Age-friendly salem, massachusetts

LESSONS LEARNED (AND ADVICE FOR OTHERS) HAVE SUPPORT FROM THE TOP "That means having the buy-in from city leadership, the mayor, department heads, community leaders, people in the

healthcare sector, the university and our community development organizations," says Dominick Pangallo. "Age-friendly is something they all identify as a priority." His

age-friendly task force co-chair Patricia Zaido has given dozens of presentations throughout New England about age-friendly work. The key to success, she tells them, is "to have the

backing of the mayor or whoever runs the town." JOIN THE AARP AGE-FRIENDLY NETWORK — AND KNOW HOW TO ADAPT "I tell people they should join this initiative because older adults need

advocacy," says Zaido. "We are primarily an advocacy group," she says about Salem's age-friendly taskforce. Part of being an advocacy group, she adds, is knowing how to

work with partners, coordinate efforts, knock down silos and, when needed, adapt. One example: "An action plan is only a map. You might find different routes that are better. You may

need to change the course. Certainly COVID made us do that. You might realize that some of the things in your action plan work very well _without_ you — or that some are an overreach. There

will be surprises that are out of your control. I hope people who are going into this realize that they are advocates, but it's in shifting sand." DISRUPT AGING AND AGEISM

"It's hard to get people interested in older adults," says Patricia Zaido. "Challenging ageism is one of our efforts and that includes raising the consciousness of

people, because it's truly affecting the self-esteem of older adults." As part of her age-friendly work, Zaido created "How to Communicate With Older Adults," a training

she delivers to local organizations about the ways inclusion is essential to creating a more livable community.