The UUCville Phone Tree
March, 2020 – January, 2022

Organization

When the church building closed in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, church leaders were concerned about how to maintain contact and provide services to the more vulnerable members of the congregation (elders, and those living alone or in assisted living facilities, without internet access, or unable to drive). The Phone Tree was established to meet this need, and coordinated by Greta Dershimer. At its inception, the Phone Tree was seen by all as a temporary measure, and not expected to last more than a few months.

The initial 27 members of the Phone Tree (PT) consisted of participants of the Active Minds group and the Theme Study (adult Religious Education) group. Both groups met weekly during the day, with members who were mainly elders or retirees and identified as “vulnerable” in terms of the pandemic because of their age. There were 5 “Callers,” who agreed to call their “Contacts” weekly to check in with them.

Subsequently, church staff members, leaders, and members/friends proposed an additional 100 people to be invited to participate in the PT. All were contacted, but not all joined. At its peak, the PT had 45 Contacts and 8 long-term Callers. Contacts had access to assistance from Errand Volunteers when needed (e.g., rides to medical appointments, groceries delivered, meals provided, computer help).

The Errand Volunteers, recruited by Sandy Brooks, Care Net Co-Chair, were associated with the PT, but not listed as PT members. Sean Skally, Director of Administration and Finance, kept a record of Who received What kind of service or assistance When from which Errand Volunteer.

Church leaders had several purposes in mind for the Phone Tree. Four were considered to be most important: 1) maintaining personal contact with vulnerable church members during the period when the church was restricted from holding face-to-face meetings; 2) providing helpful services related to daily living activities for church members who were relatively isolated during the pandemic shutdown; 3) facilitating opportunities for social interaction among and between church members who had been involved in social group activities of the congregation prior to the shutdown; and 4) assisting newer church members in forming relationships with other members to begin to feel part of the community during a period when physical meetings were restricted.

Review

In early July 2020 Rev. Alexandra McGee and the Pastoral Visitors Co-Chairs asked to have a review of the Phone Tree to learn what was being accomplished and what might need to be changed or improved. Sandy Brooks and Greta Dershimer met with Shirley Paul and Patty Wallens (Pastoral Visitors Co-Chairs, who also served as Callers for the PT) to plan the requested PT Review.

The Callers met with the PT Review planners and were very open in identifying the positive kinds of interactions they were having with their Contacts, as well as the difficulties they had with some conversations, and the amount of time required to actually reach some people. They noted that sometimes making calls felt like a chore, even when they enjoyed talking with the person they reached.

The Pastoral Visitors were concerned about possible burnout of the Callers, after almost four months of working, while sheltering at home from Covid-19, with no end in sight. They asked if Callers needed to take a break from that role. They offered training in dealing with problems revealed in some of the check-in calls (depression, illness, feelings of loss and isolation, memory issues).

No one expressed a need for training by the Pastoral Visitors but 4 of the 8 Callers subsequently resigned from serving. Eventually 4 volunteers from among the Contacts were recruited as Temporary Callers. All still expected the pandemic would soon be ending.

Survey

The planning group decided that a review of the Phone Tree would be incomplete without some input from the Contacts, so a survey was prepared for that purpose, and distributed to both Contacts and Callers in October 2020. Survey questions were related to the four purposes noted above.

Analysis of the survey responses indicated that some of the services offered by the Errand Volunteers were not really needed by many PT Contacts, as they were being provided by friends, neighbors, and family members. A sociogram of reported interactions showed that PT members were making connections with Callers, other Contacts, and other congregation members not included in the PT. Some responders were interacting socially with others in various church-sponsored Zoom meetings. But other responders without internet access were feeling more isolated. Long-term church members were more positive about maintaining ties with other church members than those who had joined the church more recently. Contacts who were being called by people they did not already know were less responsive to their Callers, and less positive about maintaining contact with them.

A few responders suggested ways to change the role of Callers that might decrease Caller burnout, as well as increase the satisfaction of the Contacts. It was suggested that a Phone Tree organized around established relationships, with “Caring Circles” of 3 to 4 friends making regular contact with each other might be a more sustainable and rewarding procedure for the remainder of the church closure.

Transition

Following release of the February 2021 report of the Survey results, which suggested some potentially useful changes in Phone Tree operations, Callers began to collect information on Contacts’ preferences with regard to three options for further supportive communications.

The options were: continuing to be called regularly by a PT kind of operation; joining a small Caring Circle of friends who would be independently contacting each other on a regular basis; or needing neither of the first two options because they felt well-connected to other congregational members and well supported in other ways. Preliminary results were included in the Phone Tree Annual Report of April 2021, but a final analysis of all responses was not completed until January 2022.

Of the 39 Contacts remaining on the PT list (six had died, none of Covid) 22 chose the third option. Sixteen of them were quite actively involved with various church-sponsored activities through Zoom meetings or live outdoor social activities; 6 were minimally involved in such activities, but had close connections with individual congregation members who supported them in various ways (calls, visits, transportation to appointments). Two more had communication problems which made phone calls or Caring Circle membership less useful for them, but one was supported by a Covenant Group, and the other was attending live Sunday services and social events when these occurred. Two others wanted to continue to be called regularly, and their original PT Caller agreed to maintain periodic contact. Five women indicated some potential interest in joining a Caring Circle at some later time. A group of 8 organized independently as a Caring Circle in April 2021 and began meeting monthly.

There appeared to be no widespread need for a Phone Tree to continue serving the former Contacts, and the PT faded quietly away. Caring Circles as originally suggested were meant to be a replacement for the Phone Tree, and to be independently formed and managed, but there was no apparent need for them to be developed to replace the Phone Tree, and no apparent strong interest was expressed by former PT Contacts to join a Caring Circle, so by January 2022 that idea was on hold.