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Senior Survey Coming Soon in Clinton

The newly established Senior Citizens Task force is interested in hearing from Clinton seniors via surveys that will be appearing around town in the near future.

The task force was established by the Board of Selectmen in late 2018 to help address the needs and concerns of the aging population in Clinton. The task force has decided that the first step in that process will be to administer a survey to residents.

“Our initial goal is to determine what’s in Clinton right now,” said Phyllis McGrath, who co-chairs the task force with Elizabeth Goldstein.

McGrath said the survey will ask questions to gauge what services people are aware of, what services they use, why they use them, that the surveys will appear at various locations around the town soon. They may be available online as well.

According to McGrath, the surveys are important because there is likely to be a wide spectrum of needs that need to be addressed.

“We’re dealing with a diverse group in a sense,” she said.

As an example, McGrath said that while some seniors may need help with fiscal issues or transportation needs, many others are still active and working in various business fields.

“We’re going to have to somehow cover all that,” McGrath said.

Earlier in 2019, Human Services Director David Melillo told the Harbor News that seniors “are a growing population and that is going to be the case for a while.” Melillo pointed to transportation, housing, and a desire to stay in the same community as significant needs of the population.

“The fixed income creates a lot of concerns medically, financially, and wanting to stay in the same community,” Melillo said. “It’s a tough task and there are a lot of barriers in the way in the country, in the state, and in the towns that make it harder.”

Once the results of the survey are in, the task force will work to identify possible venues to host activities for seniors, as well as to find ways to motivate seniors to take advantage of the available resources and programs.