In the five years since the Windham Town Council voted for the town to become an AARP Age-Friendly Community, steps have been taken to provide opportunity for residents to age in place, making sure services are available so that individuals can remain in their home and independently as long as possible. Now Windham is about to make even more significant progress by hiring Erica Bell-Watkins as the first coordinator of Windham’s Age-Friendly Program.
 |
| Erica Bell-Watkins has been hired as the first coordinator of the Age-Friendly Windham program and is currently recruiting volunteers to get several programs set up and sustainable in town. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
“This summer I am working at getting to know all the programs and people that are working in the community to make it an age friendly place. I am also seeking out groups and individuals who are interested in supporting programs,” Bell-Watkins said. “In order for this initiative to be successful, we need citizens to be involved. I am looking forward to meeting with volunteers to get several programs set up and sustainable. Volunteers are key to that. My focus is to increase social opportunities, addressing safety and expanding access to transportation options.”
She said that she is hoping that by fall, Age-Friendly Windham will have a Morning Call Program in place, increasing the number of weekly/monthly opportunities for socializing and education, and to have created a pilot transportation program for medical appointments for older residents in need.
Born in Massachusetts, Bel-Watkins moved to Maine when she was starting high school. She graduated from Westbrook High School, then attended Drexel University in Philadelphia where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Design and Merchandising.
“When I returned to Maine after graduation, I worked in finance and insurance, but I have been an educational support and elementary teacher after obtaining a master’s degree at the University of Southern Maine for 20-plus years,” she said. “Currently I substitute teacher for Westbrook, and occasionally for RSU 14.”
According to Bell-Watkins, she learned of the grant-funded opportunity available with Age Friendly Windham by viewing a posting on a Windham Parks and Recreation Department webpage earlier this year.
“I was interested in using my various skills to support my community,” she said. “This was of interest to me because of the many opportunities and needs in Windham. I was interested in helping the town enhance the service to our citizens.”
She first moved to Windham in 2007 but was gone for several years when her husband was serving on active duty in the U.S. Air Force.
“I returned in 2019 to a community that is far more suburban than country. Windham is growing, but some of our needs have grown as well,” Bell-Watkins said. “The 8 areas of focus for this program including housing and transportation which are particularly challenging. Hopefully, this initiative and my focus can help facilitate some increased access and improved quality of life. In addition to housing and transportation, the Age-Friendly initiative strives to improve access and quality of social, civic, and outdoor activities as well as respect and communication.”
Age-Friendly Windham Committee Member Linda Brooks said Bell-Watkins is the perfect person to serve as coordinator for several reasons.
“Erica is very organized and can easily multi-task, which is very important for this job, as there are so many tasks to attend to,” Brooks said. “She is friendly and very outgoing, and she has many connections within the community due to varied experiences.”
Brooks said Age-Friendly Windham is looking to have its action plan adopted by the Windham Town Council in August, which will allow the program to begin accomplishing some short-term goals because of the direction that the plan provides. Volunteer recruitment for either the committee or some of the specific programs being sponsored by the committee is also a goal, and the initiation on work toward affordable housing and transportation has begun because of the strong need for such expressed by the community so far.
“There are some initiatives that the committee has been working on that are being advanced, such as the Good Morning Call-in Program with the Police Department, Age-Friendly lunches cosponsored by the committee and Windham Parks and Recreation, additional involvement with the TRIAD program and obtaining additional grant funding to allow Erica to remain in place with her position,” Brooks said. “Erica is tying together all of the various entities that are already doing great work in our community and helping to promote these events on the Age-Friendly Windham website. Additionally, the committee will be updating the resource manual that was created a couple of years ago and those printed materials will be available at various locations around town.”
Funding for the position that Bell-Watkins currently holds is through an AARP grant that runs through September 30 of this year.
“Additional funding has been provided by the town, and there has been $3,010 allotted in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, along with a carry forward of approximately $4,000 from Fiscal Year 2023,” Brooks said. “With Erica in place, the committee has been able to begin doing more of the work that the funds were appropriated for, and Age-Friendly Windham already has a much greater presence in the community based on the work Erica is doing.”
For more information about Age-Friendly Windham, call 207-892-4649, visit agefriendlywindham.org. or send an email to agefriendlywindham@gmail.com <
No comments:
Post a Comment