How does a spark from one Maine community become a successful model for others? What is it about Harpswell Aging at Home that enables it to produce ripples beyond our own community? The flow of ideas and collaboration expands outward from Harpswell to support new endeavors while strengthening our own programs.
Jess Maurer, executive director of the Maine Council on Aging and a co-founder of Harpswell Aging at Home, sheds light on a possible recipe for the “special sauce” that has helped HAH grow and serve as a model for other communities.
“Part of the magic that happened in creating HAH included the ability to drill down to core values and adopt them as our philosophy,” Maurer says. “We only moved forward after a survey to identify the specific priorities and needs of the community.”
Harpswell Aging at Home is blessed to have eager volunteers to distribute the workload, donors to provide the necessary financial support, and a welcoming community.
Maurer also suggests that it’s better to “strengthen ties with other organizations and establish partnerships instead of trying to compete with them.”
Harpswell Aging at Home has taken advantage of efforts by other organizations and used resources that others have established. For example, People Plus established a rides program that screens drivers, checking their insurance and driving history. Harpswell Aging at Home was able to plug in to what People Plus had created.
“Collaboration and communication with others who have similar goals is key,” Maurer says. Now it’s HAH’s turn to support others.
HAH’s Home Repair Team was started to serve Harpswell residents older than 55, but could easily translate to other communities and demographics. The team’s motto is to make the homes of its clients “safer, warmer and drier.”
Bob Bauman was instrumental in developing the highly successful program. Working with several other volunteers, Bauman explored partnerships with established organizations and created an initial set of protocols. His protocols address subjects such as insurance coverage; preserving client privacy; assessing exactly what work is needed; assuring competence, safety, and comradery among the team; and the importance of follow-up to ensure repairs have been successfully completed. These protocols have been rewritten in the form of a freely shared template available to other communities. The Rotary Club of Freeport used the HAH guide, available at tinyurl.com/HAHhomerepairguide, to launch its own home repairs program.
Other HAH programs also have rippled out. The ROMEOs, Retired Older Men Eating Out, is one. ROMEOs, now in its second year, encourages male-to-male connection through gatherings where men can simply have a good time. Healthwise, loneliness can be as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
ROMEOs has been recognized as a “Community Champion” by the local ABC affiliate, WMTW. Tom Mahoney, HAH’s Resource Team leader and community connector, has been invited to speak at many forums, inspiring one Maine community to create a similar program for its male residents and another town to initiate a women’s coffee get-together.
Lori Fowler, community connector for Gray and New Gloucester, connected with HAH through the statewide Community Connections program.
“It was nice to see how HAH partners with Habitat for Humanity and the Maine extension program, (and we) came home with so much information on things we could expand in our towns,” Fowler said.
Creating a ripple effect that inspires new ideas and helps others replicate existing programs leads to collaboration and new partnerships for all of us.
