Fifteen Univers volunteers will come to Ann Arbor from Oct. 24-29 for a volunteer training program offered by the Geriatrics Center’s Turner Geriatric Clinic.
Univers Foundation and the Turner Geriatric Clinic have collaborated in training activities since 1990 and the foundation sponsored the visits of six U-M peer volunteers to Japan several years ago.
Japan, the oldest country in the world with 21 percent of its population over age 65, is striving to meet increasing needs not only with professional staff but by utilizing the skills of volunteers, many of them older adults. The Japanese foundation Univers first began recruiting and training volunteers after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. The success of this program led to developing a volunteer group in Tokyo and then another one in Niigata, after the earthquake there in 2004. Univers volunteers focus on providing in-home visiting and other services to the elderly in their areas.
At U-M, the Japanese volunteers will learn about the history and activities of Turner Peer Volunteers and share their volunteer experiences and challenges. During their weeklong training they will meet volunteers from Neighborhood Senior Services and Arbor Hospice, Ann Arbor Motor Meals, Catholic Social Services Respite Care Program and join them in visits to their clients’ homes. Japanese volunteers also will accompany the volunteers at Ann Arbor Motor Meals in delivering meals.
The Univers Foundation Volunteers have modeled their program on the pioneering concept of peer counseling begun by Ruth Campbell, now retired associate director of social work and community programs at Turner Geriatric Clinic, who with Mariko Foulk, a social worker at the Turner Geriatric Clinic, continues to provide training and opportunities for Japanese and U.S. volunteers to interact.
