We plan to launch our services on September 15, 2010!

Join us in June, July, and through August 15 for discounted membership fees.
Click Join Us for more information.

Mission

West of Hartford@Home is a private, nonprofit corporation founded to give members both the practical means and the confidence to live safe, independent and active lives in their own homes as they grow older.

West of Hartford@Home is part of a movement providing "aging in place" senior services which is spreading across the United States in response to the ever-growing aging population.

Most Americans prefer to stay in their own home as they get older rather than move into an assisted living facility or a retirement community.  Staying in their own home allows people to maintain their connections to their communities and friends, permits them to retain medical professionals who know their medical history, and gives them the comfort and security of familiar surroundings.  

While we often focus on the benefits of aging in place to the individual, there are also benefits to the community-at-large.  Aging in place also can delay the need for additional, more expensive, and possibly publicly-funded elder services, create opportunities for small business creation to serve the needs of elders in their homes, create opportunities for volunteerism, and create opportunities for intergenerational contact.

History

We have been working on this project since December 2008. We began as a group of three: Mark Ritter, president of Key Human Services, a non-profit agency; Carole Shmurak, Professor Emeritus at Central Connecticut State University; and Steve Shmurak, a retired clinical psychologist. Colleagues and friends quickly joined the group until we became a group of nearly twenty, all residing in Farmington, Avon and West Hartford.

During 2009, we have visited senior centers in the three towns and conferred with their directors. We have consulted with local clergy and social service providers, and taken trips to meet with the director of Staying Put in New Canaan and with one of the founders of Cambridge at Home.

Currently we are filing for 501(c)3 status and building our mailing list.