Rizzo Honored For Teleconferencing And Community Care Program

By Jan Howard

Michael Rizzo, a two-year resident of Newtown, was the recipient of a Volunteer Service Award from Catholic Family Services (CFS) of Danbury during the 85th annual meeting of Catholic Charities of Fairfield County in Bridgeport.

Mr Rizzo, a businessman and commercial contractor, was honored for his efforts as a member of the CFS Advisory Board and for the donation of his time and expertise to support CFS programs, particularly a teleconferencing program, “Community Care Line,” an outreach that connects homebound senior citizens.

Mr Rizzo has been a member of the CFS 25-30 member board for ten years. As such, he attends monthly meetings of the advisory board and committees, plus takes part in other assignments in between those meetings. He is a member of the board’s finance committee and chairman of a five-member ad-hoc committee that oversees the Community Care Line that reaches homebound senior citizens and other individuals through a teleconferencing network.

“We call ten people on a regular basis and discuss topics pertinent to their situation, such as health issues,” Mr Rizzo said. “We reach a lot of people in a short period of time.

“It is a means to be able to keep contact with people on a regular basis,” he said. “We have one staff person who visits people at home. But it’s difficult for one person to reach everybody in a short time.”

“The Community Care Line keeps us in touch with them,” Mr Rizzo said.

While the Community Care Line is an informative program for homebound seniors, it also creates a social exchange for them because, he said, “They’re there alone.”

Mr Rizzo noted there are many issues regarding the elderly of which people are not aware. “It’s the largest growing segment of society. People are living longer,” he noted.

“People don’t realize the magnitude of what is going on with the elderly,” he said. “This is a whole major society that worked hard all their lives, and raised children. But if proper planning was not done, they can be wiped out.”

On a weekly basis, a CFS staff member is assigned to call ten participants through the Community Care Line. “There is an assigned topic to discuss,” he said.

Sometimes, however, the staff member will play telephone bingo with the participants. “They each have cards, and they get a prize,” he said. “They enjoy that.”

The majority of participants are seniors, but Mr Rizzo said no one is excluded who wants to participate. “Anyone from the community can participate.”

Mr Rizzo became involved in the teleconferencing program because it is a worthwhile program that had been financially struggling for the last couple of years.

“It had been running for two years. We had tested the waters. It was time to commit wholeheartedly to get it going,” he said. “We are in the process of a fundraising campaign.”

The ad-hoc committee hopes to raise $50,000 to purchase its own teleconferencing equipment so the program can be run more economically.

The committee is currently working on a business plan on the cost to run the program and buy the equipment.

“What’s great about the program is we can reach ten people in a few minutes and have the same effect as if we visited them at home,” Mr Rizzo said. “The program complements what we are doing now.”

The intent of the fundraising campaign is to be able to offer more programs, he said. But the non-profit organization’s ability to do that was expensive because of the cost of renting the equipment.

“If we have our own equipment, we eliminate that cost,” Mr Rizzo said. In addition, the agency could charge a fee for other organizations that might want to use the teleconferencing equipment. He said that they are also considering having program sponsors to defer the cost of running the programs.

Mr Rizzo is currently searching out firms that supply the needed teleconferencing equipment and soliciting proposals. The $50,000 needed would provide seed money to purchase the equipment, get it in place, and get the programs running.

“Once we have the equipment, it’s a matter of a phone call,” Mr Rizzo said.

Ten participants are the maximum number included in each teleconferencing program, Mr Rizzo said. “We don’t want to have too many people, because it gets confusing with too many people talking.

“If the programs can continue on a regular basis, they’re doing well,” Mr Rizzo said of the seniors contacted. “It’s that social interaction they miss, and participating in group talk.

“The program has been lagging,” Mr Rizzo said. “The $50,000 will be a great shot in the arm to get the program up and running and flourishing.”

Catholic Family Services of Danbury is located at 30 Main Street in Danbury and serves the greater Danbury area. The teleconferencing program is only one of several the agency provides. There are ten to 15 people on the staff, Mr Rizzo said.

Those interested in donating to the Community Care Line program may contact Mr Rizzo at 426-3338 or call Carol Guyton, director of Catholic Family Services in Danbury, at 203-743-4412.