Finding the courage and confidence to age “my way” in “my community” can be a challenge. At this year’s fourth annual "There’s No Place Like Home 2015 Aging in Place Symposium" on September 17 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Belvedere Road in Damariscotta, Gilliam Graham staff writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram will revisit the Telegram’s award winning series the Challenge of Our Age. The impact of this series as it challenged citizen’s perceptions of aging in Maine was so great that lead reporter Kelly Bouchard received the Maine Council on Aging’s 2015 Journalist of the Year Award. 

Gilliam’s thoughts about this series and her experiences in writing the section on hunger and food insecurity among Maine’s seniors will come to life at 1 p.m. as she responds to questions posed by Aging in Place steering committee member and retired journalist Kate McCormick.

Through a roundtable question and answer format featuring representatives from many of our symposium sponsors, symposium participants will be able to find information, tools and resources that will assist them as they develop their plan for aging in place by posing questions about housing, health and wellness, personal finance, transportation, community and social interaction. Roundtable discussions will include:

Table One: A Local Village to Village Model, Early Experiences on the Boothbay Peninsula Patricia Seybold, Awesome Seniors

Table Two: Being Cared For At Home, Allison Williams and Tarsha Rewa, PSS Regional Coordinators, Bridges, Help at Home, the Homecare Division of Spectrum Generation

Table Three: Handyman in the Village, Bob Hardina, Founder Mid -Coast Energy Systems

Table Four: Legal Roadmap as You Age, Attorney Melissa Holmes, Griffin Law Offices

Table Five: A Home for My Stuff & Accidental Caregiving, Harriet and Chuck Vaughan, Legacy Years

Table Six: Palliative Care & Sussan Hospice House, Reverend Stephen White, Pastoral Chaplin, PenBay Healthcare, Hospice & Palliative Care

Table Seven: Cognitive Changes with Aging & Skills2Care, Megan M. McCartney, MS, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, Wellness and Rehabilitation Program, LincolnHealth -Miles Campus

Table Eight: Financially Speaking — Reverse Mortgages, Home Purchases and Avoiding Home Foreclosures Jason Thomas, Director, Housing Counseling and Education, CEI

Table Nine: Journey into Fitness, Robin Maginn, Advanced Professional Senior Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer, Spectrum Generations Coastal Community Center

Table Ten: Home Healthcare and Hospice, Connie Jones, Community Liaison Representative and Kirsten Skorpen, MSW, LincolnHealth Miles & St. Andrews, Home Health and Hospice

Table Eleven: Funeral Planning, Pau Smeltzer, Funeral Director, Strong Hancock Funeral Home.

The day begins at 8:30 a.m. with health breakfast snacks provided by Rising Tide Community Market, Cohn on the Meadows, the Catering Division of Spectrum Generations and The Kennedy Learning Center at Camp Kieve.

Throughout the day from keynote speaker Dr. Lenard Kaye, director, University of Maine on Aging to Peer to Peer, roundtable facilitators we will be encouraging participants to to discover and look at new ways for aging in the right place as each of us grows older. This is an intergenerational program that recognizes the need to encompass the entire spectrum of life in the aging process.

For more information, directions, a complete schedule call 563-1363 or go to: www.spectrumgenerations.org/coastal/symposium.