Lynnae C. Messner

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Lynnae C. Messner

Director Outpatient Care Management
Meritus Health

Loneliness, ranked above hunger, financial and transportation issues, was the most common social issue affecting people in Hagerstown, according to Lynnae Messner, CPhT, director of outpatient care management for Meritus Health.

“Loneliness and social isolation are serious public health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic not only brought this to light, but also exacerbated the issue as efforts to reduce the spread of the contagious virus prompted stay at home orders, remote work, social distancing and quarantine,” Messner said.

Social isolation has been shown to increase the risk of dementia by 50%, heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32% according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In response, Messner implemented and leads the Hagerstown hospital’s Meritus Care Caller Program to help improve the social connection some people in the community experience through weekly phone calls with volunteers. Messner grew the program from four volunteers to more than 40 volunteers supporting more than 100 participants identified as at-risk from loneliness.

Nearly 96% of participants report that they feel less lonely within four months of starting the program.

“The participants in the program talk with the same care caller each week and are called at a time convenient for both the care caller and participant,” Messner wrote. “If a need is identified, the care caller provides this information to the Program Manager who works with the Meritus outpatient care management team and community partners to meet the need.”

Meritus Health President and CEO Maulik Joshi, who nominated Messner for the Health Care Heroes award, said, “I can bestow many accolades upon her, but the most compelling is that because of her hard work, dozens of people are less lonely in our community and those health outcomes are just the beginning.”