Caldwell LIVE,
Lifelong Involvement
for Vital Elders,
was designed to
create an elder-friendly community where older residents can age in place with
social supports, access to services, and meaningful activities that promote
civic engagement, encourage independence, and help people stay safe and active
in their own homes. With that goal in mind, Caldwell LIVE launched in the fall
of 2008 to serve the borough’s nearly 1,000 residents over the age of 65. Caldwell,
where 40 percent of the town’s 3,300 households included a resident 55 or older
when the program began, offers easy walkability, a wide range of public and
private services, and public transportation for seniors.
The program began as a federally funded NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement
Community) project modeled on the earlier successful Parsippany LIVE program.
Both were implemented by UJC MetroWest. Support is provided by the US
Administration on Aging and United Jewish Appeal and funded in part through a
grant from the Mountainside Health Foundation.
Many different public, civic, and faith-based groups were invited to join in
this collaborative project. The Caldwell roster includes: United Jewish
Communities of MetroWest; Mountainside Hospital; JCC of MetroWest; Crane’s
Mills CCRC; NJ TIP Travel Training; Jewish Family Service; Jewish Vocational
Service; Metro Transport – Daughters of Israel; Caldwell Public Library;
Caldwell Human Services; Essex County Division on Aging; Kiwanis Club; Rotary
Club; Caldwell College; DOROT; Congregation Agudath Israel; First Presbyterian
Church of Caldwell; St. Aloysius Catholic Church; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church;
& the United Methodist Church.
The Caldwell Free Public Library was an obvious choice for participation.
The Library is centrally located on Bloomfield Avenue, is easily reached via
public transportation, and is right near the Caldwell Community Center. The
Caldwell Live Coordinators, Karen Alexander, UJC MetroWest’s Director of
Eldercare Services and Roberta Schoenberg, an expert on the elderly at Jewish
Family Service of MetroWest, contacted Library Director Karen Kleppe-Lembo, who
attended the presentation with Library Assistant Frances Larkey. Already in
charge of adult programming, Larkey was a natural choice to spearhead the
Library’s involvement with Caldwell LIVE.
Mrs. Larkey is a Caldwell resident with a BA
in Art and a BN in Psychiatric Nursing. She has many connections within the
town and had been looking for ways to involve seniors in Library programs.
So what does the Library have to offer to Caldwell LIVE and what has
Caldwell LIVE given to the Library?
·
We host the monthly Feel Good Fridays programs for
seniors. Representatives from Mountainside Hospital present timely topics on
heart health, back pain, exercise, diabetes management, and other health and
wellness topics.
·
Caldwell College presents some of their Lifelong
Learning programs in our Library. We have hosted poetry workshops, knitting
classes, art lectures and music appreciation classes.
·
The monthly Marian Manor Book Club came about as
a way to bring the Library to a senior residence where residents might not be
able to attend an in-library event.
Some of the challenges presented to the Library were time management, staff
allotment, competing priorities, and space. Our facilities aren’t large, but
when a program is scheduled, we rearrange furniture and provide seating for 30+
patrons. With our dwindling budget (we are the lowest-funded library in Essex
County) we saw a slight decrease in hours during the last year. Retiring staff
members haven’t been replaced, putting a strain on coverage during programs and
outreach. We always have to consider the needs of the community as a whole while
ministering to a specific population group. When we present a program in the
reading room, the room isn’t accessible to the rest of the community. If we
schedule 4 senior-based programs a month, will we have the staff to cover other
areas? Will we be able to run children’s programs concurrently? So far Mrs.
Larkey has been able to do all this and more with the help of some very
dedicated staff members and community partners.
We, as an institution, have received some positive benefits from our continued
participation in Caldwell Live. The Caldwell Public Library’s visibility has
been enhanced, and we are seen as a community player, always willing to enter
into collaborative partnerships. Our staff members have learned of many
opportunities for seniors which we then disseminate to the public. We feel that
seniors have been able to connect with the library in positive ways, and we’ve
received targeted staff development training. Feedback from the public has been
very positive, and we feel that this has contributed to our budget remaining
stable for FY 2012.
During the past four years, the program has worked to provide a wide range
of community services for older adults, including Feel Good Friday health and
wellness classes and talks at the Caldwell Library, participation in Caldwell
College’s Lifelong Learning Institute, social work support, transportation
assistance, home safety assessments, volunteer opportunities and spiritual
caring programs. Each month the Caldwell LIVE calendar listing a variety of programs
is mailed to older adults in the community, and is distributed through partner
organizations. In addition to the programs offered by the library, the calendar
includes health and educational programs including Move Today, a gentle
exercise class; Caldwell College Lifelong Learning lectures; and Workshops on
Using Public Transportation
In December, 2011, the program’s federal funding came to a close, but the
program has already proven to be a sustainable model. The Caldwell LIVE
calendar is still created by the borough’s Dept. of Human Services. The Caldwell
Public Library continues to host the
Feel Good Friday health education programs
with Mountainside Hospital, and will continue to develop more senior-friendly
and intergenerational programming. We currently have a year’s worth of Feel
Good Fridays on the calendar, and other programs include Lunch and Learn, Pizza
and A Movie, and we are in talks to host another book club for seniors at the
Caldwell Senior Center.
Students from
Caldwell College have donated their time to teach seniors how to use the
computer.
We also host the Caldwell Live
partner meetings, where participants can come together and brainstorm joint
offerings for the future.
Congregation
Agudath Israel has continued to host the Wednesday Walking Club with a JCC of
MetroWest volunteer coordinator. In addition, the West Essex Ministerial
Association has continued the efforts of the Spiritual Caring Committee and
partner agencies will still make and accept referrals for services from Caldwell
residents. Caldwell LIVE partners continue to offer a variety of services
including social work counseling, home maintenance, employment assistance and
limited non-emergency medical transportation. Monetary donations have come from
the Mountainside Health Foundation, the Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club.
Sadly, federal earmarks for future NORC
projects have been canceled.
Karen Alexander, director of eldercare services for Jewish Family Service of
MetroWest, created the Caldwell LIVE model. Alexander explained that the aging
in place program started in 2004 in Parsippany with a federal grant. The
program expanded to Caldwell and Verona when additional funding was acquired
through a federal earmark thanks to U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.).
Caldwell was chosen because there was a strong sense of community, the right
demographics and it was well-served by public transit, among other reasons,
Alexander said. She said the program has been used as a model at the American
Society on Aging’s National Conference.
But the numbers speak for themselves. A survey of Caldwell LIVE participants
revealed that 65% of survey respondents felt more confident in their ability to
age in place, 87% said they were more knowledgeable of community resources and
87% said they have new friends.
It is our hope that all residents of Caldwell will make use of our library, but we're especially grateful that as people age and stay in place, we can continue to serve their needs. For more information please call the Library at 973-226-2837.
