From Town of Gorham

GORHAM – Ken Fickett, a 47-year veteran of the Gorham Fire Department, was recently appointed as Chief of the department by Gorham Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak.

Fickett served as the acting chief following the August retirement of Robert Lefebvre, who stepped down after 41 years with the department, Fickett will serve as the second full time Fire Chief for the Town of Gorham since 1987.

Chief Fickett’s career in the Fire Service started with the Call Company for Gorham Fire in 1974. He became a full time firefighter/EMT with the department in 1999. He served as Call Company Deputy Chief from 1989 through 2001, and as full time Deputy Chief since 2001.

Raised in Gorham, Chief Fickett completed his post-secondary education at SMCC, SMVTI, the National Fire Academy and additional fire science coursework at numerous schools across Maine and New Hampshire.

He attributes his passion for the Fire Service field to his two older siblings who entered the fire service field early in life, and to the late Westbrook Fire Chief Byron Rogers and retired Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre.

Among his initial goals, Chief Fickett said he aims to maintain and encourage Call Company participation and service through continual professional development and training. He said there is a critical role that the Call service and full time staff play by working together to provide public safety for the Town of approximately 17,978 (2019 U.S. Census population estimates).

Between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, Gorham Fire and Rescue responded to 2,771 calls through the collaboration of 10 full time personnel and 100 Call Company members.

Fickett said he will work to ensure a smooth transition in new role, to support the first responders wherever possible as the coummunity pushes through the pandemic.

“Chief Fickett brings a wealth of knowledge and dedication to the position,” Town Manager Paraschak said. “He has led the Gorham Fire Department through some of the worst months of the recent pandemic, and I have the utmost faith that he will continue to lead the department through any future challenges.”

Fickett lives in Gorham with his wife and three dogs – two goldendoodles and a poodle.

From MaineHealth

SCARBOROUGH – ­The owners of the former Scarborough Downs harness racing track have donated use of the facility’s grandstand to MaineHealth, the region’s largest integrated health care system, so that it can open a high-volume COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

Crossroad Holdings, the Scarborough-based company that is redeveloping 500-plus acres at Scarborough Downs, has diverted its construction crews to retrofit the grandstand within a two-week period. Staffed with more than 100 MaineHealth employees and volunteers, the 30,000-square-foot clinic is expected to have the capacity to vaccinate at least 1,000 people per day.

“Finding a space that is centrally located and able to accommodate all the needs of a high-volume clinic is vital to our efforts to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible,” said Bill Caron, CEO of MaineHealth. “This generous donation from Crossroad Holdings is big step forward in getting this pandemic under control and saving lives here in Maine.”

A 40-member construction team managed by Scarborough’s Maine Properties and Risbara Brothers Construction will work 7-days a week in order to complete the clinic by the end of January. It is expected to be operational for six months. The construction teams will build clinical workspaces, improve access to high-speed broadband and build out refrigeration rooms needed to house the vaccines. The State of Maine will assist with on-site security.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has authorized the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to people 70 and older, and MaineHealth has worked closely with the state to roll out vaccinations and clinics as quickly as possible.

“With Maine’s limited and inconsistent supply of vaccine, we are distributing what we have to protect the largest number of people as soon as we can, starting with those who are 70 and older because they are most at risk of suffering or dying if they contract COVID-19,” said Mills. “Sites like Scarborough Downs, where a large number of people can safely and efficiently be vaccinated, will be critical to saving the lives of Maine people, keeping them healthy, putting an end to this pandemic and getting back to normal. We will continue to examine and plan for additional sites across the state.”

“Our State’s front-line healthcare workers are the true heroes and we are proud to support them,” said Peter Michaud, Managing Partner at Crossroads Holdings and Maine Properties, a property management and construction company. “Our employees and business partners have really stepped up to meet these critical deadlines because we all know that this work will save lives,” Michaud added.

Town leaders in Scarborough have been extraordinarily supportive of the project. They have worked quickly to secure all needed permits for the grandstand’s new, temporary use. The Town Council was to conduct an emergency meeting to approve and finalize plans on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

MaineHealth is establishing clinics across its service area in the 11 southernmost counties in Maine, as well as in Carroll County, N.H. The Scarborough clinic will be a key vaccination resource for people in Cumberland County and northern York County.

