Lynn seniors keep PACE in competition

Donna Harriman was a woman on a mission Thursday, determined to restore glory to the Buffum Street “Bs” after a four-year losing streak.The B’s were competing at bocce and ball relays, not free throws or home runs, inside Danvers’ Indoor Sports complex, but they pursued victory with the single-mindedness of elite ball players as they participated in Element Care’s fourth annual Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Olympics.Based in Lynn and serving 500 local residents at four sites, Element Care combines physical care, social opportunities and medical help to assist seniors, like Harriman, who live on their own in most cases, but need help maintaining their health.Heart problems led Lynn native Harriman into medical care and a nurse’s referral sent her to Element Care and its Buffum Street center, where workers like activity assistant Justine Gauvain helped her with medication needs, housing concerns and other challenges.”This place is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Harriman said.Wearing a yellow T-shirt, she rallied around the bocce court and beanbag toss set up on one of Indoor Sport’s artificial turf fields, intent on recapturing the Olympic trophy the “B’s” last won in 2011.”They really want that trophy back,” said Gauvain, as she helped coordinate competition between the Buffum seniors and other teams.About 80 seniors, including 30 from Lynn, participated in the Thursday games, including James Blaney, who said a hospitalization led him to Element Care’s Friend Street center, where workers helped spark an interest in painting.Blaney paints for fellow seniors and tried Thursday to carry the Friend Street team to victory in the ball relay.”I like making people happy,” the Lynn native said.Element Care marketing director Rachel Kestner said PACE Olympics are part of a senior care approach aimed at “keeping people out of institutionalized care and in the community.”Although Thursday’s games involved physically low-impact activities, the teamwork offered a chance to socialize and build on friendships participants like Blaney and Bettyann Snyder have developed in Element Care centers.Snyder, 65, prefers the nickname “Chickie,” and she cheered her Market Street center team with a plastic cowbell and pom-poms. She said deep depression and physical inactivity left her homebound, and, eventually, she was hospitalized six years ago.”I was waiting to die. I wasn’t doing anything,” she said.She said Element Care workers helped her deal with her medical problems one step at a time and “started helping me in every way they could think.” She no longer uses supplemental oxygen and walks without assistance.”I’m loving life now,” she said.Element, in a company statement, bills its PACE care model as, “a comprehensive care model that provides a cost-effective alternative to nursing home care.”After a spirited bocce ball competition, the “B’s” emerged from Thursday’s games as trophy winners again – just edging out the Friend Street team for the win.