Hurleyville, NY – As part of its annual meeting, Sullivan County’s Office for the Aging will present a free local screening of “All the Lonely People,” a social-impact film examining the epidemic of loneliness.
The in-person screening is free and open to the public on Tuesday, November 1 at 2 p.m. at the Hurleyville Performing Arts Center (HPAC), 219 Main Street, Hurleyville. It will include a Q&A with the film’s producers and local officials, offering a forum for community discussion about ways to develop resilience and implement strategies to combat social isolation.
The event is part of a Statewide screening tour organized by the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), the Association on Aging in New York, and locally by the Sullivan County Office for the Aging and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County.
“We are very fortunate to have an opportunity to have a local screening of this powerful documentary. It highlights how the epidemic of social isolation affects not just our aging population, but all across our community,” says Office for the Aging Director Lise-Anne Deoul. “We are particularly excited to present this screening in conjunction with our Annual Public Hearing, which will be our first one since 2019. We are hopeful that the feedback we receive from both parts of this event will bring clarity to what is available in our community and what ways we can help tackle social isolation.”
Since the event will involve most of the staff, the Office for the Aging will close its office in the Government Center in Monticello at noon on November 1, reopening at 9 a.m. on November 2.
About the Public Hearing
Each year the Sullivan County Office for the Aging is required to submit to New York State Office for the Aging an Area Plan outlining the actions to be taken in the next year in the Older Americans Act programs and Community Services for the Elderly programs. The local office is now preparing the Area Plan for State fiscal year 2023, beginning April 1, 2023 and ending March 31, 2024.
Following the Public Hearing, all comments will be reviewed by the Advisory Committee and staff of the Sullivan County Office for the Aging, with pertinent recommendations incorporated into the final Area Plan.
About “All the Lonely People”
In 2017, the U.S. Surgeon General declared social isolation to be a “global epidemic” – one that has only worsened in the COVID-19 health emergency. According to the AARP Public Policy Institute, social isolation drives $6.7 billion in additional associated Medicare spending per year. The health consequences of loneliness and isolation are equivalent to smoking almost a pack of cigarettes daily. The added stress of feeling alone increases heart disease and even earlier onset of dementia.
“All the Lonely People” examines this epidemic on a deeply personal level. It follows a handful of people from different walks of life as they overcome social isolation and chronic loneliness, including New York residents Ari Rossen and Tony Westbrook, as well as people like Mary Hill, an 89-year-old caregiver who faces isolation in the rural countryside of England.
NYSOFA Director Greg Olsen says, “About a year ago, I had the privilege of previewing this powerful documentary. I immediately saw its alignment with the work that NYSOFA and the aging services network are collectively doing to combat social isolation for older adults. I also saw it as a tool to raise awareness about the need for this work on multiple levels, including a broader community reach, as isolation impacts people of all ages. The film examines an issue that profoundly affects older adults, but it also features people from all walks of life and age groups, showing the many ways that we are all touched by social isolation.
“This is an issue that existed prior to the pandemic. Yet the social disruptions of COVID-19 fundamentally exacerbated it – and, in many ways, helped open our eyes to the problem. NYSOFA is proud to work with filmmakers from the Clowder Group and local partners to host these screenings and use the power of film to inspire conversation about one of the most pressing cultural issues of our time.”
“All the Lonely People” writer and director Stu Maddux adds, “This is more than just watching a film. It’s a chance to reconnect after a life-changing few years of isolation.”
For more information and to register to attend, call the Office for the Aging at 845-807-0241