Column: Helping Putnam’s seniors stay happy and healthy
“Putnam County has the largest percentage of seniors of any New York state county,” reports Patricia Sheehy, director of the county”™s Office for Senior Resources, formerly the Office for the Aging. “One in every four Putnam residents is 60 or over,” the director adds.
With senior centers operating in Putnam Valley, Mahopac, Carmel and Cold Spring, Sheehy is grateful for the corps of 500 volunteers who make the seniors”™ myriad programs possible, supplementing efforts of her own staff of 35, which she likes to call “my team.” Together, they serve 3,000 Putnam seniors.
The programs include, but are not limited to, recreational and health activities, shopping sprees and transportation to medical appointments. In addition, seniors receive help with home care.
Sheehy is proud of the agency”™s newest program, involving chronic disease self-management for those with such disabilities as arthritis, diabetes, Parkinson”™s disease and eye problems.
Putnam County”™s rural nature presents a transportation problem for seniors looking to get to recreational events and medical appointments. Sheehy expresses appreciation for donations received, small and large, including the $800,000 donated by the late Jane Lobdell, designated for transportation. Several cars purchased to date bear her name.
Sheehy is grateful that a thorny problem of serving the county”™s west side is coming to resolution due to the efforts of County Executive MaryEllen Odell, she reports. “She has worked relentlessly to bridge the gap,” declares Sheehy, who notes that only Route 301 connects the county”™s two sides. “We are grateful to the Cold Spring American Legion for the use of its hall,” she notes, “but it is just not big enough to contain the programs we offer.” The agency hopes for a new senior center on the site of the former Butterfield Hospital.
One special event of the past year was the 100th birthday of a woman who has been coming to events for 35 years. Among those joining in festivities, the director reports, was a 101-year-old man “whose 100th birthday we celebrated a year ago. It was great to see them dancing together,” she declares. “It”™s wonderful to reach 100 in good health.”
Commenting on the agency”™s name change from Office for the Aging, Sheehy notes there was negative feedback on the original name. “We perused the Internet to see what names were being used elsewhere,” she reports. “Most did having ”˜aging”™ in their names, but in New Jersey and Connecticut we found names similar to the one we now use.”
The agency boasts a logo created by Michael Cicale. It depicts three separate entities joining hands, indicative of how the agency programs bring isolated seniors together.
Sheehy hails from a service-oriented family. Her mother was a Girl Scout leader. Her father, who was a New York City narcotics detective, “once brought a child home to live with us while the parents dried out,” she recounts.
Raised in the Bronx and Yonkers, Sheehy graduated from the Academy of Mount St. Ursula. She received a bachelor”™s degree from Mercy College with a double major in early childhood education and psychology. A master”™s degree in public administration followed from Marist College. After several government jobs involving the disadvantaged, she ventured into Putnam County to head its Office of Employment and Training and later became regional director of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, working in eight mid-Hudson counties and Long Island.
Sheehy assumed her present position in March 2012. She and her husband, James, reside in Carmel. They have two married daughters and one granddaughter.
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