CARIBOU, Maine – In Maine’s geographically largest county, many older adults don’t have easy access to programs and services that exist beyond their rural communities.
A new initiative aims to bridge transportation gaps and help more residents age healthy where they already live.
Last year, the Aroostook Agency on Aging launched Access Points, a project to establish centers where folks can participate in educational classes, social gatherings, activities and other services without traveling to the Agency’s central office in Presque Isle. That’s especially crucial for older adults who do not have nearby family members to drive them or other reliable forms of transportation.
Maine is the oldest state in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and Aroostook is the fourth-oldest county in the state with a median age of 48.7 years.
The agency, established in 1973, has always brought events and programs to centers across Aroostook but has never operated its own hubs that regularly cater to locals far from larger service communities, said Executive Director Joy Barresi Saucier.
Aroostook’s agency is the only agency on aging in Maine currently doing that type of outreach to outlying rural communities, said Ginny Joles, Access Points coordinator.
“We know that many of our service areas are extremely rural. If someone is in Ashland, it may be difficult to come to Presque Isle,” Barresi Saucier said. “But with our new Access Point in Ashland, seniors can go there instead.”
Since June, Joles has been signing up municipalities who agree to designate a community center, library, town office, housing authority or other public space as their Access Point.
Through $862,000 in federal congressionally directed spending, the Agency has been purchasing two 55-inch TV screens with built-in cameras and microphones, computers, tables, chairs and other technical equipment for each Access Point, a package that typically costs $10,000, Joles said.
The Agency has signed agreements with 17 communities who will host Access Points. So far, Danforth, a town in northern Washington County, and Ashland, an Aroostook town over 20 miles west of Presque Isle, have officially opened their Access Points and already seen older residents benefit.
“Ashland has started a book club. We had 17 people in Danforth participate in [the Agency’s] Civic Academy because it was broadcasted virtually from Presque Isle,” Joles said.
The Agency is assisting Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Easton, Washburn, Limestone, Mars Hill, Portage, Eagle Lake, Van Buren, Frenchville, Madawaska, Fort Kent, Monticello, Island Falls and Houlton with setting up their Access Points or finding the right location.
All those locations are at various stages but some could announce openings within the next month, Joles said. The agency is working with three other communities who might be interested in creating an Access Point but have not signed agreements.
“It’s a partnership between the agency and the resources that already exist,” Joles said. “That’s not to say we haven’t collaborated before, but not in this way.”
As each Access Point opens, the agency’s four community outreach specialists will begin hosting monthly 4-hour open sessions where people can drop in and learn about and sign up for agency programs and services. The agency plans to broadcast its wellness, civic academy and senior planning classes to people at the Access Points.
Communities hosting Access Points can also use those spaces when agency staff are not there for club meeting space and group activities, Joles said. That could include Scout troops, exercise classes, service organizations and others who want to hold virtual gatherings.
On Monday, Baressi Saucier hosted an Agency Coffee Hour at the Caribou Public Library, which will host that city’s Access Point. The agency has not formally debuted the Access Point but the library’s Caribou Room is already equipped with tables and chairs and technology to broadcast classes virtually and host community groups.
Caribou resident Betty Drake, 94, attended the coffee hour to find out more about the agency’s services. She said she would love to use the Access Point to get a local line dancing group back together.
“It’s great. The town needs something like this and older people ought to take advantage of it,” Drake said about the Access Point.
Joles said that the agency will be updating its online list of Access Point open hours and locations as more develop.
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