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GOOD DEEDS GETTING SENIORS OUT, ABOUT Volunteers help banish the blues THE PROGRAM

July 2, 2007 10:06 am

BY LUCIA ANDERSON

A look of contentment spreads across Don Bicksler's face as he watches the banks of the Rappahannock River slide by.

The 63-year-old is sitting on the upper deck of the City of Fredericksburg riverboat, cruising toward Caroline County.

The man sitting across the table from him deserves some of the credit for Bicksler's presence.

Pat Quinn scribbles a hasty "heron" on a small dry-erase board, showed it to Bicksler, then points to a tree along the bank. Sure enough, a great blue heron is eyeing the boat disdainfully.

Bicksler is profoundly deaf; the little note board is the only way Quinn can communicate with him.

"He doesn't read lips very well, and he doesn't know sign language," Quinn says of Bicksler.

Quinn is a volunteer with the senior visitor program run by Mental Health America of Fredericksburg.

The boat trip is one of a series of outings Quinn has organized to give Bicksler experiences he has never had before. Others have been a ride on Trolley Tours of Fredericksburg and trips to play pool and miniature golf. This month he hopes to take Bicksler horseback riding.

"Pat Quinn has been a lifesaver," says Barbara Bicksler, Don's sister. He has been living with her in Spotsylvania County for the last two years. Other members of the family don't take much interest in Don, she said.

Barbara Bicksler works at Ukrop's, so her brother is on his own a great deal of the time. Outings with Quinn brighten his life. There are lots of things he hasn't had a chance to do, Barbara Bicksler explains. He lived with their mother before she died, and, because people made fun of him, she kept him fairly close.

"After Mother got to a certain age, she wouldn't let Donnie do anything," Barbara Bicksler says.

Although Don Bicksler is over 60, he isn't otherwise typical of those in the senior visitor program, which is designed to relieve the isolation of older folks who can't get around much on their own any more.

Bicksler gets around. He has memorized all the FREDericksburg Regional Transit bus routes, according to his sister, and makes daily trips to places like Spotsylvania Towne Centre, Central Park and the train station.

But he is isolated by his deafness. Don Bicksler said he has been deaf for the last 20 years. His sister said she took him to a specialist who told them the hearing loss was caused by a childhood disease, and that neither surgery nor hearing aids would help him.

Quinn, who is 60 himself, has been a volunteer with the program for the last five years. He has had four other clients before Bicksler, whom he has been visiting for the last four months.

"They enjoy seeing somebody else, and it gives a break to the family," Quinn says.

In that way it's similar to the hospice visitor program, but that is limited to people with terminal illnesses and six months or less to live.

The chief appraiser for Spotsylvania County's Office of Real Estate Assessments, Quinn lives in the county's Arrowwood subdivision.

"I've always been somebody who wants to help others," he says.

He joined the Big Brothers program when he was 25, and helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity.

He was also part of a St. Matthew's Catholic Church group that did repairs for low-income folks.

"You get as much out of it as they do," Quinn says of his work with the senior visitor program. "I'm expanding his horizons and expanding mine, too."

The senior visitor program has been operating since March 2000.

Director Teresa Bowers said it grew out of a community needs survey taken in the late 1990s.

Older people surveyed indicated a need for companionship, and the folks at Mental Health America picked up on that.

The program is designed to serve older people living alone, without family members nearby, or with relatives who are working full time.

"Often they're no longer driving or they may have some mobility issues" that make it difficult for them to get out on their own, Bowers said. "They're isolated, lonely; they sit all day long. We provide social contact."

The agency also tries to provide information on resources and services that may help clients.

"We try to connect them to the things they need," Bowers said.

Along those lines, Quinn has hooked up with the disAbility Resource Center in an effort to find something that could help Bicksler hear better.

Volunteers receive four hours of mandatory training on aspects of the aging process, including information on depression and dementia, and ways to develop healthy relationships. They also have to pass a criminal background check before they're paired with clients.

The agency expects volunteers to visit at least one hour a week and to keep the relationship going for at least six months.

"Many go much longer than that," Bowers said. "We have some volunteers who have been with the same person since the beginning."

Quinn hasn't run out of things to do with Bicksler yet. He's taking photos, enlisting the help of his wife, Caroline, in compiling a scrapbook of the trips they've taken together.

One of those photos is of Bicksler up in the wheelhouse of the City of Fredericksburg, where Capt. Tommy Pearson lets him steer the boat. A great big grin splits his face as he slowly turns the wheel.

Another first for Donnie Bicksler, courtesy of his senior visitor.