NEWPORT, Maine — At about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Police Chief Leonard Macdaid was offered dance lessons by 85-year-old Dot Fernald. Then he heard a few stories about how Pratt Road got its name, and Fernald shared an album of family photographs.
Just after 11, he was hanging a bird feeder outside Joyce Nelson’s back door. Of course, that was after he trekked upstairs to view the latest quilt she is working on. Nelson is younger than Fernald. She’s 84.
The phone rings — a real rotary phone — and Nelson quickly said, “I can’t talk. I have company.”
And so it goes. Up and down the streets of Newport, house after house, Macdaid visits, talks with and shares the lives of a dozen shut-ins or people who live alone.
While he shares their stories, Macdaid remains alert.
Is the house warm? Does everyone look well? Is there evidence of cooking or adequate groceries? Is the driveway cleared and the step ice-free?
The well-being program began in January, when Macdaid felt it was important to begin home visits to residents that might be needing some extra care.
“I envisioned this as building a bridge to services,” he said. The economy was crashing, oil prices were a burden and Macdaid wanted to reach out to those who needed it.
He began asking at the town office for the names of those who lived alone. He then checked with the local soup kitchen and the churches.
The list initially began with 12 names. This week, he was given three more.
“As we gradually build trust and rapport with these people, they have started giving us other names, letting us know who else might need a visit.”
With a nod to the elderly on his list, Macdaid said, “This is by far the best generation this country ever had. They are so proud, so strong and so efficient.”
Fernald, for example, still shovels part of her driveway. Nelson spryly climbs the narrow stairs at her home to do her sewing. Both women frequently volunteer at a local free meal program.
Macdaid said it is important that the home visit program not be based on age, however, but rather on need.
“We have men, women, couples and singles,” he said. On Thursday, Macdaid went to eight homes. He was also given three new names by those he visited.
Fernald provided one of those names. “She’s a sweetheart,” Fernald told Macdaid about the woman she recommended for a visit, “but she’s all alone in that big house.”
While the police chief sat at her kitchen table, Fernald, who has been a widow for 21 years, recounted her week. She had shoveled part of the driveway that the plow missed and was brought Communion by the Catholic church in Pittsfield.
“You should have come before I got plowed out,” she joked with the chief. “You could have helped.”
They both laughed.
The last time the chief visited, Fernald was sick and he asked about her health.
“I lost 6 pounds with that flu,” she said.
“But you look good,” Macdaid said.
Fernald strikes a model’s pose, tipping her head and putting her hand on her waist. “You look great, too,” she flirted. “You’re a good looker.”
More laughs circled around the kitchen.
Fernald said she is looking forward to spring, to golfing.
“That’s the secret,” she said. “I keep busy.”
At each visit’s end, Macdaid says he will return next week. “I always say we’re coming back,” he said, “because it’s clear most of the time that they don’t want us to leave.”
Although most of the time Macdaid does the rounds, all Newport officers have taken turns visiting their neighbors.
For the future, Macdaid said, “I’m going anywhere this program takes me. When I was first hired, I had two goals. One was to do something for the young people, and we established a school resource officer. My second goal was to reach out to the elderly and others that are alone.”
Macdaid is hoping that any Newport resident needing a visit will contact the Police Department to become part of the program. “Many of these folks have no idea what services are out there to help them,” he said. “We can be that bridge.”
To enlist in the program, contact the Newport Police Department at 368-3263.