My twenty-five years of involvement with Golden Age Home were somewhat unique in that they included many years of service on the Board of Directors and a number of years as the son a GAH resident. In the former capacity, I was responsible for establishing policy and direction for the facility’s programs and assuring that those programs were effective in serving residents. In the latter capacity, I was able to see first-hand the results of those efforts from the perspective of my own mother. In both capacities, I found Golden Age Home to be a wonderful example of what a community-based program should be.

In my opinion, a major reason for the program’s success is the fact that the Board, administration, and staff are all members of the community the program serves and, as a result, are accountable to that community on a daily basis. Another very important reason for the program’s success is the quality and commitment of the people charged with planning, administering, and delivering service to the program’s residents. I consider my involvement with Golden Age Home in both of the above capacities to have been an honor and privilege of the highest order.

-Ted Thayer