By John Flood

Joe Hu/ToWn Crier Molly Girard is the chairwoman of Telecare, an El Camino Hospital auxiliary volunteer group that calls elderly people who live alone. Telecare provides emotional support seven days a week.

Molly Girard has spent the last 20 years talking on the telephone three hours a day.

And, while it might appear to be casual chitchat, Girard, the chairwoman of El Camino Hospital’s Telecare service, is making an emotional connection of vital importance to elderly people who live alone.

Telecare is part of the hospital auxiliary, a volunteer organization at El Camino. Its mission is to call the elderly who are sick, lonely or depressed every day and provide emotional support and a friendly voice.

Staffed with seven volunteers, the Telecare team calls 12 people seven days a week, said Erika Ketelsen, auxiliary president.

Telecare started in the early 1980s. The number of people on the call list fluctuates up to as many as 30 people, Ketelsen said.

“People rely on me for the call every day,” Girard said. “We’re part of their family because they don’t have a family left. I live alone. I know how important it is to have contact with someone.”

Girard, 81, joined Telecare because she had a positive experience as a patient at the hospital and wanted to give something back.

“We hear sad stories,” Girard said. “They are old, living alone and some can’t drive anymore. They don’t have anyone.”

Starting around eight in the morning and ending before noon, Girard finds that some people just want to talk. Others want advice, she said.

“It does me a lot of good. When someone says, ‘I look forward to your call or to hear your voice,’ I feel good about it,” Girard said. “I know there are more who need this call and don’t know about it.”

Telecare is actively seeking volunteers, said Girard.

“We have a couple of college students who make calls on the weekends,” she said. “But it’s hard to find people (to do this).”

Telecare does more than fill a lonely day for an elderly person. In some instances, when the volunteer can’t reach the elderly person, they call the police to check up on them.

“We called the police (for one person),” Ketelson said. “When they arrived, they found the person lying on the floor.”

A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Girard speaks with a soft, Irish accent. She married an American in Ireland during the Second World War. In 1945, she moved with him to settle in the United States. Her husband passed away 11 years ago.

Girard has four children, 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

“I married young. I’ve stayed young,” she said. “I enjoy young people. I’m young at heart.”

Being a Telecare volunteer provides unexpected pleasures.

One day, Girard received a package.

“A lady came to my door and handed me a package from a lady I had been calling who died,” Girard said. “Inside, there was a parasol she had bought at the World’s Fair in New York (in 1939). And there was a music box that still played. I treasure that very much. She was a sweetheart.”

Telecare is actively seeking volunteers. For more information on Telecare, call the El Camino Hospital Auxiliary at 940-7214.