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Bob Jaeger Shares Village Concept

The U.S. Census Bureau tags Connecticut with one of the oldest populations in the country while also recognizing its residents have America's third highest life expectancy (age 85). With numbers like that, Bob Jaeger, president of Shoreline Village CT (SVCT), wants to spread the word about this non-profit's mission to help seniors stay at home, while joining vibrant communities made up of members from Guilford, Madison, Branford, and North Branford.

Founded in May 2013, SVCT offers a wide range of services including volunteer-driven transportation; professionally backed medical, health, and educational programs; vetted residential service providers; and stimulating events and gatherings.

"This whole 'village' movement started about 10 or 12 years ago in Boston," says Bob, a Guilford resident. "A bunch of people in the Beacon Hill area decided, 'We're getting older, we want to stay in our houses, and if we help each other to stay where we are, we can make it happen.' And that was very successful, and it became a model for other organizations around the country. So at this stage in the game, there are several hundred villages all across the country, some in operation, others in formation.

As a newly turned 70-year-old with aging parents (mom's 94; step-dad's 97), "I feel as if I'm learning a lot about growing older," says Bob.

A few years ago, Bob began educating himself about the village movement and soon found some folks interested in developing the concept on the shoreline. He credits SVCT co-founder Randy Reinhold with being the "driving force" in gathering the board members who worked to get SVCT off the ground.

Reinhold was SVCT's first president and now serves as treasurer.

After retiring from his post as chief of surgery at St. Raphael's Hospital about seven years ago, "Randy became interested in this idea," says Bob. "I had been exploring the idea, and so I met Randy and other people that were involved in this idea, and I thought, 'These people have the ability to actually make it happen.' So a group of us met every two weeks for a year and a half to do the grass-roots organizing, and we opened our doors in May of 2013."

Working to assist the board's nine members and SVCT's current membership is part-time Director of Services Sylvia DeSantis. Currently, SVCT has a membership of nearly 100 area residents, and the board is actively working to gather more, says Bob.

"Our basic area is Branford, North Branford, Guilford, and Madison-not that there's a barbed wire fence we can't cross into other areas-but the main thing is we want to cover a reasonable, cohesive geographic area," he says. "If you go too far, you're sort of not a village anymore, so we don't want to do that."

So, what does SVCT offer its membership? Among the perks are five main components: a health "safety net," volunteers providing transportation services, vetted service providers, socially enriching programming, and advocacy for policies affecting seniors.

"So what we're basically trying to do is to fire on those five cylinders and see what we can do," says Bob. "For example, we have a relationship with VNA Community Health Care, so we have a VNA nurse who's actually dedicated to our members. Members who sign up for a specific program have access to a 24-hour-a-day hotline and can get all their medical stuff consolidated in one place. So we have the VNA working with us as a sort of one-stop shopping solution to a lot of medical stuff."

SVCT also has relationships with other medically related services, such those with The Guilford House and Branford Hills Health Care Center, where members can get post-surgery rehabilitation assistance, and Comfort Keepers, which provides at-home care, if needed.

Bob is especially grateful for the wonderful volunteers who help SVCT offer members the ability to get to appointments or take care of errands, such as grocery shopping, by delivering door-to-door transportation services.

"We offer several things that are dependent on a squadron of volunteers that we have who are very generous, big-hearted people who just like to do stuff," says Bob. "A lot of that revolves around driving.

"Now, driving is very interesting. I always thought it was putting someone in a car and taking them from A to B. Driving is not that at all," he says. "Driving is two people that spend time together. Driving is sort of a 'friendly visit' on wheels. It's really important to the members of the village and it's really important to the people that are doing the driving."

SVCT offers another very valuable service to members with its vetted service providers.

"Whether you need someone to fix your roof or install grab bars, we have a long list of people who we know well who can do that stuff for you, and in many cases, can offer discounts to our members," Bob says.

Perhaps one of Bob's personal favorites, when it comes to SVCT offerings, are the social and cultural programs members can enjoy. Bob often organizes opera talks for interested members (he brought in area music experts to discuss Offenbach's Les Contes D'Hoffmann at Guilford Free Library in January). The programs can range from a past discussion by two 70-something cyclists who crossed the country on two wheels to joining the monthly discourse at book and film club meetings to enjoying luncheons, concerts, coffees, teas, parties, and more.

SVCT is also becoming a more active advocate for stay-at-home seniors, says Bob. On behalf of SVCT, Bob and Randy recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the annual meeting of the Village to Village Network, the national organization coordinating some 300 village groups nationwide.

"There were lots of good ideas and universal interest in engaging with public policy issues around 'aging at home,'" says Bob.

SVCT has helped to organize a collation of Connecticut villages to help educate state legislators on the economies of helping seniors to stay home, rather than incentivizing occupancy in residential facilities.

"The villages are all very different and very local," says Bob. "And I think what happens is for the people who are in it, it becomes a very personal thing. Certainly, in my case, you think a lot about what you want your life to look like. For most people nowadays, the thing they don't want to do is move out of their homes in to one of these residential communal places. Some of these places are really nice, but a lot of people just don't want to do that."

As a non-profit, SVCT accepts tax-deductible donations. One group with which the idea of making a donation may resonate are residents who may not need these types of services yet, but believe in SVCT's mission and want to see it succeed.

"We have a category of supporting members," explains Bob. "These are people who pay the same fee as an active member, but they pay that money as a tax-deductible contribution, because they don't need the service. Yet they agree it's a good thing to have in the community, and they'd like it to be there when they're ready. They realize if they donate now, that will help us to be there in the future."

Bob is particularly enjoying his role as president because it allows him to meet many members of the village. He even offers "portable office" dates in SVCT towns at which members can drop by a local coffee shop to meet up with Bob and talk about "whatever is on your mind," he says.

Bob says he's especially impressed with those in SVCT's membership.

"I think it's a really nifty group-they tend to be interesting, smart, and independent. I have met people through the village that I really like, and you can see they like each other. At many of our events, you can see people connecting and realize that without this, they may not have connected."

For more information on Shoreline Village CT or to make a donation online, visit www.shorelinevillagect.org or call 203-747-5939.