(Posted 2021 April)
Congratulations to Diane Watson, an activist, advocate, educator, facilitator, and collaborator with and for her neighbors and all older adults throughout the whole Fairfax region! She was chosen to be Community Champion for Jeffrey McKay, Chairman At Large, for the 2021 Fairfax County Volunteer Service Awards. She is a community pillar of knowledge, dedication, hospitality, service, and compassion for all, but especially, the most vulnerable community members. She has a passion for striving to increase social connection, decrease social isolation, improve mental health services, educate others on resources, and more. She’s accomplished this through direct service to others and by advocating for improved policies and initiatives.
Diane learned about Fairfax County services and programs in her initial role as a Fairfax 50+ Community Ambassador for the Fairfax Area Agency on Aging (AAA) beginning in 2016 and continuing through the present. Community Ambassador volunteers educate others and serve as a bridge between their social networks and county programs and resources. She considers this her gateway role into volunteer service as she states that she learned “that communication needs to be frequent and ongoing especially in informing the residents of Fairfax County services.”
Since 2018, Diane has been an active volunteer with Volunteer Solutions and helped as a grocery shopper and social visitor, pre-pandemic. She and her husband George completed volunteer orientation to become drivers for Meals on Wheels (MOW) in March 2020 and completed one route delivery before the pandemic changed the MOW delivery system. During the pandemic, she has served as a virtual social visitor using teleconference technology to visit with an older, isolated adult.
Additionally, Diane serves her Lorton 55+ Active Adult Spring Hill Community, that is comprised of 4 neighborhoods within its geographical territory, as both a Home Block Captain and Care Team Leader. The Spring Hill Community Village is part of a network of villages across the county (and is the only completely volunteer-led village) where neighbors work together to provide volunteer services for their neighbors as needed, so that they can safely age in place.
Diane also serves on the Northern Virginia Aging Network (NVAN), a group composed of staff representatives from the five Northern Virginia Agencies on Aging, board members from the local Commissions on Aging, and representatives of allied organizations to discuss issues of mutual concern, to craft a legislative platform for presentation to the Virginia General Assembly, and to discuss regional responses to critical issues affecting Northern Virginia's older adults. Along with this advocacy work, Diane serves on the Fairfax Long Term Care Coordinating Council (LTCCC), a council chartered by the Board of Supervisors in 2002 to identify needs and create solutions for long term care services and programs that enhance the lives of older adults and people with disabilities. Dedicated to working on solutions to address the COVID crisis, she serves on a LTCC sub-committee, the COVID-19 Impact and Response Committee.
Pursuing even more advocacy efforts, she serves as the Mt. Vernon District representative on the Fairfax Area Commission on Aging (COA), a community advisory committee for the Fairfax Area Agency on Aging (AAA). The COA advises the AAA about programs, services, policies, etc. that impact older adults’ quality of life.
As part of her interest in and commitment to holistic health and well-being, Diane also serves on the "Promoting Behavioral Health Team." The Behavioral Health Team is a committee of the Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax responsible for implementing the behavioral health strategies in the Partnership’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). She advocates for quality mental health services and served on a subcommittee identifying social isolation and resources to combat it.
She also has been active in leading the Dementia Friendly Fairfax Initiative, which began in 2019 and is committed to supporting those living with dementia and their caregivers. In July 2020, she started promoting Dementia Friendly (DF) information sessions via Zoom because of the pandemic. When all other surrounding DF initiatives in the state ceased temporarily due to COVID, the DF Fairfax group continued with the virtual format.
Even after suffering a serious accident that forced Diane into subsequent physical rehabilitation, she continued to advocate for older adults in the physical therapy center where she was receiving care. While wearing bandages and slings, this tireless advocate generated a list of improvements that could be made to ensure patients were not lonely. Her actions demonstrate how communities that care for their oldest members are places where people of all ages can truly thrive.
For all these reasons and more, kudos to Diane Watson on her well-deserved award! She epitomizes how one person can make a very big difference.
Diane expressed that she wishes this award selection could be, “shared with all the other volunteers that I interact with, whether on Fairfax County committees or community groups, as we are all just taking the opportunity of being of service to our neighbors.”
This article is part of the Department of Family Services Older Adults Volunteer Solutions Caring Community Updates e-news – providing a variety of updates and articles about our volunteers in action. Learn more about Volunteer Solutions.