From home-delivered meals and essential transportation services to a phone-in book club and classes in tai chi, thousands of seniors living in Washington, Hancock, Penobscot and Piscataquis counties have been touched by the Eastern Area Agency on Aging. But despite important progress on many fronts, plenty of challenges remain, according to former executive director Noelle Merrill, 65, who is retiring this week after leading the agency since 2005.
Dyan Walsh, formerly the director of community and caregiver services, is stepping into the leadership position after nine years with the agency. Walsh said Monday she has “no huge changes” planned. Top goals will be to expand and diversify funding, work against food insecurity and combat social isolation, she said.
The overarching challenge the agency faces going forward is the extremely rural nature of the 13,000-square-mile territory it serves, Merrill said, where the population is aging, communities are sparsely settled, public transportation is nonexistent, housing is dilapidated, access to medical care is limited and poverty is widespread.
“Our area has some really remotely located people,” Merrill said. “We are constantly asking how we can help in our most rural areas.”
Nelson Durgin, board president and a Bangor city councilor, said Merrill has been “very good about getting out into the hinterlands” and building partnerships in what he says is the largest territory east of the Mississippi River served by an agency on aging.
“She has always thought through the issues and worked clearly with the board and community committees,” Durgin said. “She really is a key spokesman for the aging in this area.”
Those skills could have landed her a high-paying position in the for-profit sector, but she instead chose to work with an underserved population, longtime board member Virginia Fortier said.
“Noelle is A-1, as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “She is a special person, and I certainly will miss her.”
With an annual budget of about $2.5 million, EAAA is one of hundreds of agencies set up by the Older Americans Act of 1965 to receive federal funds for services that support seniors. As one of five such agencies in Maine, it administers a wide range of services for residents who are 50 and older. Some programs are subject to income guidelines, but many are available to all seniors, regardless of income. The agency made more than 45,000 client contacts last year, a 64 percent increase over 2014.
Merrill is proud of having maintained essential services and added new ones, despite many years of flat funding and payment delays from state and federal agencies. Traditional services such as Meals on Wheels, low-cost home repair and transportation are critical to keeping seniors safe in their homes and communities, she said. But as the population of Mainers over 50 grows with the aging of the baby boomers, demand has increased for wellness classes, family caregiver training and support, assistance with managing home finances, help with selecting Medicare options and other services.
Merrill often appears on radio and television to spread the word about the agency’s services and conducts informal meetings with seniors throughout the four-county service area to determine unmet needs. Housing, food insecurity and transportation always make the a-list.
“I tell them, you need to talk to your town,” Merrill said. “Municipalities hold the key to helping people stay in their homes.”
In fact, Merrill would like to see towns adopt a tax assessment to fund programs and services for seniors, they way they do for schools. “In Maine, the numbers of children are shrinking and the numbers of seniors are growing,” she said.
Merrill, who lives in Stockton Springs, will stay on at EAAA for a couple of weeks to help Walsh transition into her new responsibilities. Then, she said, she looks forward to a visit with her 94-year-old mother in Indiana, a trip to Prince Edward Island and a hiking adventure in the Adirondacks.
After all that, she and her husband, Dan, plan to sail from Maine to Florida, leaving in August and arriving whenever they get there.
“We just decided that while we’re both still healthy and active, we want to do something really adventurous,” Merrill said.
