PETERSHAM — About 15 months ago, a group of people in Petersham got together with a thought in mind to assist senior citizens in town.
“A movement started on Beacon Hill about a decade and a half ago,” said Petersham Partners organizer Deb Bachrach, “that sought for neighbors to help neighbors age in place. That’s really the bottom line of what we’re doing. It became known as the ‘village movement’ or ‘village-to-village network.’ There are about 240 of them in the U.S. right now, but the number is just exploding as more and more communities like ours are coming on board.”
Bachrach noted that the organization is all-volunteer.
“Our is also a no-fee group,” she said. “We don’t have any kind of membership fee. It’s neighbors helping neighbors. As an example, maybe you’ve been in your home for 40 years and you never used to think twice about going up on a ladder to change a light bulb, and you’re not so sure you want to do that anymore. That’s the kind of thing where you can just put in a request. We line up a volunteer who’s been trained, CORI checked and all of that, and they’ll come over and provide that service.”
A CORI check is a Criminal Offender Record Information background check.
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed some limits on the kinds of services volunteers for Petersham Partners are currently able to provide.
“We don’t have a lot of our volunteers trained for this type of situation,” said Bachrach, “because we haven’t officially launched, yet. Our plan had been to launch in May, but that ended up being pushed off a bit because we can’t hold the training sessions.”
But that doesn’t mean the Partners are idle.
“The kinds of requests that those of us who have some kind of training in this,” Bachrach continued, “include, for instance, a couple of seniors who have not wanted to go to a grocery store. Not because they’re sick, but just because they’re concerned about exposure. They could be somewhat health-compromised. So, we’ve done a few of those. Those are pretty easy because we’re just dropping the bag off at the door.”
Bachrach is part of the Wachusett Medical Reserve Corps and, as such, has the appropriate gear she needs if she’s required to go into the home of a senior needing assistance.
“When we kind of surveyed the town,” she said, “the kind of big requests are for transportation because we don’t have any kind of public transportation here in town. So, we would offer rides to grocery stores, to UMass (UMass/Memorial Medical Center), for people that don’t want to drive in Worcester traffic, to dentists, doctors, running errands.”
She also said volunteers help out with yard work, small in-home “fix-its,” walking pets, watering plants.
Petersham Partners has about 15 volunteers who have been through the application process, including CORI checks, with another five who have expressed interest.
Bachrach concluded by saying, “We’re also proud to be doing welfare checks. We are reaching out to some people who could possibly be spending a lot of time alone. Something as simple as stopping by and reading the mail for someone, or just chatting with someone for a while.”
Any Petersham senior who wants to avail themselves of Petersham Partners’ services can call 978-724-0078.