Page 19 - BusinessWest August 18, 2021
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 Bob Boilard says infrastructure improvements, including a broadband plan for the town, have moved forward during the pandemic.
mittee was formed and brought in an architect to do a deep dive on what made sense for a new facility. After seven years and consideration of nearly 40 different sites in Wilbraham, the feasi- bility study recommended building a new struc- ture on municipally owned land behind Town Hall. October’s town meeting will give residents a chance to vote on that recommendation.
There were some in town who pushed for locating
the new senior center in
an available former school. Dubord said the senior cen- ter has been located in old schools twice before, and it’s an approach that just doesn’t work.
“The experts who took part in the feasibility study told us a new building was a more practical way to meet the current and future needs for Wilbraham residents,” he said.
Booming Population
When the study commit- tee began its work in 2012, members looked at the potential growth in the over-
60 population in Wilbraham.
“We projected that, by 2025, nearly 40% of
our town — with a population of nearly 15,000 — will be considered a senior,” Dubord said. “We are very close to that projection right now.”
As Wilbraham residents age, she added, many of them say they prefer to stay in their own home or move to one of the 55+ communities in town.
In its current location, more than 100 resi- dents visit the senior center every day. Dubord emphasized that the real goal of the center is to keep people socially connected. Last March, when the pandemic forced the center to shut
down, she and her staff quickly found new ways to stay connected with local seniors.
“We immediately started grocery shopping for people and picking up essential items like masks and toilet paper — both of which were hard to get in the beginning — as well as their prescrip- tion medicines,” she said.
“
so the center is important because it gives them access to vital community services and for the social connections they make.”
The staff at the center put their full focus on meeting the needs of Wilbraham seniors, she added. “Because everyone was isolated, we did lots of phone check-ins with people to keep them engaged.”
In the spring, when vaccines first became available for people 65 and older, Dubord and her staff helped seniors sign up online to receive their shots when the state made them available at the nearby Eastfield Mall in Springfield.
“The registration process was not easy for seniors to complete, so we became like vaccina- tion headquarters,” she said. “Because we had done a number of them, our staff was able to quickly get people registered for their shot.”
Dubord estimates they helped nearly 400 residents sign up for the initial vaccine offering. Later, the senior center hosted its own vaccine
Many of our seniors live alone,
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