MaineHealth began offering vaccines to people 70 and older in accordance with guidelines from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 18, and it is in the process of setting up its clinics and establishing a system for making appointments. Demand for the vaccine has been high – much greater than the weekly supply of vaccines being distributed to the states from the federal government. On the first day that MaineHealth’s call center was fully operational, the phone line received calls from more 18,000 individuals seeking vaccination, far exceeding the capacity of available appointments.

MaineHealth is a not-for-profit integrated health system consisting of nine local hospital systems, including Franklin Memorial Hospital/Franklin Community Health Network in Farmington, LincolnHealth in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor, Maine Behavioral Healthcare in South Portland, MaineHealth Care at Home in Saco, Maine Medical Center in Portland, Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., Mid Coast-Parkview Health in Brunswick, NorDx in Scarborough, Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County Hospital in Rockport and Belfast, Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford and Sanford, Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook and Stephens Memorial Hospital/Western Maine Health Care in Norway.

MaineHealth Affiliates include Maine General Health in Augusta and Waterville, New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. It is also a significant stakeholder in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization in Portland.

The Downs is a 525-acre planned community being built on the grounds of the former Scarborough Downs harness racing track. It will offer three distinct components to ‘live, work and play,’ which earned the project a tagline of “A Community Trifecta.” The property will be home to a 150-acre innovative business park, a walkable Town Center, 200 acres of greenspace, 10-miles of recreational trails and several mixed-use housings neighborhoods.

At full buildout, the entire project is estimated to create over $615M in new value; over $10M in new tax revenue; nearly 2M square feet of commercial space and as many as 3,000 new jobs.

From Maine CF

PORTLAND & ELLSWORTH—The Maine Community Foundation’s Conservation for All grant program has awarded $206,000 in grants to 18 nonprofit organizations across the state.

Launched last year, the Conservation for All grant program provides general support grants to organizations and projects that build strong connections between people in Maine and our land and water.

The 2020 grantees include Hearty Roots, Bristol, to connect low-income kids to nature with esteem-building outdoor adventure programming that supports their resilience and personal growth; Portland Parks Conservancy, to develop a plan to make Riverton Trolley Park’s shoreline, trails, woods, and fields more accessible to an underserved Portland neighborhood lacking in usable park space; and Somerset Woods Trustees, Norridgewock, to partner with Skowhegan Outdoors at Main Street Skowhegan to increase public use of Somerset Woods Trustees conservation lands by a broader spectrum of the community.

The application for the next round of Conservation for All grants opens May 1. The deadline for submission is Aug. 1. Guidelines, application, and a list of recent grants are available at www.mainecf.org. For more information about this grant program, contact MaineCF Senior Program Officer Maggie Drummond-Bahl at (877) 700-6800 or by e-mail at mbahl@mainecf.org.

Headquartered in Ellsworth, with additional personnel in Portland, Dover-Foxcroft, Rockport, and Mars Hill, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to provide strong investments, personalized service, local expertise, and strategic giving to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.

2020 Conservation for All Grants

Blue Hill Heritage Trust, to continue work to create accessible trails for people of all abilities living in and visiting the community: $7,500

Downeast Lakes Land Trust, Grand Lake Stream, to construct two hiking trails: one that is universally-accessible for those with limited mobility and one that promotes literacy and preservation of the Passamaquoddy language: $15,000

Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, Portland, to engage local communities to facilitate access to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and realize the impact of its economic, cultural, and ecological potential: $15,000

Friends of L. C. Bates Museum, Hinckley, to develop and distribute engaging “Kid’s Kits” and offer outdoor experiences that connect students and families to the environment and its stewardship in collaboration with teachers: $3,500

Friends of Messalonskee, Oakland, to create more access to the Messalonskee Lake Watershed through conservation activities, including an Invasive Plant Paddle program encouraging underserved members of the community: $12,500

Hearty Roots, Bristol, to connect low-income kids to nature with esteem-building outdoor adventure programming that supports their resilience and personal growth: $15,000

