem to be the key to longevity.

There are two organizations in the area who are aching to help seniors get a life, whether it be through volunteering or training for paid employment.

Senior Workforce

Solutions This seniors training program pairs a host agency with a senior who is seeking to learn new skills. The Experience Works program grew out of an idea started by Lady Bird Johnson when she was First Lady.

Her "Operation Green Thumb" took poor retired farmers and trained them to meet community needs. It worked so well that it expanded to become SCSEP, the Senior Community Service Employment Program.

Here's how it works:

Take someone who is willing to work but doesn't have the skills they need. It could be someone who always held a very physical job, working on their feet, lifting, being outdoors in all kinds of weather. Older now, but still wanting to work, they need to be inside sitting at a desk.

Yet they don't know how to turn a computer on, don't have basic office skills, don't know where or how to begin to switch their life around.

Sandy Smith, employment and training coordinator for Experience Works, says older Americans often face extra hurdles such as outdated experience, limited education, or restricted physical abilities.

Smith finds a host agency that needs (but can't afford to hire) workers and gives both parties a lift.

Any 501c3 nonprofit or any government-funded employer can apply to be a host agency if they will provide on the job training for a senior for up to 20 hours per week.

Workforce Experience pays the senior employee minimum wage while they learn the skills and gain the experience that will allow them to move out into competitive employment.

The SCSEP program has placed seniors as receptionists, in libraries, in city and county offices, with health services and with construction firms who are doing government work.

"There's a lot we can do for seniors," Smith said. "We can pay them while they train, we can even help them go back and get a GED."

To qualify, a person must be at least 55, a resident of the state where they enroll (it is a national program), and eligible to work in the United States.

They must also be currently unemployed and meet income eligibility.

Smith says she is surprised to report, "We are currently under-enrolled" both in senior employees and in host agencies.

For more information on senior training or becoming a host agency, leave a message for Smith at 936- 566-4797 or visit www.experienceworks.org

Retired Senior

Volunteer Program

RSVP matches retired volunteers who want to stay involved and give back to the community with service agencies and projects who need their ability and experience.

RSVP is a program of the Corporation for National and Community service, which has been operating since 1973, according to the Deep East Texas Council of Governments website.

It matches the interests and talents of seniors 55+ with requests from nonprofit agencies.

Volunteers give as little or as much of their time as they want; in return, they get the camaraderie of fellow volunteers and a sense of purpose that keeps them going.

In Jasper, RSVP has placed volunteers with the auxiliary at Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital, the library, and the SHARE food pantry, to name a few.

"When volunteers help with office work and behind-the-scenes chores, they free the hospital staff to spend more time with patients," said Arlene Dunn, hospital liaison with the Texas Association of Hospital Auxiliaries (TAHA).

"They take care of us, so we take care of them," Dunn said. The hospital provides flu shots, tuberculosis testing, training and a hot meal for all their volunteers.

TAHA has volunteers who are legally blind, have had knee and shoulder problems or require dialysis, but there is a niche that every one of them can fill.

TAHA volunteer Sheila Ratcliff told The Jasper Newsboy in an interview last fall that seniors don't need to be depressed and think they can't do anything.

The cure, according to Ratcliff, is "get up and do something... Don't worry about what you can't do - we can find plenty you can do."

For more information on RSVP, contact Ginger Studensky at 384-5704.