Page 22 - Delaware Medical Journal - September/October 2018

Volunteers Arlene Matzkim, left, and Anne Norman, prepare items for sale at the Village’s annual Attic Treasures sale.
PROFILE: ARLENE MATZKIN, VOLUNTEER AND MEMBER
Arlene Matzkin, who has been a Village volunteer throughout the organization’s five years, shares warm and often funny stories about members with whom she’s formed friendships. There is Arthur,
who regaled her with tales from his career at Esalen Institute, the legendary ’60s retreat in Big Sur. There is Anna Maria, in her 80s, whom Matzkin would take shopping and who “has a wonderful sense of humor but is deliberate in doing things.” When they went to the local Safeway, Matzkin says, “I persuaded her to stick to the main aisles, and I’d be her ‘runner.’” Mary, whom Matzkin drove to a bridge game every Wednesday at the CHEER Community Center in Milton, was in her 90s, but “so much fun and very up-to-date. She had email;
she always worried about her clothes matching,” Matzkin says. “We tried to take a different scenic route each time. She was very deaf, but so am I, so we screamed at each other a lot.”
Matzkin, 78, a retired architect, has not driven for the Village since February, when she was diagnosed with an E. coli infection that had migrated to her spinal column. On the mend after surgery in March, she found herself in need of a few rides instead of providing them. She became one of the Village’s first Road to Recovery members — a new type of short-term membership that provides one to three months of help for those rebounding from medical procedures and acute illnesses. She’ll be back behind the wheel soon.5
an enhanced sense of purpose. “Villages are instrumental in helping people remain in their homes and independent in their communities,” says Ilene Henshaw, director of health and family, state advocacy, and strategic integration at AARP.4
While many volunteers’ tasks involve
transportation, those trips to and from

hairdressers also provide opportunities to build relationships. The Village may be thought of as a model for community collaboration. Volunteers not only help members to connect to outside resources, but also to nurture ties to other caring human beings, so that each member can
live with dignity and respect. When member clients are asked for feedback on their experiences with volunteers, they invariably cite this human contact as a crucial facet of those experiences. A driver may become a second set of ears during a doctor visit, taking notes to help a member recall key instructions. He or she may help a member put a boot
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Del Med J | September/October 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 7