RANGELEY — A planning meeting for the Rangeley Elder Independence project is set for Wednesday, Aug. 14, at Church of the Good Shepherd.

Hosted by Western Maine Community Action and the Franklin County Elder Independence Advisory Board, the session takes place from 1:30 to 4 p.m. It is a follow-up to an informational session held earlier in July.

“The goal for the kick-off meeting is to gather a group of Rangeley residents together who would like to learn more about the project and how it can help seniors stay independent in their own homes,” Janice Daku, WMCA Elder Services Program Manager, said. “About 20 residents discussed the needs in Rangeley at our July listening session, and this is a next step in planning.”

The Franklin County Elder Independence Project developed from sessions held in Farmington with Dr. Chip Teel, according to Daku. A temporary task force was formed to study the issue and became a permanent advisory board who then decided to start with a town-scale project similar to the program in Carrabassett Valley.

During sessions with residents in Carrabassett Valley, common needs of the aging residents were identified and included people struggling with isolation, injuries from falls, no central meting place to socialize and no desire to seek help.

A weekly get-together was started and volunteers started meeting seniors and making daily phone calls to their neighbors through a program called “Good Morning Calls.”

Carrabassett Valley has also used technology as a means of providing local information to older adult residents through its website, cvalleynetwork.org, according to a news release.

 “We’re hoping for a large turnout of older adults who are interested in helping develop a local network of volunteer-based resources,” Daku said. “We want to create a strong and coordinated group of people who want to help us recruit and train volunteers who will run a ‘Senior Check-in Check On’ program in Rangeley.”

Daku mentioned that a Reference Guide of Senior Resources is almost complete and this will be used to help volunteers connect seniors with the supports they need.

“The Elder Independence Project doesn’t want to duplicate any existing resources; it wants to maximize use of them and help fill in gaps by increasing the number of trained volunteers,” Daku said.

 For more information or to RSVP, please call or email Janice Daku at 207-860-4461 or jdaku@wmca.org. Light refreshments will be served.

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