Won't you be my neighbor?

This weekend my neighborhood in Wauwatosa was shaken by a terrible event. A house exploded, probably owing to gas buildup, killing its owner and damaging other buildings nearby. I was walking my dog about a mile away when it happened, and a postcard from the woman I later learned had died fell out of the sky in front of me. It included a hand-written list of things she wanted to remember to discuss with her doctor.

I don’t know whether her age, 80, played any role in what happened. But I can’t help wondering whether she was doing well enough at home, whether she had the kind of long-term care help she might have needed from time to time to remain healthy and safe.

The day before I had attended “Won’t you be my neighbor,” a wonderful presentation on the Connecting Caring Communities (CCC) pilot program in helping Milwaukee County communities become “elder friendly.”

To make the communities more livable, the program connects older adults with people, organizations, and businesses in the area. And that’s an important part of what long-term care is about.

CCC is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Partnerships for Older Adults Initiative, along with local support from the Helen Bader, Faye McBeath, and Greater Milwaukee foundations. The Milwaukee Aging Consortium is a CCC partner, and our Caregiver Retention Project is also part of the grant.

The program, organized by project director Stephanie Sue Stein, presented the first two Milwaukee neighborhoods, Layton Boulevard and Sherman Park, in which unique connections have been made, and introduced the next ones underway: Prospect/Farwell Corridor and West Allis-West Milwaukee.

But Connecting Caring Communities isn’t stopping there: everyone attending was asked to get involved in continuing the momentum in our own neighborhoods.

Milwaukee CCC has developed a guide to elder-friendly community development. It's called, of course, Won't You Be My Neighbor? A Guide to Connecting Caring Communities. If you’re interested in getting copies—or helping your own neighborhood become “connected”--contact Alice Kowalski, Milwaukee County Department on Aging, 414/289-5973.