Hills to Sea Trail Coalition, Belfast, for general operations to maintain programs, volunteers, part-time staff person and improvements to the Hills to Sea Trail: $10,000

Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, Bath, to improve visitor diversity to safely and sustainably access Lilly Pond Community Forest in Bath by constructing a parking area and improving trailhead facilities: $15,000

Loon Echo Land Trust, Bridgton, to connect communities to conservation through land protection and stewardship, outreach, education, and universal access improvements, and to increase organizational equity, diversity, and inclusion through board training: $7,500

Mahoosuc Pathways, Inc., Bethel, to add connecting lands to the Bethel Community Forest as part of the Chadbourne Tree Farms purchase: $15,000

Portland Parks Conservancy, to develop a plan to make Riverton Trolley Park’s shoreline, trails, woods, and fields more accessible to an underserved Portland neighborhood lacking usable park space: $10,000.00

Presumpscot Regional Land Trust, Gorham, to apply an equity lens to the development of conservation and trails in Westbrook to engage more youth and families in the outdoors: $12,500

Sanford Springvale Mousam Way Land Trust, Sanford, to support the creation of safe and easily accessible trails for healthful recreation and outdoor learning adventures: $6,000

Somerset Woods Trustees, Norridgewock, to partner with Skowhegan Outdoors at Main Street Skowhegan to increase public use of Somerset Woods Trustees conservation lands by a broader spectrum of community: $15,000

Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative, Portland, to demonstrate ground-breaking conservation that addresses social equity, climate change, organizational efficiency, and collective impact: $15,000

Teens to Trails, Brunswick, to help connect high-school students with “nearby nature” by building connections between schools and their local land trusts and public lands: $10,000

Tree Street Youth, Lewiston, to provide outdoor exposure and enrichment experiences for at-risk and immigrant/refugee youth: $6,500

Women for Healthy Rural Living, Milbridge, to support OWLette, a summer camp for girls that teaches outdoor and naturalist skills and is designed to foster confidence in the outdoors: $15,000.

From Trips With Pets

WAKE FOREST, NC – Planning to hit the open road with your four-legged sidekick? Road tripping is definitely more fun when shared with your pup — especially if it’s just the two of you.

Taking a solo road trip with your pet does require a little extra preparation, but if you plan wisely and keep your pet’s needs in mind, you and your furkid will have an enjoyable, stress-free adventure. To get you started, here are our tips to ensure your trip goes smoothly and safely.

Stay Safe 

To keep both you and your pup safe and minimize driving distractions, be sure your pet is properly secured in the back seat or cargo area. It’s best to get your dog used to the restraint in advance, so that he is comfortable with it before you start your trip.

We also recommend sharing your trip details and schedule with a friend or family member. Frequently check-in with your current location, where you’re staying, and any changes you’ve made to your original plans.

Plan and Prioritize

Before heading out on your trip, double-check that your pet’s tags, vaccinations, and microchip information are up-to-date. Talk with your dog’s vet to make sure your pooch is in top shape for travel, and get a copy of his vaccine records to bring with you. 

These should be the most essential items on your trip checklist. Accurate tag and microchip information will help identify your pet if he gets lost. Checking in with your vet can prevent you from dealing with a sad and sick pet when you’re alone and far from home. Current vaccines will keep him safe, and bringing along his vaccination records can help keep your travel plans on track; several states require proof of vaccinations for any pet crossing state lines.

Pick Your Path

When planning a trip alone with your pet, it’s even more important to ensure that “essentials” can be found on your travel route. You don’t want to spend time stranded with no gas, food, or rest stops, with an anxious, unhappy pet. Plan a route that has plenty of places for your pup to potty; the standard is three to four hours between potty breaks, but some dogs need to go more often. You know your pet best, so if you think more frequent stops are needed for him to stretch his legs…be sure to make that part of your plan.

Meeting your pooch’s potty needs simply requires heading to the nearest rest stop, and making sure you have waste bags and supplies on hand to clean up after him. Managing your own potty breaks, however, is a bit more complicated. We do not recommend ever leaving a pet alone in a car, so what can you do when nature calls? Find a pet-friendly business and use their restroom. Pet stores like Petco and PetSmart, and pet-friendly hotel chains, like Red Roof Inn and Motel 6 will let you use their facilities with your pet.

