Partners

UMaine is home to the Center on Aging (CoA), the Lifelong Fellows Program, and the UMaine School of Nursing. The University of Maine provides the AgingME Lead Evaluator, whose focus will be on evaluating Microcredentialing development/implementation. The UMaine School of Nursing will participate in rural rotations.

The Cedars is a retirement and assisted living facility based in Portland. It is the only site in Maine using the “household model,” which aims to create community within a space that residents recognize as home. The Cedars is one of only two nursing homes in Maine that have achieved Age-Friendly certification.

The Cedars is a subaward of the AgingME GWEP grant, and is supporting the development of a Geriatrics Microcredential, conducting a longitudinal preceptorship for 1st and 2nd year UNE COM students, and will provide TTOUR nursing homes with the opportunity to learn how to achieve Age-Friendly Status.

MaineHealth’s Healthy Aging Division provides curated content on Age Friendly Health System (AFHS) for inclusion in the iHELP learning platform, and geriatrics physician supervision of UNE COM students in the longitudinal nursing home preceptorship, and a geriatrics -focused Project ECHO

The Maine CDC led the development of the Maine State Plan on ADRD 2022-2027, which seeks to create the necessary infrastructure that empowers, educates, and supports people living in Maine by reducing ADRD risk factors, promoting early detection, and connecting people to resources.

AgingME GWEP works with the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) program by creating a plan to integrate the spread of information by coordinating training activities on dementia and related topics.

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center (NL EMMC) offers a longitudinal integrated curriculum (LIC) for UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) students, which embeds students in a primary care practice for the entirety of their year while providing longitudinal experiences in key areas of medicine.

NL EMMC’s role in the GWEP will be to provide a LIC for a UNE with specific geriatric curricular components for use by its preceptors, to develop a specific geriatrics site as part of its TTOUR site LIC, and to partner with AgingME2 in creating a deep-dive professional and personal rural experience.

Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness (WPHW) serves four federally recognized tribes in five communities, and its mission is to provide community-driven, culturally centered public health and social services to all Wabanaki communities.

WPHW will lead the effort to co-convene dream sessions with tribal elders to address the central questions: “What does a community look like that centers its elders?

AgingME2 GWEP will also participate in co-learning community forums focused on indigenous brain and cognitive health with elders from each of the Tribal Nations.

Maine Veterans’ Home South Paris will participate in the development of a Geriatrics Microcredential as a pilot site, recruit CNAs interested in earning any of the three badges, implement Age Friendly principles, and serve as a TTOUR site for CNAs.

Islands Community Medical Services (ICMS) is a Level 1 Age-Friendly facility that serves the communities of Matinicus, North Haven, and Vinalhaven.

ICMS has partnered with GWEP to work towards achieving Level 2 Age-Friendly certification and will implement additional dementia-friendly practices and processes.

Aroostook Area Agency on Aging (AAAA) provides programs and support for aging and family caregivers in rural northern Maine. AgingME GWEP has partnered with its Memory Care Center and will work together to disseminate educational and training materials as part of its comprehensive services.

The Community Gourmet is a non-profit based in Kennebunk, Maine, that prepares and distributes meal kits for older adults and people experiencing homelessness.

The Community Gourmet will partner with AgingME to develop and implement one or more community-based experiential training programs for AHEC CUP Scholars.

Healthy Living For ME: As a hub for care coordination in the region, the agency is developing billing codes training for primary care practices to make the business case for better care of older adults. These codes address social determinants of health and may encourage PCPs to participate in ‘social prescribing’.

Learn more about social prescribing

The Maine Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (Maine LTCOP) established the Direct Care Support Professional Advisory (DCSPA) Group in early 2022, which is composed of people employed in nursing homes and assisted housing, including residential care and assisted living across the state.

The DCSPA will participate in the development and implementation of AgingME GWEP’s Geriatrics Microcredentialing initiative.

MCD Global Health is a leader, innovator, and partner in the design, implementation, and assessment of quality public health programs. MCD’s role in the GWEP will be to explore inclusion of curated geriatrics components into their Community Health Worker e-learning platform, the development of ADRD training competencies, and the Geriatrics Microcredential.

The University of Maine is home to the Lifelong Community Fellows program. The Lifelong Fellows program matches experienced community leaders with AARP’s Age-Friendly Communities.

AgingME Lifelong Fellows will focus on dementia inclusivity in the communities they serve and provide training on how to engage community members in conversations about dementia. The Lifelong Fellows program will also participate in the AHEC CUP Scholar geriatrics rural health immersion to enhance students’ experience in rural areas.