Virginia and the five other folks visiting the facility with her have had their own challenges. They regularly attend St. Madeleine Sophie's Center, which serves adults with developmental disabilities. Through classes and other experiences at St. Madeleine's, the participants learn skills to help them live more independently in community settings. Virginia and her friends are seniors now, themselves, and are learning about what other older adults are facing. And they are learning that they can help the LoHar residents. And that makes them feel like angels.

Actually, these special volunteers are the newest representatives of the County of San Diego's Guardian Angels program, the brainchild of Supervisor Dianne Jacob. The program provides regular volunteer visitors to residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, who may not have any other interaction outside the facility. Shannon Dixon, coordinator of St. Madeleine's senior program, contacted the Guardian Angels program last May to see if some of her "consumers," as they call the participants, could become angels. She says they get great emotional benefit out of doing volunteer work. A decision was made to try an Alzheimer's facility, and the result has been positive for everyone.

"They're like my grandparents," says Mary Ann of the LoHar residents. A St. Madeleine's consumer, Mary Ann is nearly the same age as some of the folks she is visiting, but she doesn't see that. And the facility residents don't see that Mary Ann and her friends have some limitations.

"Quite a success," says Albert, a LoHar resident. "All these people around."

With the help of the LoHar activity director and St. Madeleine's program staff, the visitors and residents sing together, hold hands and do projects. For the past few Fridays, St. Madeleine's consumers have cut fresh flowers from the garden they cultivated and brought them to the get-together so the group can make arrangements. On this day, residents and consumers decorate the facility for the holidays.

The St. Madeleine visitors "are really good with those who have Alzheimer's," says Linda Rose, who coordinates the Guardian Angel program, which is run out of the George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers. "They don't care that the people they visit are slow, and they don't notice that the people don't remember them. It's a really good match."

Because of the success of this partnership, Rose has been working with the various ARC centers throughout the county to develop similar links. ARC centers also work with developmentally disabled adults and have special programs for older adults. A month ago, the ARC Starlight Center in Chula Vista began taking a group of participants to the Paradise Valley Manor nursing home each week. Two of the ARC consumers are Hispanic and met a nursing home resident from Mexico, who was feeling lonely because her family doesn't visit. The woman's birthday is coming up, and the consumers are preparing to sing her birthday songs in Spanish.

"It makes them feel good to do this for her," says Juanita Garcia, lead senior instructor with the ARC program.

For more information about these special Guardian Angels connections, or to become a Guardian Angels volunteer, contact Linda Rose at (619) 543-4714. Volunteers go through a brief orientation, then are matched with a resident of a long-term care facility near them. There are currently about 300 volunteers in the program assisting residents at 65 facilities throughout the county.