The bus had just pulled in front of the office of Warren-Yazoo Mental Health’s Someplace Special and a group of senior citizens were just beginning to get off, when a voice came from the bus asking, “Are you looking for me?”

Jessica Delk is the director of Someplace Special, a Warren-Yazoo socialization program for people 50 and older who have a mental health diagnosis, such as major depression disorder. The participants are referred to the programs by doctors, health care agencies, from Warren-Yazoo and get help from a therapist or the  center’s doctor.

“We meet Monday through Friday from 9 (a.m.) to 2 (p.m.),” she said. “NRoute provides transportation for them to and from their home. We do a continental breakfast and a full lunch, social activities such as exercise, daily devotion.

“It’s basically a way to get the elderly out of the house and around people their age to keep them from getting depressed and keep them out of the hospital.”

Delk has been the program’s director for years. She has been working at Warren-Yazoo for 13 years.

A California native, she came to Vicksburg in 2000 and graduated from Alcorn State with a degree in sociology with a concentration in social work. She began working for Warren-Yazoo as an adult case manager. When the position with Someplace Special opened, she took it.

“I was looking for a change. I always said, I wanted to work with babies or the elderly,” she said. “I truly love working here. It’s not like a job to me. I feel like I’m coming and hanging out with 15 grandparents.

“They’re very caring. They care about me and my co-workers well-being, and they just very open with advice, they like to tell stories, they like to talk about their life.  I just feel like anybody 50 and older, that’s wisdom, and I enjoy listening to them and hanging out with them.”

Delk said 18 seniors are registered for the program, and she usually has 12 to 15 participating.

“They’re a sassy group; they always have their two cents to give,” she said. “They keep me on my toes; they really, really do. They’ve got some good comebacks, and one of my oldest clients is 91. She gets around with no cane, no assistance, no nothing, and she definitely keeps me on my toes. You can’t get anything past them.”

The biggest difference between being at Someplace Special and her work as a caseworker is the age of the clients and the pace.

“When I was doing case management, the age was 18 and up. Here, the age is 50 and up. Case management, is constantly rush, rush, rush. Here, it’s slower pace and they’re much more appreciative. So much more appreciative of what you do for them.”

But there are some difficulties. The most difficult, she said, is  “I find they’re set in their ways. If there’s a way they do something, they want to keep doing it. They’re not very big on change.”

Another difficulty, Delk said, is many of them don’t have a strong family support, and lack in the ability to do certain things like going to the grocery store, maintaining their health or taking their medicine correctly.

“A lot of that falls on us, as well as other staff at Warren-Yazoo Mental Health,” she said. “A lot of our clients have case management, so we work closely with the case manager. If I see someone has an issue or is declining, I contact their case manager, and then their case manager and I will work together to solve the problem.”

The Special Places program involves different activities for the seniors such as exercise programs, discussion circles and field trips to different programs and activities. Most of the activities are conducted in a large activity room in the center of the building.

Delk said she can see people referred to the program change after they’ve been in the program for several weeks.

“When they come into the program, they are feeling down. A lot of them have had deaths in the family, a lot of them are not getting the care and love they want from their families, a lot of them are lonely and dealing with their own illnesses, so they come in with symptoms of depression — crying spells, sad, insomnia, isolation — this program is geared to kind of decrease some of those symptoms. After they get in the program she starts to see changes.

“It takes about two to three weeks, which is long enough for them to get in get familiar with the program and the way we do things, and get to know the people,” she said. “I’ve had some people come and just blend in and become a part of the group. I’ve had some people who are reluctant, and month later, we can’t get rid of them, they’re here five days a week, rain or shine.”

Besides her work with Someplace Special, Delk is also involved as parishioner at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, where she is a Eucharistic minister, lector and commentator, and on the church’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults team, which works with prospective converts to Catholicism.  She also serves meals to the homeless once a month at the Keystone Ministry on Washington Street.

“I enjoy working with people and being some sort of assistance,” she said.

But her first love is her job.

“I will stay there indefinitely if I have something to say about. I really do enjoy it, I do.”