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COA Partnership with Academic Public Health Volunteer Corps for Senior Wellness Calls

Posted on: June 8, 2020 - 2:53pm
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Council on Aging Partnership with Academic Public Health Volunteer Corps for Senior Wellness Calls

The Harwich Council on Aging (COA) is now partnering with a group called the Academic Public Health Volunteer Corps (APHVC) to reach out to seniors in town to see how they are doing and to connect people to resources that may address unmet needs.


The APHVC is a partnership between the nine Massachusetts colleges and universities with public health programs and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The volunteers who serve with APHVC are all Masters and Doctoral students in public health at these nine universities. They have signed up to help with services ranging from contact tracing to wellness calls, and they all go through specialized training and are vetted by the Department of Public Health.


The team we are working with is focused on wellness calls. The purpose of the calls is to see how seniors are doing in response to the COVID-19 crisis, to see if they have unmet needs, and to connect them to resources – both through the COA and in our larger community. They are also a great mechanism for social connection – seniors can opt for a one-time call or recurring check ins.


The COA is reaching out to seniors to see who would like to receive a call from an APHVC volunteer. We encourage you to sign up even if your needs are fully met. Overall responses to these calls will help give us a better sense of what our community members need assistance with and can help us better prioritize and communicate our services.

If you opt in to receive a call, we will only share your first name, the first initial of your last name, and your phone number. Your information will be stored in a secure database and will not be shared with anyone else by either the APHVC or the Council on Aging. The COA will not share your information unless you affirmatively opt in to participate in the program.


If you have questions about the program or would like to sign up to participate, please call the COA at 508-430-7550 or email Emily Mitchell, COA Director, at emitchell@town.harwich.ma.us.