Priority #2 - Cooperative Approach

In our central Maine communities, long term care is not just about professional health care. In our round tables, we heard a strong desire to strengthen the local support networks that allow families and communities to “care for their own”, and for frail elderly to remain in their homes for as long as possible.

The Long-term Care Team researched various model initiatives used in other parts of Maine and the country to achieve this. One model that stood out was the Time Bank concept – in which a large pool of community members sign up to voluntarily exchange services with one another using the currency of “time dollars.”

For example, a homebound senior can earn time dollars by teaching knitting lessons, which she can then spend getting a volunteer to drive her on errands. The errand driver can spend his time dollars to get another time bank member to help paint his house, and so on. In some existing Maine time banks, hundreds of members exchange thousands of hours of service with each other every month.

KVO leaders are met with Maine Time Bank leaders, and assessed the feasibility and the demand for creating a Time Bank in central Maine. Seeing strong demand, the team of leaders began work creating the Mid Maine Time Bank.