Calling and caring for senior citizens

Whenever members of the Center for Adult Life Enrichment (CALE) are too ill to attend the programs and activities the senior-oriented organization offers at its home in the carriage house on the Hewlett High School campus, 67-year-old Harriet Orenstein of East Rockaway takes careful note.
CALE provides a number of services to local elders, including visits to museums and shopping, exercise sessions, assistance with doctor visits, counseling, and provides a social outlet for its senior citizen participants, to name a few.
And then there are the phone calls Orenstein makes. She joined the center nearly eight years ago, and came up with the phone call program three years ago. “If some people don’t come after awhile, whether it’s one or three days, I call and check on them,” she said. “They like to hear that someone is interested in them.”
Orenstein said that it depended on the day and the individual, in regards to how many phone calls she makes. “Sometimes I make as much as ten calls,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s less than three. I always call in the afternoon. If people are sick, generally they didn’t sleep well the night before or during the day, so I try to give them more time to rest.”
When she calls, she asks them about their health and how they’re feeling, but she said that she doesn’t pry too much. “I’ve never had a nasty, bad, or annoyed response form people I call,” she said. “They say, ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ I get very good feedback from people.”
One CALE member who has received phone calls from Orenstein is Julian Wohlgemuth, a 72-year-old Woodmere resident. From time to time, Wohlgemuth hasn’t gone to the center due to colds, the flu and other ailments, and always appreciates the attentive phone calls.