Volunteer Opportunities

Support: Make a difference as a volunteer! Contact us by calling 978-750-4540 or by e-mailing volunteer@nselder.org.

Solutions:

At Your Side Medical Advocacy (2-4 hours a week)

• "At Your Side" volunteers help individuals and their families better understand their medical issues. A volunteer is a supportive voice in the healthcare of elders and individuals in need. Volunteers are trained to help people keep track of their medical appointments and to find easier ways to follow through with home routines prescribed by their doctors. This may involve conversations over the telephone, going along to medical appointments, friendly home visits...
• Each volunteer is matched up with one individual in need. Some flexible weekday time works best; the exact time frame can often be adapted to work around your schedule.
• A volunteer is a liaison and a support, not a medical provider. Volunteers are supported by experienced advocates and group support is provided as well. This very special volunteer role provides a wide-ranging educational experience as well as a richly meaningful way to spend free time and to "give back".
• A collaborative effort shared by three agencies: North Shore Elder Services,Inc. ~ The Independent Living Center of the North Shore and Cape Ann,Inc. ~ and SeniorCare,Inc.. For more informatiion, visit the "At Your Side" website: www.atyoursidema.org

Long Term Care Ombudsman (2 – 3 hours weekly)

• Advocates for residents’ rights.
• Qualified volunteer applicant receives a three-day training and conditional certification.
• Visits residents of assigned nursing home or rest home weekly to receive,investigate,and resolve complaints.

Food Shopping for the Elderly (2 hours once a week or every other week)

• Imagine being in your 80's or 90's, living on your own, unable to get out to buy your essential groceries. Then contrast this with how easily you navigate the local grocery market, often several times a week. Consider helping someone else who really can't manage the task alone.
• Grocery shopping takes on new meaning when you are picking up 3 or 4 small bags of important items for a very frail elder and delivering them right to the kitchen table. If you can help put away the groceries and sit for a little bit, then you've made an even bigger difference.
• You need to be reliable, have a cheerful attitude, have your own transportation, and have daytime availability. This volunteer job is best suited to weekday time slots. In the beginning, you will need to come to our Danvers office a few times on weekday time for interview/training/CORI.

Friendly Visiting ~ ( 2 hours weekly)

• Looking for caring volunteers to sit and visit one-on-one with someone older and homebound and living on the North Shore. Especially if you enjoy slowing down and listening to all an older person has to offer, this is a wonderful way to volunteer just a little of your time.
• Friendly Visitor volunteers make meaningful connections across generations. This is done in a variety of ways: sitting and chatting, reading newspapers and books aloud, playing cards, listening to music together, talking about sports or politics, putting together scrapbooks...
• Visiting schedules can be flexible if need be, though weekly works best. Weekdays preferable to weekends. Our clients reside in Danvers, Peabody, Salem, Middleton and Marblehead.

Meals-On-Wheels Volunteer Drivers (schedule varies by town)

• Volunteers needed to deliver meals to homebound seniors in any of these communities: Danvers, Peabody, Salem, and Marblehead.
• Schedules vary by towns. Routes are regular and the volunteer work is ongoing.
• Please call or email for more information.

Money Management Support ~ (approximately 2 to 3 hours monthly)

• As a trained bill payer, a Money Management volunteer assists an elderly individual by developing a simple budget, sorting mail, writing checks, and balancing a checkbook. The elder makes all the decisions and retains check-signing authority.
• This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone, even a very busy person, to help an elderly community member in a very important way. A short training and year-round professional support is provided. A few hours a month is all it takes; the exact day and time can be flexible.
• Right now we really need Money Management volunteers to help elders in Danvers, Salem, Peabody,Marblehead,Middleton,and Lynn. If this sounds good to you, please give us a call or send along an email.

SHINE Health Benefits Counselor ~ (following training – 3 hours weekly)

• SHINE stands for: "Serving Health Insurance Needs of the Elderly".
• SHINE volunteers are professionally trained to advise elders and caregivers about their health insurance options. Being well-versed in all aspects of Medicare and the many forms involved, these volunteers offer a free and much-needed service across Massachusetts. Comprehensive volunteer certification training (60 hours) is provided.
• Every day SHINE volunteers do such meaningful concrete work for the elderly by teaching the ins and outs of health insurance choices, relieving stress and making folks smile.

Transportation to medical appointments (on-call, help-if-you-can)

• Join our on-call list of volunteers who can drive seniors to medical appointments in the North Shore area.
• This is a very important volunteer job that does not require a regular weekly commitment. When we call you, if you can take the assignment, great. If not, we understand and will call you again.
• We need to grow our on-call volunteer list, to enable us to find drivers for the many transportation requests that come in.