FRIENDLY FACES
Elderly grateful of local program that pairs them with friendly visitors
BY BILL ROBBINS brobbins@kenoshanews.com
Nettie Knutson is 86 and grows weary of spending her time alone.
That’s why she recently signed on to the Friendly Visitor Program operated by Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services.
In the program, volunteers meet with elderly people and offer companionship and sometimes help with tasks such as shopping.
Knutson’s husband is deceased, and just one of her four children lives in the area. The others are scattered across the country.
“I’ve lived past everybody else,” she said. “I don’t have any friends or acquaintances. They’ve all passed away, and others are in nursing homes. But most everybody my age has passed away.”
Knutson is being visited once a week for three hours by volunteers Elwood and Roseann Knutson (no relation) at her Kenosha home. They’ve had just a few sessions together, but already Nettie is grateful.
“I just want somebody to talk to once in a while,” she said. “Hopefully, if nothing else is going on we’ll play Scrabble. And they promised they’d take me in to file my tax returns in two weeks.”
The cheerful Nettie uses a walker to get around.
“I found that canes were always falling on the floor and I had to bend over and pick them up — and the floor kept getting further away,” she joked. “You notice that with other things, too. You drop something on the floor and you say, ‘Is that worth reaching for or not?’”
Elwood and Roseann began volunteering in the program a decade ago. Elwood also volunteers as a driver for the agency’s Meals on Wheels program.
Both are 70. He’s a retired local elementary school physical education teacher, and she’s a retired substitute teacher. They’ve had two clients, and Nettie is their third. “We were matched with one woman for five years and with a second woman for four years,” Roseann said. Both of those women died. The first client was 87 when they began meeting her at home, and she died five years later in a nursing home. The second client resided in an assisted-living facility and then moved to a nursing home. “She was 89 when we started and 93 when she died,” Roseann said. The couple gets satisfaction from their visits.
“I enjoy seeing their faces when we come — they smile, they just light up,” Elwood said. “It’s a good chance to give back something to the community by helping someone else. I’ve been blessed with good health, and it’s nice to help someone else.”
Helping others is a matter of tradition with Roseann.
“When I was growing up, when someone was sick we fixed a basket of food and went to visit and help them. I grew up with that, so it’s a normal thing for me to do,” she said. “And with our faith, we understand that we have much and we need to share.”
It’s difficult when a client passes away.
“You get very close to them,” Elwood said. “With our first two clients, we took them places, as long as they could do it physically. That included shopping, or just driving around the city to get them out of the house — maybe going to see the lights at Christmas time.”
“They’re very appreciative. And that’s very rewarding.”
Roseann said the visits are special for the clients.
“They love just having someone be there for them. When you go to the nursing homes sometimes it’s so sad because some people have no visitors.”
The couple adjusts activities based on the physical abilities of their clients.
“You do what they are able to do,” Roseann said. “You do as much as you can for them. You’re not obligated to do things. And if they have their bad days — and they do — you just brush it off.”
Said Elwood: “I feel that some day we might be in that position ourselves, and we would like someone to think of us, too.”
KENOSHA NEWS PHOTOS BY BRIAN PASSINO Roseann and Elwood Knutson visit Nettie Knutson in her home as part of the Friendly Visitor program.
Nettie Knutson enjoys her visits with Elwood and Roseann Knutson.
