Aging With Dignity...
A Policy Proposal June 2025
Our community is home to many senior citizens. They are attempting to do the difficult task of “aging with dignity” in a society that idolizes youth. According to our Comprehensive Plan of 2020, the town of Windham has approximately 29.7% of its population (1,708) in the age group of 64+. And right behind this group is another 29.5% of the population in the 44-64 age group. This means for the next 20-30 years, if these two large segments of our population stay mostly stable in size, our community will continue to be on a trajectory of becoming a predominantly senior citizen community. Now that means our pressure to create positive impacts in these residents‘ lives is critical to our success as a community.
What we will need to do in our community to ensure that our residents in these age brackets is to create programs that will make their lives better. We need to embrace the fact that our community is aging, and this means we need to tailor resources to create better outcomes for this segment of our community.
Creating Better Outcomes:
Developing A Shuttle Service To Support Our Aging Population With Mobility Issues
Developing A Local Food Supplement Program To Support Our Members’ Nutritional Needs
Developing A Local “Co-Operative” Health Care Facility, 5-10 Bed Hospital To Benefit The Communities Of The Mountain Top.
Developing Programs For More Senior Activities
Developing A True Multigenerational Community
Some of these are going to take more time, but others can be instituted relatively quickly and cost-effectively in the 2026-2028 term of my first run as Town Supervisor. A shuttle service in our community that runs 2-3 days a week at first is a great local job opportunity for the community that also provides seniors and other residents with mobility issues a means to access resources in our community and region. This service would be designed to give members greater access to the communities of the Mountain Top region and not to compete with the already existing shuttle services from Greene County.
The funding can be accomplished in several ways, using bonds and state grants to get the program off the ground. But ultimately, what will fund the program is the growth generated in the community from increasing our multigenerational nature and creating local full employment.
Greene County is currently facing a problem with our “Meals on Wheels” program's financing. I problem I feel will continue to occur given the nature of our Federal Government at present. However, we in this community don’t have to accept the fact passively that our Federal, State, or County Governments will work this problem out. We can create a program at the grassroots level that will provide the majority of the nutritional needs of the community.
Members of our community and adjacent comments rely on these efforts to ensure their nutritional needs are met. It also provides members of our community who otherwise would not have social interaction with this critical part of human existence. We can develop a strong program that covers the regional areas if we rally our neighboring towns, NGOs already involved in fighting hunger, and the local population to create a grassroots program. I see a decentralized program that can utilize everyone from the backyard homesteader (like myself) to the local CSA and Market Farms to provide foodstuffs to support this effort. Along with donations and volunteers from the community, we can create a viable program that will feed the entire mountain top and provide long-term stability for our seniors and others who are food insecure. This program should be a zero-end-user-cost program that enriches the community and the people who otherwise would not be able to sustain themselves. There are possible grants from NYS to help us achieve these goals if we act soon.
The “Health-Care Facility” is the largest program, and it will require the most time. However, creating a small viable regional hospital like the ones in Delhi, Margaretville, Ellenville, or anywhere else in the United States isn’t impossible. There is plenty of evidence that such a facility, located directly in the heart of our region, the “Mountain Top”, would be a great local health-care resource, job creator, and long-term growth engine in our community.
The ability to create long-term positive health-care outcomes for our residents, no matter their age or income level, should be a critical concern of any-sized community. We, as a population of mostly older residents, will require far more health care than corresponding communities of younger people, relatively speaking. However, the reality is that any population that is growing in a multigenerational manner will require increased healthcare facilities for not just the senior citizens of the community but also for the very young members as well. We as a community deserve high-quality local access to healthcare for the most vulnerable members.
At this time, I’m not exactly sure how we can fund this project. I know this can be done. And it will be achieved if we all work together on this project as a community. The exact details I’m still researching.
The development of a truly multigenerational community will require activities for all age groups. At the heart of this project, I see a new Multigenerational Community Center where the old Little League field is now on South Street. I currently plan to purchase the two adjacent lots to the Little League field’s left field fence to increase the present 1.6 acres to 3.15 acres and allow the creation of a facility that has activities such as a community heated swimming pool, an activity area for adults, and cafeteria, community garden, and adult educational area. This building will also house a community day care center and provide after-school programs for students.
Studies have shown that by creating a multigenerational community center with an emphasis on intergenerational programs, many positive impacts in a community occur:
Improved academics and verbal skills
Improved empathy and social acceptance
Greater civic engagement
Greater cohesion in families
Decreases in Ageism
Improved cognitive performance for seniors
Reductions in depression and isolation for all age groups
These are just a few of the many benefits that will occur with a multigenerational community center that actively engages in these types of intergenerational programs.
As for the swimming, thanks to NYSwims, a program that Gov. Hochul created to help with the funding of community swim programs, including the construction of facilities. It is very possible Windham could be awarded funds to help offset these costs. As Town Supervisor, I would actively engage in the process of receiving this grant.
The final piece of this puzzle is creating affordable housing and long-term employment possibilities locally. In the end, aging with dignity is also about maintaining the connections to your family, as it is to a community that welcomes you at all stages of life. There is an undeniable fact that aging with your children and grandchildren is a positive feature of any community. However, this can only occur if the children and grandchildren can maintain adequate employment and affordable housing. Otherwise, children have no choice but to relocate and establish new community roots in other parts of New York State, or possibly other states. That is why, if Windham wants to maintain its characteristic small-town nature, it must do everything possible to encourage the establishment of new multigenerational families and retain those we already have.
Windham can be a wonderful place to age. However, for Windham to stay truly viable in this regard, it will require a local government that sees its own vital role in the process. I want everyone to have the chance to age with families in Windham.