Reserve Pet-Friendly Accommodations

Pet-friendly hotels are plentiful, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy to find one right when you need one. Some hotels have a limited number of pet-friendly rooms, while others sell out their rooms quickly, and require booking way in advance. In addition, most hotels have restrictions — such as pet weight limit, and number of pets allowed. Some even have breed restrictions. So, when it comes to finding a pet-friendly hotel while you’re already on the road, “winging it” may not work out so well. Fortunately, you can find and book pet-friendly accommodations easily on TripsWithPets.com, leaving you one less thing to worry about on your solo expedition. 

Pack Up With Convenience in Mind

When you’re on your trip, you won’t have anyone to leave your pooch with while you pop into a grocery store or gas station. And, since pets shouldn’t be left alone in a vehicle, you need to make sure to stock up on provisions for your trip. 

Make a thoughtful list of everything you’ll need, keeping in mind that stopping for new snacks or supplies with your pet will be a challenge. Arrange the space in your car so everything is easy to access when he needs it, including pet travel bowls, treats, waste bags, medication, leashes, first aid kit, toys, and blankets.

TripsWithPets has been helping pet parents find and book pet-friendly accommodations since 2003. TripsWithPets provides online reservations at over 30,000 pet friendly hotels & accommodations across the U.S. and Canada. See TripsWithPets.com

by Nathan Tsukroff

GORHAM – Giving customers their choice of only fresh ingredients, coupled with hard work, brought authentic Mexican food to Gorham almost a year ago.

Juan Sanchez and his wife, Ilse Fernandez, opened Azul Tequila at 29 School Street in Gorham in February, 2020, just a couple of blocks from the center of town and across the street from the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.

“My husband had always wanted to open kind of like a Chipotle-style restaurant, where people can choose the ingredients. So that was kind of the idea behind this restaurant,” Fernandez said. “We have always worked with fresh ingredients, nothing is frozen. Everything is made fresh!”

They had to lock the front doors in mid-March as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. And reopened just a few weeks later for personal take-out service or direct delivery by DoorDash. Now, customers can come into the restaurant to pickup an order at the counter, have their order brought to their car at the curb, or get orders delivered to them at home.

Sanchez opened El Rodeo on Western Avenue in South Portland in 2013 with help from silent partners. That restaurant is running strong, and the couple opened a second El Rodeo in Brunswick last November.

Sanchez is “kind of the soul of the restaurants, both El Rodeo and Azul Tequila,” Fernandez said. “All of the recipes are his.”

He started working in the restaurant business as a teenager in Virginia, Fernandez said. “He started from the bottom, from being the dishwasher, then learning the kitchen and learning how to cook.” 

Sanchez moved with his family to Ohio and eventually the two met in Columbus, Ohio, where he had “just taken over a restaurant” as the manager, Fernandez said. By the time Sanchez left that restaurant, he had doubled the income with his hard work and because “he always tries to bring something new to people. He tries to make the food better, always!”  

 Much like an artist works on a canvas, Sanchez works on the offerings at their restaurants. “We go to Mexico and we try different restaurants and he goes and he tries different foods, and he’ll say, ‘This one has these spices and this sauce has this’,” she said. “His palette is very sensitive!”

   The father-in-law of Sanchez’s brother wanted to open a restaurant in South Portland, and invited Sanchez to run the restaurant.

“South Portland has kept us really busy, because the restaurant is pretty big and we always try to make things better,” Fernandez said. Along with the restaurant, they soon opened a food truck. “At first, me and my husband were waking up at six o’clock in the morning to get a spot in South Portland in downtown to park the truck. And it was little bit crazy at first, but once people got to know the food truck, it was a more simplified menu of burritos, tacos, quesadillas and salad bowls.”

People started calling them for private events, but they have not had a lot of business this past year, due to the pandemic, Fernandez said. They were able to get a spot at the Rock Row music venue on Westbrook Arterial in Westbrook for concerts and other live events, although those events also disappeared due to the pandemic.

