The Aroostook Agency on Aging in Presque Isle is planning on starting a memory care day center service this fall, along with some other changes at the busy nonprofit seniors service.
“There are so many things going on,” said Dottie Sines, the Aroostook Agency’s wellness and nutrition director last week, as a group of volunteer students were working on a new entrance ramp at the organization’s main facility, the Gathering Place.
Some of the organization’s seniors activities will soon be held at the new Sargent Family Community Center when it opens at the end of the month, Sines said.
“We’re working with [the Presque Isle Recreation and Parks Department] about what to do, what to move and making sure that our seniors want to make that move. It is a bigger facility and is new. Our place is old.”
The Gathering Place, the longtime hub of meals and other programs on Davis Street, is not new, but it is still welcoming and functional, Sines said. That’s why the Aroostook Agency on Aging is planning to use it for an adult day program for senior citizens with memory impairment.
The Gathering Place “is ideal,” Sines said. “It’s homey. It has an area that’s like a little library, and it’s smaller.”
The program will start at the new community center and then move across town to the Gathering Place after a few more building updates to meet fire code requirements, Sines said.
NMCC building students have helped the group with a number of recent renovations at the Gathering Place, including designing a new bathroom and designing and constructing the new ramp. The Area Agency on Aging is paying for the materials, while the students offer free labor in exchange for the learning experience.
“This is going to be a really nice entry-way,” said Frank Pytlak, an NMCC building construction instructor overseeing the project.
