The Lifelong Communities Fellows and the University of Maine Center on Aging is honored to present the 3rf annual Patricia Oh Award to Jean Saunders of Age-Friendly Saco.

The Patricia Oh Award was created by the current and former Lifelong Communities Fellows to recognize and celebrate the leaders of our Age-Friendly/Lifelong Maine movement.

The first award was given to Patricia Oh….of course.

The award recognizes leaders who have both local and statewide impact, as demonstrated by: 

• Exemplary leadership of age-friendly work on the local community level, as well as statewide

• Significantly improved the lives of older adults throughout Maine through advocacy or implementation of a program in one of the eight domains of livability

• Provides aspirational mentorship to other communities

• Prioritizes collaboration and inclusion in local partnerships and projects, as well as in state-wide advocacy

For this third year, we are thrilled to present this award to someone who embodies each of the award qualifications in so many ways:

• Incredible leadership and creative programming of her own Age-Friendly team

• Collaborating and advocating with the municipality and the state

• Supporting an outstanding team of volunteers who support older community members in so many ways: transportation, home tech support, social events, adaptive cycling; property tax advice; food delivery, sand buckets in the winter; home repair help, and so much more

• Determined advocacy for the homeshare program which has now been launched statewide

• Tireless efforts to mentor and connect other communities (e.g., the regional approach to volunteer transportation she has helped launch in northern York County)

• Inspirational mentorship of other age-friendly leaders, as a Fellow working with Eliot, as well as informally with many other community leaders

• Exceptional contribution to Lifelong Maine

• Her unwavering advocacy for age-friendly programs and policy