Celebrating Older Americans Month in Maine: Champion Your Health
Every May, Older Americans Month offers an opportunity to recognize the older adults who strengthen our families, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities. Led nationally by the Administration for Community Living, Older Americans Month highlights the contributions of older people while encouraging communities to support healthy, independent aging. This year’s theme, “Champion Your Health,” focuses on prevention, wellness, personal responsibility, and making informed decisions that support independence.
Honoring Older Adults in Maine
Here in Maine, that message feels especially important. Older Mainers are central to the life of our state. They volunteer in schools and libraries, support neighbors, care for grandchildren and loved ones, serve on town committees, preserve local history, and help keep our communities connected.
Whether living along the coast, in rural towns, or in one of Maine’s cities, older adults contribute knowledge, resilience, and leadership every day.
What It Means to Champion Your Health
Championing your health is about more than one appointment or one healthy habit. It means taking an active role in your well-being, asking questions, staying connected, and making choices that support your independence. It also means planning ahead so that your wishes are known and respected.
This Older Americans Month, older adults and families throughout Maine can take practical steps to support health, confidence, and peace of mind.
1. Make Preventive Care a Priority
Preventive care is one of the most important ways to protect your health. Schedule regular checkups, screenings, vaccines, and wellness visits. These appointments can help identify concerns early, manage ongoing conditions, and support long-term independence.
Before your visit, write down any symptoms, questions, or changes you have noticed. Bringing a trusted family member or friend can also help you remember information and feel more comfortable asking questions.
2. Stay Active in Ways That Work for You
Movement supports strength, balance, flexibility, mood, and independence. Staying active does not have to mean joining a gym or following a difficult routine. Move in ways that fit your body and your daily life.
Walking, stretching, chair exercise, yoga, gardening, dancing, light housework, or movement classes at a local community center can all help. The goal is consistency. Even small amounts of movement, done regularly, can make a meaningful difference.
3. Support Your Health With Good Nutrition
Good nutrition supports energy, immune health, strength, and overall well-being. Choose balanced meals with a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and healthy fats. Stay hydrated throughout the day, especially during warmer months or when taking medications that may affect fluid needs.
Whenever possible, enjoy meals with others. Sharing food with friends, family, neighbors, or community groups can support both physical and emotional health. In many Maine communities, local programs, senior centers, and meal sites also offer opportunities to connect over a nutritious meal.
4. Speak Up for Your Health
Being your own health advocate is a powerful part of healthy aging. Ask questions. Bring a current medication list to appointments. Share changes in sleep, appetite, mood, balance, memory, pain, or daily routines with your provider.
It is okay to ask for information to be repeated or explained in a different way. It is also okay to bring notes, request written instructions, or ask about options. Your voice matters in every conversation about your care.
5. Stay Connected to People and Community
Social connection is an important part of health. Call a friend, visit a neighbor, join a local program, volunteer, attend a community event, or participate in activities at a library, senior center, faith community, or town gathering.
Connection can help reduce isolation, support emotional well-being, and create a stronger sense of purpose. In Maine, where distance, winter weather, and transportation can sometimes make staying connected more difficult, even a regular phone call or shared cup of coffee can make a difference.
Estate Planning Is Part of Healthy Aging
Estate planning is often thought of as financial planning, but it is also an important part of health, independence, and self-advocacy. A thoughtful estate plan helps make sure your wishes are known, your trusted decision-makers are identified, and your family has guidance if a health crisis occurs.
Important planning tools may include a will, financial power of attorney, advance health care directive, HIPAA authorization, and updated beneficiary designations. These documents can help answer essential questions: Who can speak with your doctors if you are unable to? Who can pay bills or manage accounts if you are hospitalized? What kind of care would you want or not want? Who should receive your property after your death?
Why Planning Ahead Matters
Planning ahead can reduce confusion and conflict for loved ones. It can also help older adults remain in control of their choices for as long as possible. Having these conversations early, while you are well, is one of the most meaningful gifts you can give your family.
This month is a good time to review your documents, confirm that they still reflect your wishes, and make sure the people you trust know where to find them. Maine families may also want to speak with an attorney familiar with estate planning and elder law to ensure documents are properly prepared and up to date.
A Maine Commitment to Healthy Aging
Older Americans Month is a celebration, but it is also a reminder. Healthy aging requires support from individuals, families, communities, businesses, health care providers, and local organizations. We all have a role to play in making Maine a place where people can age with dignity, safety, connection, and choice.
This May, take time to honor the older adults in your life and community. Listen to their stories. Recognize their contributions. Share helpful resources. Encourage preventive care. Offer a ride, a meal, a visit, or a phone call.
Take One Step Toward a Healthier Future
Most importantly, remember that championing your health is not about doing everything at once. It is about taking one step, then another. Schedule the appointment. Ask the question. Take the walk. Drink the water. Call the friend. Review the plan.
Each step supports a healthier, more confident future.
For more information and Older Americans Month resources, visit acl.gov/oam and join the conversation using #OlderAmericansMonth and #ChampionYourHealth.