Like restaurants throughout the area, moving to online ordering and delivery by DoorDash has helped them to retain business at Azul Tequila and El Rodeo, Fernandez said.

Azul Tequila had limited outdoor seating on the front patio area during the warmer months, and can seat guests indoors with appropriate social-distancing. “We have been trying to do everything by the rules,” to keep their guests safe, she said. They placed UV air filter machines in the seating areas to helped purify the air indoors.

The pandemic has led to a redistribution of staff members in order to keep them busy, Fernandez said. “We have a lot of families that depend on us” for work. Staff were given work in the kitchens or taking phone orders. German Hernandez had been a waiter at El Rodeo in South Portland before the pandemic, and is now the manager in Gorham.

Fernandez said she met her husband when she went to work at his restaurant for a month before her classes started at Ohio State. She eventually graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, but said she has not worked in that field because “when we opened South Portland, we were just so busy!”

“Some of the skills I learned at engineering have been put to use” with work on the online menus and with company bookkeeping, she said.

Fernandez was born in the Mexican state of Jalisco, and came to the U.S. with her parents about 20 years ago. She and Sanchez visit family there yearly, and feature ceramic dishes from Jalisco on the walls of their restaurants. The ceramics of Jalisco have a history that extends far back to the pre-Hispanic period.

Because the restaurants use only fresh products for their food, they don’t have the large freezers often found in other restaurants. In fact, the large freezer at the South Portland location was turned into a storage room, Fernandez said.

At Azul Tequila, Hernandez has created a haddock taco dish for Lent, with Chipotle spices that add flavor but don’t overpower the delicate taste of the fish.

Online orders can be placed at  orderazultequila.com.

Guest Column

by Saskia Lippy, MD

PORTLAND, OR – Today our American family dysfunction is on display for all the world to see.  As a keeper of secrets, my work as a psychiatrist and healer told me that our culture was sick long ago. 

The stories I have heard of grandfathers, brothers, fathers, lovers, priests who rape and abuse and then manage to coerce into keeping it secret have long ago ceased to shock me.  I help my patients, both women and men, come to terms with the families that were not able to protect them, who actually harmed them, and then in some cases even told them that they were the “crazy ones.”  The same thing is happening to us now.

But we are not crazy, our eyes do not deceive us.  What the white supremacists now threatening the national security of our nation have in common with the ghosts in my office is toxic masculinity.  This hyper-aggressive, violent version of manhood will be countered in the coming days with an even more aggressive show of force.  There is likely to be armed conflict in our streets.   We must stand by and watch, fearful and afraid.   Or is there another alternative?

If we are to teach our children, and their children and the children of the 7th generation to love, we must teach them how to stop the cycle of secrets.  

This past week I had the honor of being a mental health advocate for the girlfriend of a young man shot in our community by police while in mental health crisis.  She was able to do something remarkable.   At his vigil, she was able to forgive the officer who shot him, to have empathy for him, to see that he too was hurting.  It was a feat of incredible humanity; one we do not often glimpse.

As we face the flood of darkness coming our way, I am reminded that sometimes the ways of our world are inexplicable.  Take this small miracle, a true story. 

 Our friend, the late Rabbi Harold White, esteemed Professor of Judaic studies at Georgetown University, had come to visit my husband and me while we were on the East Coast at a family reunion.  As we were introducing him to our extended family, my daughter was tugging at me, poking, insistent that she be introduced first.  I was annoyed.  Nevertheless, she persisted.

“Rabbi”, I said, “I am so sorry, but she has something to ask you”, as I pointed to a very impatient little girl.

To my horror, my then seven-year-old daughter said, “Rabbi, are you a wise man?”  There was nervous laughter.  

“Yes, I believe that I am”, he replied.

 “Then how do you know that God exists?” she asked.

Harold was delighted at the question.  His eyes crinkled with joy as he held forth about the story of Noah, the ark, the storm that destroyed the earth, the saving of the animals, and finally of the rainbow telling Noah that the danger had passed. 

Precisely as he finished saying, “And that is how you know that God exists.  Whenever you see a rainbow, it is God’s promise to you that He will never destroy the earth again,” someone yelled  “Rainbow!”

