Barbara Shearer Email and Phone Number

I am a member of the Village to Village Network which is a grassroots organization dedicated to helping people live independently in their homes as they age. I am able to use my library management experience, experience with start-up organizations, library research skills, and love of writing and networking to help launch a Village to Village Network village in Lee County, Florida. Our village formation process began in a unique and wonderful way. On October 27, 2017, leaders in public health, health care and aging convened in Tampa, Florida, and developed a Framework for an Age-Friendly Public Health System. In March 2018, Trust for America's Health with funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation and support of the Florida Departments of Health and Elder Affairs launched a pilot in Florida to prototype state and local age-friendly public health systems. (Source: De Biasi A, Wolfe M, Carmody J, Fulmer T, Auerbach J. Creating an Age-Friendly Public Health System. Innov Aging. 2020 Jan 1;4(1):igz044.) Upon receiving the Trust for America’s Health grant in September 2018, the FDOH-Lee met with Lee County older adult service providers to determine the best path moving forward with the funds. Based on input by the providers who identified a need for more collaboration and better communication between providers and agencies, a coalition of organizations and agencies serving older adults was created, the Aging Coalition of Lee County.The Aging Community Health Needs Assessment and discussion at Aging Coalition meetings in early 2020, yielded 3 main priority areas: Healthy Lifestyles, Social Isolation and Transportation, and five objectives. Social Isolation was chosen by vote as a focus for upcoming work of the Coalition. At the August 18, 2020, meeting of the Aging Coalition, five objectives for the Coalition were identified. The objective that marks the beginning of the Village Initiative in Lee County is Objective Three: Host a Village to Village Network interest meeting.This was the beginning! And now we are preparing to apply for 501c3 status and form a hub village in Lee County.