Fay Allen was a recipient of the Utah Senior Corps Service Award in April 2020. Fay serves with the Utah and Wasatch County Senior Companion Program. She has been a Senior Companion volunteer for the past three years. During that time she has provided over 3,100 hours, which is approximately 20 hours of service per week.
As a Senior Companion, Fay visits with individuals in their homes to help them maintain independence in their homes. Fay treats those who she serves with kindness and concern. She will go the extra mile as a Senior Companion, both literally and figuratively as she is willing to go and help people who live far away from her own home. In the instances when a person she visited needs to go into a residential care facility, Fay maintains contact and still visits to those individuals even though she no longer is serving them as a Senior Companion.
Fay advocates for the individuals she serves. She makes sure that they are receiving other needed services such as Meals on Wheels or Medicaid, if they qualify, and that they are signed up for senior center bus services on the days she does not visit them. Fay is hospice certified, which demonstrates her sincere concern about the people she serves.
Fay has also been a phenomenal volunteer in strengthening the Utah and Wasatch County Senior Companion Program. The Senior Companion Program requires a significant commitment, and Fay has recruited two other volunteers to serve in the program. She educates people in the community about the program, including doctors, pharmacies, and city offices that have fliers about the program.
If $25.43 an hour Is how much a volunteer’s time is worth she would have dedicated over $75,000 worth of time during these past three years of Senior Companion service. Fay does whatever needs to be done and has a positive attitude all the while. She is truly an asset in their lives of the individuals she visits.
Fay, thank you for your amazing service as a Senior Companion volunteer and congratulations!
Senior Corps volunteers help meet the needs and challenges of America’s communities using resources provided by grants and the energy and efforts of citizens aged 55 and over. Senior Corps is a national service program funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also funds AmeriCorps. Senior Companions provide assistance and friendship to older adults who have difficulty with daily living tasks, such as shopping or paying bills. They help these adults remain independent in their homes instead of having to move to more costly institutional care. Senior Companions also offset the responsibilities that typically fall on family members or professional caregivers.
To get involved with a Senior Corps program in your area, you can visit this website. To find out more about national service and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers national service programs including AmeriCorps State, please visit this website.