Caring Calls
Description and Procedures
The Seven Hills Caring Calls Program is designed to help communicate better with residents who are homebound or by themselves. Calling participating residents provides city representatives with information that can help better serve those in need. Individuals can sign themselves up if they desire to be checked in on and friends and family can sign up their loved ones as well.
Aside from the obvious reason for this program, which is checking in on at risk residents, Caring Calls also allows us to recognize challenges that could possibly be met by other city programs and services. Some examples of these programs include: Meals on Wheels, transportation, home health care referrals, city social network groups, Community Recreation Center classes or programming, county assistance programs (HEAP, PIPP), food bank or Lend-A-Hand referrals, Salvation Army assistance and many more.
The Caring Calls program will provide a choice of two (2) programs: 1. call to participating residents seven (5) days a week (Monday - Friday) or 2. Call to participating residents one (1) day per week. Calls will typically be placed to the home between the hours of 10:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. Monday through Friday, volunteers will be placing the calls from City Hall.
A database of participants will be kept at City Hall and will not be used for any other purpose not described in this program. Residents or family of residents of Seven Hills can sign up for Caring Calls by calling Chris Matthews at 216-525-6230.
Procedures for Volunteers
Scheduling
Volunteers will be providing availability to coordinator who will then organize the schedule for callers. This schedule is located in the Mayor's Reception office. The same place that the Monday - Friday calls will be placed from.
Schedules will be determined for two months; the current month as well as the next. At the beginning of each month, the new schedule will be posted for the following month. Any requests or appointments should be submitted to coordinator prior to the end of the current month, in writing on the schedule request form. Should there be an emergency, a Volunteer Supervisor will be assigned to place calls to all volunteers to find a replacement.
The Volunteer Supervisor position is someone who can commit to look for a replacement for unscheduled absences. This position will rotate monthly. In the event that no volunteer can replace an open shift, the Volunteer Supervisor will be responsible for placing the calls. In the event that the Volunteer Supervisor cannot place the calls, the Coordinator will place the calls.
In the even of an unscheduled absence, it is encouraged that volunteers attempt to cover their own schedule first. If covering is unsuccessful, call the Volunteer Supervisor as early as possible, preferably before the scheduled date so that they can attempt to find a replacement. When calling the Volunteer Supervisor, include the names of all the people that have already been contacted during the attempt to cover the shift in question.
Each volunteer should maintain a database of all the other volunteers. This list will contain a phone number, a cell phone number (if applicable), an email address (if applicable), home address and days of availability. The days of availability will be taken into account when replacements need to be called. The Volunteer Supervisor will first call the volunteer callers who have indicated the specific day availability, however, if a replacement cannot be secured this way, the Volunteer Supervisor should call everyone until the list is exhausted.
Calling procedures
Volunteers should arrive at City hall at 10:00 A.M. on their scheduled day.
Check the answering machine to see if there are any messages left from a participant alerting that they will not be available to receive the call. If the participant is calling about a day later in the week, the volunteer should note this on the monthly schedule provided.
Once the answering machine has been checked and messages have been noted either on that daily log, or on a day later in the week, erase the message.
Proceed to call participants. Ideally, everyone will be home and have answered their call. Keep in mind that this is a wellness check-up. Try not to get into long drawn out conversations. If a participant gets used to having a long conversation, they will expect that from all the volunteer callers. Try to keep all calls to 5 minutes or less.
Signing up and removing participants
Any new participants should be directed to Coordinator, Chris Matthews. All the essential information will be collected and disseminated to volunteer staff. A client folder will be maintained for all participants and kept in the Mayor's Reception desk. This file is NEVER to contain any important information other than basic contact information, emergency contact information and any incident reports associated with the client.
If a participant expresses the desire to be taken off of the Caring Calls program, volunteers should notify Coordinator. Calling lists will be updated and made available anytime there is and addition or cancellation.
Identifying a problem
There are several problems that you may encounter when calling participants. After becoming familiar with the programs and services available to the residents of Seven Hills, identifying a problem and suggesting a remedy will become easier. A variety of information has been included in the Caring Call binder for volunteers to reference when being asked questions or while identifying a problem.
Some problems are as simple as looking up a phone number for someone or suggesting Meals on Wheels. Others are more complicated. Coordinator, Chris Matthews will hold training meetings when the need arises to inform all volunteers about new programs and services city, county and state-wide.
In any event of a problem, it is necessary to fill out an incident form. Incident forms need to be filled out in full and the description of the problem as detailed as possible. Volunteers should feel free to use the back of form or even an extra sheet of paper when filling out the description.
What to do when participant doesn't answer
- Check the number and try to call again
- Check the client call off log to ensure there is no note from a previous message
- Ensure that you didn't miss a message on the machine from participant
- Call listed emergency contact #1
- Call listed emergency contact #2 and continue if there are more emergency contacts until you get in touch with someone. If an emergency contact can be reached, ask if they know of any reason why the participant wouldn't be answering the phone. If so, mark reason on incident sheet. If not, request the contact to be available by phone until we call them back. Ask the emergency contact for their permission to enter into the home if necessary and make a note of the date, time and person giving the permission
- If you cannot get in touch with emergency contacts:
- Call Coordinator. Have all information ready to relay
- In the event Coordinator is not available:
- Call extension 312. This is Seven Hills Police secretary. Instruct that a participant on the Caring Calls program is not responding and you have already been through all of the procedures to find out why. Ask her to have an officer make a wellness check and provide the clients information. Remind them to call you back to inform you of the disposition. Add all details to the description of the incident form.
At this point, an officer will proceed to the residence and look for obvious signs of distress. The Police Department will have access to the required lockbox and can gain entry into the house.
If there is an emergency contact waiting, ensure that you call them back to let them know what, if anything was determined by the Police Department. In the unfortunate case of an extreme emergency or a death, DO NOT call the emergency contact back. Inform any official at City Hall and they will ensure it gets handled properly.
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