By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com - Growing old gracefully can be a challenge when the natural course of life seems filled with stumbling blocks.Betty McCully has spent more than 20 years helping fellow seniors make their way through the rough patches as a founding member of El Dorado County's Senior Peer Counseling Program. At age 90, she is preparing to retire from her volunteer career, though colleagues say they'll continue to call on her for advice.
"I'm a retired nurse, and nurses always want to fix things," said McCully, a Colorado native who served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in the South Pacific during World War II.
The peer counseling program seemed a natural fit when she saw an announcement of the first training class in 1988.
She and her husband had moved to El Dorado County from the Los Angeles area the year before, and McCully said she was looking for something "challenging and absorbing" to do.
She was among the first 20 volunteers in the county to go through more than 50 hours of training to learn how to help people like themselves. McCully leaves as the program's longest-serving member.
Clients, age 55 and older, typically are having problems coping with the aging process. They often are stressed and depressed due to the loss of spouses and friends, and diminishing physical and mental abilities. The program provides people with confidential, one-on-one assistance.
"We try to build their self-esteem," McCully said. "Our culture says, when you're old, you're over the hill. We encourage them to become involved in things."
Writing for a senior newsletter, McCully said, she urged people to join the Friday afternoon poker club, not to gamble, but for the camaraderie.
Art Molho, a retired El Dorado County Mental Health staff member who volunteers as a senior peer counselor, said the program, which originated in Santa Monica in the early 1980s, is recognized by the state Department of Mental Health as a desired service in the older adult system of care. He praised McCully for her insight. "She gets to the core of an issue," he said.
McCully stresses communication. Older people often are rather taciturn, she said, and must learn how to talk to their children, who may be eager to help but don't listen enough to find out what their parents really need.
"We really look at (the situation) to see what is going on and how you can communicate with family members that you're probably more capable than they think you are," McCully explained.
For many of her generation, McCully said, the idea of seeking counseling carries a stigma. She views the peer counseling program as seniors providing support for one another. Those who counsel share many of the same challenges as their clients.
"I felt I did very well in my 70s and 80s," McCully said. "But now, I'm finding I'm not as sharp and not as capable."
She and her husband, Earl, also in his 90s, moved in with their daughter last year and are experiencing some generational role reversal as their children care for them.
McCully has seen the Senior Peer Counseling Program through many ups and downs. At one point, the number of counselors had dwindled to five, she recalled. Now there are 16, and 12 new volunteers are enrolled in training classes that begin this month.
A few weeks ago, it appeared the program would lose its space in county-owned buildings on Spring Street in Placerville, as the county Human Services Department sought to consolidate services that had operated out of leased space.
Volunteer Mary Kelly said the group mobilized, asking county officials and others to weigh in on their behalf. They were able to lay claim to a former storage room at the Senior Center. They cleaned and painted it and moved in, all in a period of two weeks.
The program is not otherwise affected by budget cuts. All services are provided by volunteers. Clients are asked to pay a nominal fee of $3 per session, but no one is turned away for lack of funds.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 773-6866.