A rainbow had appeared – not just one rainbow, but two.  As we all piled outside,  shrieking and howling with awe, I stood back with the Rabbi.  

I said, “Does this happen to you often?”

He smiled and said knowingly, “Oh, yes.”

I tell you this story today because the rainbow may or may not be a sign from God, depending on your belief, but on this dark day for us as a society it is also aspirational, a symbol of the society we have yet to build.  A society in which all have a place, a society in which hate does not win over love. 

As we honor the late Dr. King this year, I urge you to do so in your actions.  Together, we must finish the work that Dr. King started to rebuild our society more equitably, so that all can flourish and so that the hate that has rooted within our American family can find some peace.

As we face the flood of darkness together in the coming days, hold out your light.  Hurry–our time on Earth is short–but the blink of an eye.  This truth cannot come fast enough for those suffering with COVID, for the Native elders being lost.  I am so sorry aunties that we have failed you so.

It is as the great Gandhi observed, “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be.  If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it.  On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have at the beginning.”      

I know we can finish the work of Dr. King, together.  We must if we are to survive this terrible hate. The choice lies within each of our hearts. 

Saskia Hostetler Lippy, MD, is a psychiatrist and community activist in practice in downtown Portland, OR, and has been volunteering to provide psychological first aid to those involved in the Portland protest movement and is a field monitor for the TRUST network.

From U. of Maine

AUGUSTA – University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4-H is partnering with the Maine Primitive Skills School and Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to offer a new monthly outdoor educational series for families with children ages 7–18.

 “Outdoor Family Adventures” will teach families about Maine’s ecology, observing birds and their habitats, responsible fire building, and safely spending time in the Maine outdoors.

Programs will take place monthly from 3-5 p.m. at 2273 North Belfast Ave., Augusta, with topics scheduled for Jan. 31 on Bird Language and Nature Awareness, Feb. 28 on Useful Trees and Plants of Winter, Mar. 28 on Responsible Fire Making, and Apr. 25 on Useful Trees & Plants of Spring.

Participants are responsible for bringing their own portable seating, water and snacks. Face coverings are required. 

The series is free, but registration is required. Register on the program webpage at http://bitly.ws/bavn

Due to safety protocols, the program is limited to one adult and one youth per family.

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact Alisha Targonski, 207.622.7546; alisha.r.targonski@maine.edu. 

From WinterKids

WESTBROOK – WinterKids kicked off the fourth-annual Winter Games last week across the state and in New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, and Canada.

In Maine, kids, teachers, and families in nearly 100 communities are participating in the Games. Teachers and families receive a Playbook, resources, and incentives to complete a four-week series of fun outdoor physical activity and nutrition challenges. There are over 6,000 kids participating this year.

“We are thrilled to offer a fun, active way to engage all kids in outdoor learning throughout the winter,” said Julie Mulkern, WinterKids Executive Director. “This year, the Winter Games is focused on resilience, inclusion, community and service within the context of celebrating winter through outdoor physical activity, nutrition, and family engagement,” says Mulkern. 

WinterKids’ Winter Games allows kids to participate, whether they are receiving in-person education or learning at home. Embracing outdoor learning helps to avoid the pitfalls of online learning and the negative effects of excessive screen time – particularly for those in elementary school. WinterKids provides resources for both teachers and parents to get their kids outside and active. There is also a WinterKids Winter Games Facebook group for resource sharing, and downloadable activities on the organization’s website. 

The Winter Games resources are designed to be used in the winter and beyond for outdoor, active learning. For teachers, parents, and community groups who want to join the fun, please visit www.winterkids.org today to request materials while they last. 

WinterKids is a nonprofit organization that helps children develop healthy lifelong habits through education and fun, outdoor winter activity. The organization delivers innovative outdoor programs for families, schools, and communities.

WinterKids’ major community sponsor is Hannaford.  WinterKids’ supporting sponsors are Agren, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, L.L.Bean, Portland Glass, WEX, and WMTW 8 and The CW.

