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By Ayanna Eckblad

Almost 30 individuals from various resources in Freeborn County on Thursday met to discuss opportunities and resources available to community members age 55 and over after the organization received the Connected Communities grant for $600,000 in November.

There were representatives from many area organizations including Albert Lea Public Library, the Albert Lea Family YMCA, veterans services and others for the monthly meeting of Age-Friendly Freeborn County.

Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber Executive Director Shari Sprague said the next step after receiving the grant is to come up with a project to focus on.

Reaching out to seniors in rural areas, she said, was a crucial goal this quarter. Other important meeting topics included mental health care for seniors and adapting living spaces to allow seniors to remain in their homes.

“We know we are doing the right thing now for our community,” Sprague said.

She gave an overview of the Age-Friendly Freeborn County initiative before introducing a few community members to explain new and existing programs. A few of these included Chris Thompson, Diane Heaney and Jean Eaton.

Chris Thompson, SMART Transit operations manager for Mower County, discussed the new ride program available to Freeborn County seniors through a grant from Naeve Health Care Foundation.

Diane Heaney shared about the new memory care chorus, which will be called Lakesong Chorus. The program will be open to those in any stage of memory loss and their caregivers. Heaney said she also hopes to get local homeschool students involved to make it an intergenerational program. It will meet once a week and function similarly to a church choir program.

Jean Eaton, president of the Southeastern Minnesota Area Agency on Aging, a member of the Albert Lea Healthcare Coalition and an employee of the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce, spoke briefly on the stigma associated with joining programs for people with memory loss.

“This is a big deal,” she said. She also announced a special presentation with professor Joseph Gaugler, “Alzheimer’s Disease: What it is and what can be done,” which will take place at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Jan. 30 at Albert Lea Fire Department.

Following these presentations, St. John’s CEO and Administrator Shanna Eckberg led the rest of the meeting. She discussed the Age-Friendly Freeborn County surveys that went out in April.

She also spoke about the Connected Communities grant.

The vision for Age-Friendly Freeborn County, Eckberg said, is to build a network of resources throughout Freeborn County called the “Innovations in Healthy Aging for Seniors” team that have a desire and ability to help seniors maintain their independence in their homes and provide necessary services as they age utilizing a “Senior Living Without Walls” concept.

The final part of the meeting was spent brainstorming and creating an existing countywide senior asset list. Eckerg took input from those in attendance and wrote down resources available in the categories of health care, health insurance, housing and aging care services and community supports.

The next Age Friendly Freeborn County monthly meeting will be at 9 a.m. Jan. 16 at the chamber.

There will also be a Connected Community grant meeting with the date and location to be determined at a later time.