Her Livable Communities Corps assignment dovetails with her personal story.
I quit school and moved up to Maine to help take care of my grandmother, says Cummings.
Thats a big reason why the aging initiative means so much to me.
Ive wanted to help and make a difference and Ive learned so much that will benefit my family.
I really want Maine to keep people here and stand out as a place to draw people in.
Were a rural state.
Maine has one of the highest percentages of older people in the country.
Its hard for them to get information, says Dougeneck.
Develop an Age-Friendly State Action Plan
Cummings is focusing on this part of the work.
“We’ve also condensed the 8 Domains of Livability framework to feature seven domains.
We’re building that from the ground up.”
(See Maine’s domains and subdomains at the end of this page.)
During one meeting, the conversation turned to financial security.
A lot of the elderly community is being taken advantage of because of phone scams, explains Cummings.
“We need a way to educate the community about these scams so they’ll be prepared.
Another need is thelack of broadband internet accessin many of the state’s rural and remote communities.
Cummings learned that before COVID, tele-health visits averaged 1,000 calls a week throughout the state.
That number spiked to 80,000 during COVID.
That bit of knowledge led to discussions about the needs to address within the Communications domain.
Making the dashboard interactive poses a challenge as does getting the dashboard approved.
Brian is connecting the state plans strategic objectives to data points in the dashboard.
Doing so is a multidimensional and complex undertaking.
CHANGE OF PLANS
COVID-19 has definitely interrupted Dougenecks work.
We still have access to key people through video conference, but not in person by going into communities.
Cummings’s biggest challenge is a common one to any bureaucracy.
I am trying to accept that.
Were getting such good feedback and awareness about where attention needs to be paid, Cummings says.
I feel like were really going to make a difference with this action plan.
CONTINUING GOALS
Cummings and Dougeneck will continue their work until the end of 2020.
Among their to-dos:
1.
Accessible Communication and Information
2.
Financial Security and Employment
3.
Health Coverage, Health Care and Support Services
4.
Natural Resource Management, Outdoor Spaces and Recreation
6.
Respect, Social Inclusion and Civic Engagement
7.
Transportation
Reporting by Amy Lennard Goehner
