What a pilot is
A pilot is a few volunteers and a few residents meeting at one weekly time. After the first several visits, we sit down with your staff, look at what worked, and decide together whether to keep going, change the schedule, or bring in more volunteers.
What we need from you
- One staff member we can call, who invites residents and tells us how to check in
- A weekly time that does not clash with meals or other regular activities
- A room where people can sit together and talk, like an activity room or lounge
That is enough to start. Everything else we can work out as we go.
The first meeting
Before any volunteers arrive, we meet with your staff contact to agree on how residents will be invited, where volunteers sign in, how we let you know about absences, and when we will check in about how it is going.
The first few weeks
Volunteers learn residents' names and interests before meeting them, so the first conversation has somewhere to start. We pay attention to more than attendance: whether residents are comfortable, whether the room works, whether volunteers know the routine.
If something is not working, we change one thing at a time. If the room is too loud, we try another room before changing anything else.