The WinterKids Winter Games are made possible with support from Bingham Program, Hydro Quebec, Backyard Farms, MMG Insurance, University of New England, Johnny’s Select Seeds, Hannaford SnackPals, Playworks, Aroma Joe’s and Subway of Maine.

Learn more at WinterKids.org

By Nathan Tsukroff

LEWISTON – The COVID-19 pandemic has phones “ringing off the hook” at SeniorsPlus in Lewiston.

Phone calls to the agency are half-again higher under the pandemic than they were a year ago, jumping from 120,000 a year previously to about 196,000 calls this past year.

SeniorsPlus is the designated Area Agency on Aging for Western Maine, and works to enrich the lives of older people and adults with disabilities. The agency’s goal is to assist adults to remain at home safely for as long as possible.

 Much of the agency’s work is concentrated on community services for older and disabled adults in Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford counties, but SeniorsPlus is also tasked with providing care coordination for adults all across Maine under a contract with the state.

“That’s why our call volume is so high,” Betsy Sawyer-Manter, President and CEO, said. “People are calling a lot . . . I don’t know if it’s because of the pandemic.” Calls are often direct-dial to one of the 125 staff members, rather than a central switchboard, so callers don’t have to deal with menus.

Calls to the main phone number for SeniorsPlus are returned as quickly as possible by staff, but a return call may not be until the following day, Sawyer-Manter said. Clients will often call back multiple times if they don’t reach someone in person, increasing the perceived volume of calls.

“People are calling for a variety of reasons. Right now, the two hot topics are, ‘Where’s my stimulus payment?’, and ‘Where am I going to get the vaccine?’, she said. “So some of our calls are sort of driven by the news cycle.”

SeniorsPlus just finished assisting older adults with the Medicare open enrollment, which led to a lot of phone calls. And the agency continues to help adults with questions about Medicare throughout the year, Sawyer-Manter said.

SeniorsPlus has four main phone numbers for adults to call for different topics. “So somebody can call about Medicare. We have a Medicare hotline. So people leave their messages there, and we have somebody who’s an expert in Medicare call them back,” she said. “Same thing with our education center,” for people who questions about educational offerings from SeniorsPlus, which are now virtual.

Meals on Wheels is another major program administered by SeniorsPlus in the three-country area. The staff at Meals on Wheels’ Roger D. Ouellette Kitchen off the Alfred Plourde Parkway on the east side of Lewiston serves upwards of 1200 meals a day.

Meals had been delivered daily in the past, with a delivery of multiple meals on Thursday or Friday to carry the recipient through the weekend.

 Adults who want to find out if they are eligible for Meals on Wheels can call the hotline for answers, Sawyer-Manter said.

“We have a lot of people who are looking for Meals on Wheels,” she said. “Food insecurity seems to be a real issue right now.” SeniorsPlus has some flexibility during the pandemic under the CARES Act to provide meals for adults who might not have qualified previously. Meals on Wheels was traditionally for people over 60 who did not have the ability to make meals for themselves or to acquire meals, such as someone disabled or homebound.

“The intent of Meals of Wheels is to give people who are qualified, one third of their daily recommended dietary requirements for an adult,” Sawyer-Manter said. “So they get one meal a day. Sometimes we deliver extra meals and they eat more than one a day, but typically, it’s one a day.”

With funds from the CARES Act, SeniorsPlus has expanded delivery of meals during the pandemic. Adults of any age who may not be able to leave their home to shop for food because of their medical needs or conditions may now qualify for the meals. “So we’ve been able to open the program up to more people as a result of that funding,” she said.

 Funding for this expanded program was provided when the CARES Act was first put into place, and Sawyer-Manter said she believes SeniorsPlus has enough money left to allow delivery of these meals through “late-winter or early-spring.”

Part of the impact from the pandemic means that meal deliveries may not be face-to-face. Meals may be left on a doorstep or on the porch, and the delivery person doesn’t get to chat with the person receiving the meals as they have in the past. To make up for this lost interaction, SeniorsPlus volunteers call the adults receiving the meals at least once a week to check on their well-being.

