Thanks to our sponsors:
AARP MaineUnion & Co.
Solo Pane
Arrowsic Fire Department
Patricia Oh, Senior Program Manager, UMaine Center on Aging, coordinates Lifelong Maine Initiative
We are a regional collaborative Age Friendly Community group that includes Arrowsic, Bath, Georgetown, Phippsburg, West Bath, and Woolwich.
AFCLK (Age Friendly Communities of the Lower Kennebec) is a grassroots coalition.
Present were members of EMS and Fire Departments of Arrowsic, Bath and Georgetown, Bath PD, Georgetown Health Officer, Arrowsic Town Clerk, a Member of Arrowsic's Planning Board, Members of Selectboards, Steering Committee members
Speaker 1: Noel Bonam, Maine State Director, AARP
Roots and connections about where we come from is important.
We, as a group, are a regional effort. It is rare that towns come together because they feel they can do better as a group. The idea of this meeting was to bring people from all our communities together to make time outside of work to talk about what is important to our communities.
AARP puts together community challenge grants each year to give to small communities to make their communities more livable. AFCLK has won several of these grants because we have had great ideas and completed projects that have a positive impact.
Speaker 2: Mary Lou Ciofli, JD, MS, Senior Program Manager, UMaine Center on Aging
Mary Lou summarized key facts of the Needs Assessment and the results that informs Maine's State Plan on Aging.
State is putting together a plan based on survey; be sure to give feedback on the plan and ensure it reflects our needs.
Data for the surveys is available by county. Data was weighted to ensure conclusions would fairly represent each demographic group.
She suggests that we be creative in forming partnerships to address needs exposed in the survey. Small things are often all people need: shoveling, trash removal, etc. Help finding new providers or substitutes for family members of friends when those they have come to an end for any reason.
Trust: need to build trusted relationships with service providers.
High levels of fear over scamming. People are frustrated by it. Older people know the risk is there. What they don’t know is whether a phone call is real or not. Older people need a way to check quickly that a number is real and not a scam.
Ageism: older people are aware they are being treated like children or are being treated badly. Need to build awareness to reduce ageism.
A lot of people in Maine are aging alone and need social connections.
Deirdra will send everyone who signed in a copy of the full report, https://mainecouncilonaging.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SPOA-Final-Report-FINAL-1_4_24.pdf
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