Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (LBFE)
June 2024
Friendship: A new prescription for better health
By Carol Korpela, Executive Director
Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly Upper Michigan Chapter
Serving Barara, Houghton, Keweenaw, Marquette, and Ontonagon Counties
Last year, the United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General Advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country.
Loneliness is detrimental to health. The lack of social connection has a significant effect on individual health outcomes related to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cognitive function among older adults. It is as dangerous as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Social isolation and loneliness show a 29% increase in the risk of heart disease and a 32% increase in the risk of stroke.
Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (LBFE) plays a vital role in addressing this public health crisis and has been for more than forty years in rural Upper Peninsula of Michigan. An international organization founded in Paris post World War II; Upper Michigan is a the only rural chapter in the United States.
In a rural community, vital services like medical transportation and firewood assistance separate us from our urban counterparts. Our signature program, Friendly Visiting, is what ties us together.
I was introduced to LBFE over twenty years ago when I met Alan through the Friendly Visiting Program. Alan was 80 at the time, a recent widower living alone. His children and grandchildren lived out of state. Our visits started out cordially, two strangers with a 56-year age gap trying to find something in common to talk about. It did not matter as he was just happy to have a visitor to break up his long, lonely afternoons. Since he could no longer drive, I would take him for scenic rides or take him to the cemetery so he could pay his respects to loved ones.
One day, after our visits developed into a friendship, he pulled out an old box of memories. Thinking of the countless family photos that had previously been shared with me, I was not prepared for the moment of vulnerability that was about to unfold. From that box, he slowly removed graphic black-and-white photographs taken during the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. As a young medic in the U.S. Army during World War II, he witnessed the atrocities of war that would remain with him forever. It was a sobering visit that day. As difficult as it was for me to view those images, at the time, I did not fully comprehend how difficult it was for him to share them with me.
Life is meant to be shared, especially raw moments when we need support and friendship. The more vulnerable we are willing to be with each other, the more authentic the friendship.
Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly invites people age 60 and older to join us in the celebration of life. LBFE provides programs for older adults who want to build their friendship circle, are isolated, or experiencing loneliness. Services promote community engagement and provide opportunities to remain active and independent. The seven core programs and services include Friendly Visiting, Medical Transportation, Holiday Dinner Parties, Social Activities, Firewood Assistance, Food Assistance, and Medical Aid Equipment Loans.