Maine Speaker of the House Mark Eves recently hosted a summit on age-friendly communities providing easy access to healthcare and support services for seniors.

“Aging is a policy imperative in Maine,” Eves said. “The nation is looking to Maine to lead on solutions that really turn aging into an opportunity and an asset. Growing aging-friendly communities is the best way to do it.”

The summit, held in Augusta, drew hundreds of attendees; aging experts, municipal officials, business/healthcare leaders and public safety officials. Members of Maine’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Angus King and Congressman Mike Michaud, were also in attendance. Sen. Susan Collins provided a video message for the crowd. “Working together (to find) solutions to help this critical transition are being discussed collaboratively is how we get things done in Maine,” Michaud said. Michaud is running for governor.

The Boothbay Region Health & Wellness Foundation feels that the summit’s vision exemplifies what we are trying to do here on the Boothbay peninsula. Our foundation is fostering an initiative to empower our elder population, encouraging aging at home and strengthening the village. The towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor have participated in walkability and transportation studies. Since the closure of St. Andrews Hospital, we have been aggressively fighting to retain affordable, assessable healthcare in our community.

Even though the Boothbay region boasts the oldest population in the state, we feel that we could become the poster child for aging in Maine. The foundation agrees with Eves that aging is indeed an opportunity and an asset.

The foundation is always seeking the best for our aging population. It is what our foundation is all about, wellness for the whole community: our children, their families and the elders. “What’s amazing about this aging-friendly model is that these are the exact same things that appeal to young families with children,” Eves said. “A mother pushing a stroller is looking for the same conveniences as grandparents. Like seniors living on a fixed income, young people just starting out in their careers need low property taxes and rent. There is an important nexus here between both adjusting to our aging demographics and attracting new young people.”

Jess Mauer, co-chairman of Maine’s Council On Aging, explains that these efforts to collaborate and bring all sectors of our economy together to address Maine’s aging demographic is unprecedented. We are the first state in the country to focus on building age-friendly communities.

This summit’s recommendations will include strengthening protections against elder abuse and financial exploitation and will promote business models like Cianbro and CMP that put an emphasis on keeping elder workers on the job using their knowledge and experience to train new workers.

Eves will release a report with detailed recommendations within weeks. Following the legislative session, Eves will be holding community-based meetings across the state to help create more aging-friendly models. The foundation extended an invitation to come to our area and meet our active, involved people. We are excited about the state of Maine leading the initiative toward aging-friendly communities and the foundation will continue to be involved. Stay tuned — join us in helping to strengthen our age-friendly community.