A new Motion Picture & Television Fund initiative has taken up the call to combat loneliness, a condition that they report is at chronic, high levels, doubling to 40 percent over the past 40 years. Their new grassroots plan, called The Daily Call Sheet, links volunteers with industry veterans in need, offering a few phone calls a week for the young, old, disabled, or isolated. “Volunteers can guide a new friend toward events or services in their neighborhood that might fit their needs and interests. They are trained to listen for clues as to whether someone has run out of medicine or might not be eating right, and ensure that potential problems are dealt with.”
Click here to listen to an Experience Talks show that includes host Dr. Connie Corley’s interview about The Daily Call Sheet with geriatrician Dr. Scott Kaiser, MPTF’s chief innovation officer.
And click here to read EngAGE CEO/Founder Tim Carpenter’s recent article, “A Cure for Senior Loneliness Is Within Our Reach,” which explains how the EngAGE model makes a significant difference in the lives of older people.
MPTF was created in 1921 by Hollywood’s earliest entertainment luminaries such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith, who realized the need for reaching out to those in the entertainment industry who fell upon hard times. Today it remains at the core of the entertainment industry as a comprehensive service organization for more than 150,000 people each year.
