Advisory Committee on Age-Friendly Bowdoinham

Maureen Booth, Co-Chair
Term Expires: 6/30/2025
Ann Hartzler
Term Expires: 6/30/2026
Mary Kelley
Term Expires: 6/30/2024
Jason Lamoreau, Age-Friendly Coordinator
Karen Mayo
Term Expires: 6/30/2026
Grace McCarthy
Term Expires: 6/30/2025
Margaret Muir, Co-Chair
Term Expires: 06/30/2025
Debra Smith
Term Expires: 6/30/2024
Lois Smith
Term Expires: 6/30/2026

Meetings

Meets the 2nd Monday of the month, 1:30pm in the Kendall Room, 2nd floor of the Coombs Municipal Building, 13 School Street.  The public is welcomed.
 

Vision

To help foster a physical and social environment focused on making the Town an inclusive, safe, supportive and enjoyable place to live for persons of all ages, especially older adults and those living with disabilities

 

History 

In 2012, Bowdoinham’s Select Board established the Advisory Committee on Age-Friendly Bowdoinham (ACOA) to as part of the Town’s commitment to be a great place for older residents to live and contribute to the community. Two years later, Bowdoinham was recognized for its efforts and became the first municipality in northern New England to be accepted as a member of the World Health Organization-Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. In 2015, Bowdoinham was accepted as a member of the AARP-Network of Age-Friendly Communities.

Based on an assessment, program evaluations and accessibility audits, a three-year Action Plan was adopted by the Select Board in 2017 to lay out goals and strategies to enhance the Town’s physical environment, social environment and the wellbeing of its older residents. In the years that followed, regularly scheduled activities were developed (cribbage, bridge, luncheons, field trips, speakers) as well as programs to support residents wishing to remain in their homes as they age such as Rides in Neighbors’ Cars, the Village Lodge Handy Brigade, Medical Equipment Loan Program and the Fire Station Sand Bucket delivery.

The pandemic shifted work on updating the Action Plan but focused the Committee’s attention on reducing social and physical barriers, especially among the Town’s most at-risk populations.  As everyone gradually emerges from the hold of the pandemic, the Committee looks for opportunities for social connectedness and ways to help make life easier for those wishing to live in Bowdoinham as they age. A series of Listening Sessions in the summer of 2022 will help inform an update to its Action Plan. The Committee’s new name, The Advisory Committee for Age Friendly Bowdoinham (AFB Committee) is meant to reinforce its broader mission and to connect the Committee’s efforts to the network of age friendly communities in Maine and throughout the country.

 

Video Spotlight: