YANA Programs

YANA Seniors Society provides an opportunity for volunteers of all types to visit one-to-one with seniors in care facilities. These include Volunteers with Pets and Volunteer Friends. People who speak other languages would make excellent volunteers. YANA programs are open to volunteers who work full-time, are students, or have retired, because the time requirement of a minimum of 30 minutes per week can fit any schedule.

Volunteers with Pets

The initial purpose of YANA was to bring volunteers with pets to visit one-to-one with seniors in care facilities on a weekly basis. Many residents at one time had special pets and would welcome a special “visitor”. Recent medical studies have proven that pet visits improve their well-being, self-esteem, ability to communicate, as well as lower blood pressure and the amount of their medication. YANA pets also help to create that bond between the elderly resident and volunteer, when the elderly person would otherwise feel too withdrawn to relate with anyone. Pets bring unconditional love and affection, which can make an amazing difference in the life of a very lonely person.

Volunteer Friends

Since many volunteers do not have pets, YANA welcomes individuals who would like to become a special friend and bring warmth and happiness to an elderly person. Volunteers of all ages and from diverse backgrounds are welcome. A high percentage of seniors living in care facilities receive no visitors and feel forgotten. When they can count on that regular weekly visit from a dear friend, they feel they are valued, a part of the community and loved. Some of these volunteers bring small children or even their entire families to visit residents. This special relationship often helps brings the elderly person to again feel part of a family, when their own family may be too far away to visit.

New scientific research is looking at a possible link between depression and the onset of dementia. Depression with the elderly can be brought on by loneliness. Bringing friends into their lives means that they will not spend the last phase of their lives alone and depressed.