HomePorts, Inc., the local non-profit aging-in-place organization, has announced Board members and officers for 2012. Scott Burleson, Gerry Edwards, Herb Friedman, and Ann Murray have been newly elected to the Board of Directors.
Since receiving an MBA, Scott Burleson, of Galena, has had a 30-year career in Hospital Administration in Maryland hospitals and for the past six years as Executive Vice-President of Chester River Hospital Center. Gerry Edwards, of Chestertown, has worked both in the academic world and in corporate communications. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has serves as a mediator for Community Mediation-Upper Shore.
Originally from New York City, Herb Friedman of Chestertown has had a career as an attorney, retiring in 1990 as Deputy Counsel to the New York State Comptroller. Ann Murray is a developmental psychologist, having received a Ph.D. from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She had taught at Kansas State University for many years and moved to Chestertown in 2008.
Reelected were Muriel Cole of Chestertown, President; Charles Hawkins of Worton, Treasurer; and Jane Hukill of Worton, Secretary. Other Board members are Bunny Adams, John Christie, Jim Donaghy, John Durocher, Nancy Holland, Sandra Willett Jackson, and Marty Knight. Members leaving the Board are Louise O’Brien and Suzanne Street.
HomePorts is a membership organization providing access to a wide range of services designed to offer adults, age 55 and above, what they want and need to remain content, safe, and confident living in their own home. HomePorts resources include a cadre of vetted volunteers, and referrals to reliable service providers in the fields of transportation; interior and exterior home maintenance; grocery & household services; personal assistance & trouble shooting; and health & wellness. Additionally, HomePorts members promote complementary community services and encourage access to available social, educational, and cultural activities.
HomePorts partners with Upper Shore Aging and the Chester River Health System. It also now offers a subsidy for those with limited incomes.
“HomePorts is modeled after similar organizations operating successfully in other regions of the country,” according to Karen Wright, Executive Director. “We have joined the ‘Village-to-Village Network’, a national organization of similar organizations, and exchange experiences and tips.”
“The community has shown a real interest in this concept of aging in place,” says Wright. “We are now in our fourth year and have 82 member households, many of whom do not yet need help but want to support this concept.”
HomePorts is organizing its second annual Healthy Aging Symposium to be held Wednesday, April 4, at the Gibson Center for the Arts, Washington College.
Information is available Monday through Friday, 9am to 5 pm, by calling Wright at 443-480-0940 or see www.homeports.org. The e-mail address is [email protected].
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