Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy recently published a report about the significant health impact of social isolation and loneliness, as well as the healing effects of social connection and community. “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling,” he noted. “It harms both individual and societal health.” MPTF has been at the forefront of addressing this epidemic with The Daily Call Sheet, which pairs friendly volunteers with fellow industry members for friendly phone calls. Going strong since 2016, our program also helps train other organizations across the country, most recently for Meals on Wheels last month.
Since 2017, 777 people have engaged in the program, including 237 volunteers who have been trained and participated, and 540 recipients have received regular social calls (with 19% being isolated family caregivers). 51,896 phone calls have been made, totaling over 13,000 hours of enjoyable conversation; 56% of the recipients have already been engaged in the program with no interruption for over two years (including many recipients and volunteers since the beginning). We also held the first-ever Social Isolation Summit in 2017 with community leaders from multiple organizations, and we hold virtual social get-togethers for people in the program to stay connected. MPTF is proud to be committed now and going forward to being here for our community to combat this epidemic, as well as teaching others how to take care of our own. As with many programs, MPTF is a national leader in this field. Read the report here >