Homecare

SeniorsPlus holds a contract with the State of Maine to run the homebased-care program for adults who aren’t eligible for other government assistance such as Mainecare (Maine’s version of Medicaid), but still need homecare, Sawyer-Manter said. They might need help with such “activities of daily living” as bathing, dressing, help with toileting, or cooking.

This is homecare, not healthcare, she said. “All of these things that maybe you and I take for granted – we can put on our own clothes, we can take our own shower – these are people who need assistance with that, so they don’t end up in a nursing home. They want to live at home, and with a little bit assistance, they can stay at home.”

SeniorsPlus pays providers to hire personal-care workers who provide the homecare for adults across Maine, Sawyer-Manter said. “We coordinate all their care,” by authorizing the providers to go into a home and choosing how many hours of homecare will be provided. The provider then hires the homecare worker and is paid by the State of Maine through SeniorsPlus.

“We monitor the work as well . . . whatever they need for services, we are the coordinating agency,” she said.

Homebased-care is a state-funded program. For adults who qualify for Mainecare, SeniorsPlus may coordinate care, but payment comes directly from Mainecare.

Other Programs

Besides the Meals on Wheels and homebased-care programs, “We do a lot around cargegiver support. So we help people who are caring for a loved one, particularly people who have Alzheimer’s or another dementia,” Sawyer-Manter said. “We support them through one-on-one support, support groups,” and respite care.

For respite care, although with a limited amount of money available, SeniorsPlus is able to provide some money for people caring for another family member to occasionally hire temporary help and take some personal time. “Say you were taking care of your mother with dementia, and you needed to go to the doctor and get some errands done. You might arrange for once a week to have someone come in that’s going to stay with your mother, supervise her care, so that you can get out and do your own thing,” she said.

As more people in Maine are caring for aging family members, this is becoming more of a need, she said.

SeniorsPlus also helps adults in Maine with a program called Money Minders, a program that helps people manage their finances. The agency has volunteers that trained and insured to work one-on-one with adults who may need help with balancing their checkbook, may have Parkinson’s Disease and have trouble writing, or might never have needed to handle finances until their spouse died.

The volunteers will help make sure bills are paid and checkbooks are balanced, Sawyer-Manter said. And they also review the bank accounts to ensure the adult is not being taken advantage of by another family member or someone outside the household.

This is a very popular program, Sawyer-Manter said, and more volunteers are needed.

And SeniorsPlus is also the go-to agency for older adults with questions about fuel assistance, help with rent, and other issues, she said. “We do a lot of just information and assistance. That’s probably the biggest number of calls we get, is simply answering peoples’ questions” and help them to find needed resources.

 At this point in the pandemic, the majority of phone calls to SeniorsPlus is about Meals on Wheels, people looking for caregiver support, questions about heating assistance, and questions about stimulus checks and the COVID-19 vaccine.

Loss of volunteers

Providing these services has been a challenge under pandemic conditions with the loss of almost all their volunteers. SeniorsPlus had help from some 575 volunteers at the start of last year and now has only about 45. Many agencies had to pull out of volunteering, and many of the volunteers were concerned about their personal health, Sawyer-Manter said.

Now, instead of providing support services and classes in-person at it’s Lewiston office, SeniorsPlus offers virtual classes and support groups.

“We offer a Zoom-101 class once a month,” to teach people how to get online and participate.

Some of the volunteers were adults with intellectual disabilities who helped deliver Meals on Wheels as part of they own care programs. “It was part of their living in the community, giving back to the community,” Sawyer-Manter said. While these volunteers are often high-risk themselves and had to stop volunteering under the pandemic, “we hope to resume that, once things are safe.”

A hybrid future

Going forward, Saywer-Manter sees her agency offering services in a hybrid of both in-person and online methods.

Even after pandemic restrictions are eased, “I think we’ve learned that it’s probably going to be the use of technology combined with in-person” services, she said. “A lot of our clients are just itching to get back to the Education Center and their support groups.”

“We want human contact. We’re social animals. What we’ve found is that a lot of people who can’t get out – if they’ve got broadband (internet connection) we can get to them!”

SeniorsPlus is open 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and can be reached at 800-427-1241 or 207-795-4010, or by email at info@seniorsplus.org.