When we heard that the Ogunquit Police Department was going to stage a little luncheon for the seven participants in its "Good Morning" program, in tribute to them, and as a way of getting to know them better, and of their getting to know each other, we were happy to accept an invitation to attend.
Alas, when the day came (it was Oct. 5), only two out of the seven were going to be able to make it, so the luncheon, planned for the Dunaway Center, was indefinitely postponed. But the program's administrators more than rose to the occasion by taking the part, in a sense, to the participants - so the least we felt we could do, under the circumstances, was tag along for a bit of the ride.
Diane Moore and Sharma Damren, who are Ogunquit P.D. receptionists, had put together seven goody bags (each containing finger rolls of ham salad and seafood salad, a bag of cheese nips, some chocolate chip cookies and a juice box, plus a "trick-or-treat" bag containing a peanut-butter cup, a Three Musketeers bar, some caramel nuggets, a pencil and pen, a notebook and a pinwheel on a stick with a note attached that read, "Enjoy your treat! The pinwheel looks great in a potted plant next to a window where there's a slight breeze!"), then Diane and Ogunquit Police Chief Patricia Arnaudin personally delivered these bags to each of the program's shut-ins, stopping to visit a little with each.
That "shut-in" term is a little misleading, however, because the "Good Morning" program is for resident senior citizens who live alone, and/or adults with disabilities who live alone - and such persons may actually be quite active. Persons who elect to participate in it (and it's free) simply agree to telephone the Police Department once every morning between 8 and 10 a.m. to say "Good morning," and, if they don't, they're checked on, either by phone, or failing contact by that means, in person.
"The goal," says literature that the department distributes to explain this program, "is to assist these people so that they may continue living an independent lifestyle." The check-in program, the literature adds, helps allay fears, not only for the individuals participating, but for their often worrying families, who may live some distance away. It provides "the security of knowing that the [family] member will have a source of daily contact."
Actually, we discovered, the program ends up providing a whole lot more.
In Ogunquit, Diane and Sharma, who are the folks who answer the phones on weekdays (others do so on the weekends) have made it altogether their own, moving quickly from the routine and the merely mechanical to the deeply personal, to the point where, as Diane puts it, "We just love them. We love all of them. They are just nice, nice people - and we can't wait to hear from them every day."
How much Diane and Sharma get to talk with the participants each day depends on how busy the department is on any given morning, but it's clear that, however much time there's been, the communication hasn't been just one way. And a lot of that is because Ogunquit's "Good Morning" members are all, apparently, an exceptionally sprightly lot, able to hold their own, conversationally, in any company - and, because, as older folks (they are six women and one man, and they range in age from 60-plus to 95), they've got a lot of stories to relate, along with the spunk to tell them.
On that Oct. 5 goody-delivery day, we met with one of them, a woman who didn't want to be identified, but she had her company in stitches with tales about old-time Ogunquit, including a time when her husband "bugged me and bugged me until I said I'd marry him," and another when they regularly danced at Hampton Beach until 4 a.m., after which she'd limp off, like many another summer worker, to a daytime waitressing job.
We later talked by phone with another of the group, Evelyn (the police wisely advised us against revealing last names), aged 93, who had us laughing even more as she reported that she and a neighbor go out to eat together periodically, but they take her car (though she no longer drives) because the neighbor's car is a Corvette, and Evelyn thinks, "How would I look in a Corvette, a little old lady like me?" In that same vein, she reported that she had, however, consented to have her picture taken once in the Corvette, and for the occasion she said, "Let her rip!"
She believes, she said, in "starting the day with a bang," so her daily morning calls to the police station are likely to be a little different - and she illustrated.
They answer every call with, "Ogunquit Police. How may we help you?"
She responds, "This is Evelyn, and you can help me, dear, in any way you want."
Recently she began a call to Diane by saying, "What did you DO with it?" and, as Diane, thinking Evelyn was referring, somehow, to the phone, struggled to answer, she said, "No, no, I'm not talking about the PHONE. I'm talking about the SUN!"
Evelyn was the very first person to sign on to the program when it was instituted in Ogunquit three years ago, and she may well be its very staunchest supporter.
"I think it's wonderful," she enthuses. "I can't say enough good about it, and I don't know why more people don't join. I feel safe in my home, and have for three years. And it's free! The people who work for the Ogunquit police are wonderful, and they've been wonderful to me. I wish I had lots of money, because, if I did, I'd leave my fortune to them!"
Our own phone conversation with Evelyn was relatively short but we nevertheless learned quite a lot more, from her opinion about the current slump in the real estate market to the relative prices of cars in Ogunquit and Danbury, Conn., (where her son sold her old Buick for her), and it concluded with her warmly urging us, if we were ever lonely, to "call, or just stop in."
Deserving great credit for introducing the Good Morning program to Ogunquit is Ogunquit Police Sgt. Matthew Buttrick, who'd seen it at work in Newmarket, N.H., where he'd grown up. He suggested it first to Lt. David Alexander, who joined him in presenting it to then-Chief Fred Rubino, and all others involved, both then and since, have happily endorsed it.
The sergeant had the highest of praise for those entrusted with the program's implementation. Once Sharma and Diane were assigned it, he said, "They took it under their wing and made it their own. They send the callers Christmas cards and birthday cards and how're-you-doing cards, and have really developed relationships with the participants - and they do a fantastic job of it."
Of the participants he said, "Most are remarkably independent and active, and that's a real credit to their spirit. We're just glad that we can provide peace of mind, so they know that, if something happened, it wouldn't be long before help came."
Thus far, he reported, Ogunquit hasn't had to conduct any rescue missions for any of its Good Morning program participants, but that's not been the case in the several other Maine towns that have also adopted it. York instituted it shortly after Ogunquit did, he said.
"It's hard to find a down side to it, really," the sergeant told us. "It's one of the things we do that's all on a positive level."
And when we tweaked him a bit about how it contrasted with that other work that police must do, he responded by saying, simply, "We don't always get to deal with people who are having their best day."
Touché!
And multiple kudos for words well chosen in work well done.
