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Date: 8/15/2023
SOUTHAMPTON — Christina Johnson lived in Southampton until she was five years old, she’s not new to town. But she is the new director of the Council on Aging.
“I grew up in Northampton and went to Northampton High School,” Johnson said. “Then I got my bachelor’s degree at Connecticut College, in New London, and my master’s degree at Springfield College.”
Johnson studied organizational psychology, which may be useful in her new position. For her first week on the job, though, she’s still figuring out all the good services the council currently offers.
“They’re already doing a great job here and I’m just hoping to reach out to even more people,” Johnson said. “We have an outreach coordinator and she’s going to be able to focus on that pretty soon,” instead of filling in as the center director. “[So] we’ll be doing more of that.”
Johnson is researching how to find grant money to expand programming and increase attendance. Seniors need to be among people their own age. As a center director in another town for three years, she learned that social isolation is a big problem for seniors — but there’s a lot of good things happening in Southampton. A picnic is in the works for September and trips are scheduled through a regional cooperation among senior centers.
“Yes, isolation is a huge problem for the senior population,” Johnson said. “It’s better since the COVID situation died down, but there are still people who are afraid to come out to large groups of people. That is still going on, to a degree.”
Johnson is driven to reach out to seniors in the community because she knows not all have a relationship with the center. A wide variety of activities and services are the goal, she said, because a senior could be someone in their mid-50s or mid-90s. Seniors of different ages have different needs. Southampton has a number of residents over 100 years old.
The center’s pickleball league is a new program that appeals to some and not others. Johnson was pleased to learn many seniors play in league matches at the pickleball courts in Conant Park. The opportunity to socialize and get the heart pumping is doubly beneficial.
Johnson, 41, too young to play in the senior league, enjoys socializing with the elderly. That’s part of the reason she’s so enthusiastic about working with the aging population: she gets to hear great stories from times past.
“That’s one of the things I love about working with this group of people,” Johnson said. “When you talk to someone who has … lived longer, they have so many stories and so many parts of their life that they can share, that they learned from … [just] so many tales to tell.”
Families appreciate the work of the Council on Aging. Johnson said family involvement also differs widely from one senior to another. Some seniors were never married, had no surviving children, or family may be uninvolved. Those seniors have certain needs that other seniors, who have family support, do not.
For some seniors, grown children play a significant role at the Senior Center. They ask questions and stay on top of developments with a parent. Other children organize a van trip for dad’s social outing. Some children sign mom up for a yoga class.
Johnson anticipates the popularity of computer and cellphone classes.
“Tech questions, or you need help with your phone, I know from my past as a director, those are always well attended and very helpful for people,” Johnson said. “I definitely would like to see that going on.”
A new offering by the Council on Aging is SHINE services, an acronym for Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders. The federal program, with state assistance, was set up to help seniors figure out Medicare and Medicaid. The center’s outreach coordinator is now training to serve as a SHINE counselor, an important new benefit at the Senior Center.
Johnson appreciates the chance to work in Southampton and get to know the local elders.
“I just feel really privileged to have this role in the community,” Johnson said. “I have a lot to learn about Southampton and its seniors.”