Social distancing is one thing.

Social isolation is another.

During the pandemic, many people have found themselves isolated from their friends and family and the world in general. Senior centers and the Area Agency on Aging — Experience Inc. are providing programming and services to fight that problem.

“Social isolation is an issue that older adults in our community face and it is something that has been compounded with the onset of the pandemic,” Experience Inc. Executive Director Danell Sowers said. “Historically, that is a part of the mission of senior centers. They not only offer a nutritional meal, but they also offer different activities daily to in order to try to bring seniors to the center to interact with others in order to reduce social isolation.”

“Our local seniors have been having a rough year,” Experience Inc. Director of Center Services Kimberly Wilson said. “Seniors are people that are used to being active, independent, and socially dynamic.”

In response to COVID outbreaks, Experience personnel, and those at the county’s senior centers, created weekly call lists.

It started out well.

“We were pretty attached to the folks we spoke to and they enjoyed telling us what was going on in their lives,” Wilson said.

But, as time passed, and circumstances didn’t change for the better, those calls became less positive – and more important.

“As the weeks of isolation wore on you could hear their growing concern and the despondency in their voices,” Wilson said. “More and more of our local seniors were talking about feeling lethargic, their lack of appetite, and the depression of being so isolated from friends and families.”

Some needed help from Experience and the senior centers more than others.

“Some of our people were lucky enough to have neighbors, friends, or family members checking in on them,” she said. “Unfortunately, many had no one.”

As restrictions ease and more people are vaccinated, conditions are becoming right for reopening.

“Community Centers in Warren and Forest Counties are in the forefront of helping our seniors and our communities,” Wilson said. “We are slowly opening our centers back up.”

“It is important to bring back that sense of normalcy in their lives,” she said. “You would not believe how excited they were when they could come back into the center, have some lunch, catch up with their friends, and play bingo.”

The pandemic will result in growth for Experience and the centers.

“What we have learned through COVID is that we need to expand our activities to include many different things through multiple venues,” she said. “We want to accommodate our seniors with online information and new activities.”

“In-house we will be upgrading our public computers to allow for classes on SKYPE and FaceTime so they can contact face-to-face with friends and family that are far away,” Wilson said.

There will be additional programming to help those who are not computer savvy to do online research, set up emails, and generally make their way in an increasingly virtual world.

“I have even received requests on teaching resume writing,” Wilson said. “Many of our seniors either want to continue to work or they find themselves questioning why the dollar they put away to retire on is not the worth the dollar of today.”

Experience personnel are bringing the organization up to speed as they bring seniors along.

“We now have a new Facebook page, thanks to our staff member Lisa Card,” Wilson said. “She does a wonderful job at both the Center and online producing information on genealogy.”

“Lynda Baxter has an ever-increasing following on her live and Zoom TaiChi for arthritis class,” she said. “I am focused on completing interviews with all of our other awesome local non-profits out there. I will post videos of interviews with information on services and programs available in Warren and Forest Counties for our community on our new YouTube channel.”

“Available to the entire community we have the VITA Tax volunteers providing free tax filing,” she said. “These dedicated volunteers deserve our gratitude for their hours of service.”

In addition to fighting the social impacts, there is also the direct opposition to the virus.

“The Allegheny Community Center is a venue for our seniors to receive their COVID vaccinations,” Wilson said. “Thank you to Gaughn’s and Experience, Inc. for taking the initiative and moving forward. This is truly making a difference in the lives of so many seniors.”

Marienville Senior Center hosted COVID testing and scheduled vaccinations through the Tionesta Health Center.

“Tidioute has become a food desert with no grocery store,” Wilson said. “Tidioute Senior Center is providing meals to seniors.”

“Endeavor is the same,” she said. “Some of these areas are so rural that going to the center is one of the few places left to socialize or get a hot lunch.”

“The Sheffield Hospitality Center is very much an integrated part of their cultural senior living and socialization,” she said. “I have to give the Activity Directors working at each of these community centers credit for the remarkable jobs they do and how much I appreciate their efforts. Senior centers are community centers and we are here to help.”