Subcommittee approves recommendations to widen senior services and printed outreach

A subcommittee meeting on proposed senior-service recommendations ended with unanimous approval of a package of outreach and programmatic steps intended to broaden participation and connect older residents to non-crisis behavioral-health resources.

The panel’s discussion centered on promoting Lapham programming, distributing a three-month printed calendar through Meals on Wheels and other partners, and encouraging local groups to offer successful programs at venues such as Schoolhouse Apartments. Speaker 2 summarized a recent meeting with Marcy, noting Marcy’s Life Reimagined program at Lapham and that "support groups are things that she enjoys doing so that she's happy to take on more of those." Speaker 2 also said the volunteer fair in January — a partnership between the Community Foundation and the library — had gone well and will be repeated.

Why it matters: committee members said digital-only outreach misses many older residents. Speaker 2 noted there is virtually no printed town information now and recommended simple, low-cost steps — like printing a short calendar — to increase awareness. "It's a short, very compact, but very helpful piece of paper," Speaker 2 said of a proposed printed resource.

Details and next steps: the group discussed working with Meals on Wheels to include the Lapham calendar with deliveries to about "40 odd, 50 odd" clients to identify residents interested in attending programming. Members suggested that successful Lapham events might be offered directly at Schoolhouse Apartments and that Laurel House and other local mental-health resources be highlighted for non-crisis referrals. Speaker 3 called the next phase an expansion of the focus groups to better understand needs beyond the small set of participants who joined earlier sessions.

The committee agreed to prepare one to two pages summarizing the findings and recommendations for commissioners and to solicit ideas from members’ networks; Speaker 2 proposed returning with concrete outreach ideas at a later meeting (the group discussed revisiting progress in roughly two to three months). Speaker 1 made the motion to approve the recommendations "as presented," and the chair called the vote, recording the action as approved and described as unanimous in the meeting.

The subcommittee also suggested recruiting an intern or seeking a small grant from the Behavioral Health Fund through the Community Foundation to produce printed materials and noted that Waveny’s navigator and Silver Hill’s assessment program could complement outreach. The committee adjourned after completing the approval and scheduling follow-up work.