Fuller Center and USM partner to help elderly remain safely in their homes

The Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for
Housing offers home repairs for older adults
in the Lakes Region area that include the rebuilding
of decks, maintenance of sheds and much more.
They have recently teamed up with the University
 of Southern Maine's Occupational Therapy program
to extend services. COURTESY PHOTO  

By Lorraine Glowczak

International keynote speaker, Simon Mainwaring may have had the group efforts of two local organizations in mind when he said: “Creating a better world requires teamwork, partnership and collaboration”, because that is exactly what The Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing (Fuller Center) and the University of Southern Maine’s (USM) Occupational Therapy (OT) Department are doing.

In recent months, the two organizations have combined forces to help older adults remain safely in their homes in the greater Raymond, Windham and Standish areas and beyond.

Briefly, the Fuller Center is a local non-profit organization with a mission to make needed repairs to the homes of older adults who are experiencing financial hardships or are physically unable to do so on their own.

“We believe every older adult should never be prevented from living in their home where they have raised their children and made lifelong memories despite the difficulties they may face,” said Diane Dunton Bruni, President of the Fuller Center. “Working with USM’s Occupational Therapy program will not only allow us to offer our services but will provide a long-lasting relationship with our clients”

The USM’s OT program concentrates on a holistic and integrative approach as students become occupational therapy practitioners. The Assistant Clinical Professor for the OT program, Tammy Bickmore said the students are looking forward to working with the Fuller Center while they participate in their own experiential learning.

“As part of our curriculum, we have in-person fieldwork experiences where students can use their classroom knowledge in the real world,” Bickmore said. “The Fuller Center gives us an opportunity to support student learning and help this organization meet their goals and mission.”

A couple of area families have been identified recently and will be the first to receive the services from the organizations’ combined efforts. The volunteers of the Fuller Center will make much needed repairs to a deck, stairs and add a grab bar to a bathroom wall to name a few of the necessary maintenance items.

The OT students will help with a variety of mobility issues to include but not limited to neuromuscular re-education, therapeutic and home-based exercise program and a training schedule.

These combined efforts will provide long-term and caring connections between family members and the OT students.

“This is a generations helping generations sort of experience,” Karen Swasey-Jones, the Fuller Center’s Public Relations Chair said. “Once the stairs and other repairs have been completed, students will continue a relationship with the clients, meeting and improving their physical day to day needs such as walking up the steps securely or helping them get into the shower on their own.”

Swasey-Jones explained that often there are other challenges some clients face that have long lasting and emotional impacts and in this Swasey-Jones captures the true essence of helping others.

“Although the Fuller Center has the intention of repairing homes, we are discovering that our mission opens the door to perhaps more important concerns of physical needs and social isolation,” Swasey-Jones said. “By combining our efforts with the OT students, who will continue to treat the physical, developmental, and emotional ailments that impact our clients’ everyday lives, a long-term relationship will continue. When we [the Fuller Center] visit a client to see what needs repaired, it often turns out that we help them in other – perhaps more deeper ways.”

Dunton Bruni said in a previous interview that the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing’s mission is simple. “It’s giving hope to others, being able to help them feel safe in their homes, and giving them dignity. It is done with an opportunity to pay it forward in a way that they can. When you have hope, then you look to the future. And now, we are lucky to have this partnership with the students at USM. After all, this is truly how one can make a significant impact in the world.”

For more information about the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing, follow them on Facebook, Instagram or peruse their website at: www.sebagofullerhousing.org/

To make a donation toward the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center For Housing, donations can be made to Fuller Center Bike Adventure, Home Team, Diane Bruni.

NOTE: Eighty percent of funds donated to the Fuller Center remains in the Sebago Lakes Region with 20 percent going toward the building efforts in Haiti. <