Broken Elevator Causes Cancellation of Senior Center Open House

The Senior Center open house scheduled for Monday April 8, has been canceled because the elevator in the Bangs Center is broken. The town has not yet rescheduled the open house, and the date the elevator will be repaired is also not certain.

In addition to affecting the open house, the lack of an elevator has impacted those with impaired mobility who regularly use the center. Programs for the Senior Center are spread over three floors in the Bangs Center. All but the top floor are reachable from outside entrances, but it means seniors have to exit the building and circle around using outdoor paths, which are sloped and can be difficult to navigate in bad weather.

At the March 18 Town Council meeting, Town Manager Paul Bockelman announced plans to use $2.5 million of the remaining $3.9 million of the town’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan) money to design and improve the facilities for seniors at the Bangs Center. Improvements would involve improving the kitchen, creating an exercise room, and locating as many senior services as possible on one floor. Both the Council on Aging and Friends of the Senior Center have been asking for upgraded facilities and services for seniors for several years. Amherst’s senior population is about 5500, or 14% of the total; but, as  Jeanne Horrigan, Dick Yourga, Dennis Vandal, and Marc Barrette said in a recent letter to the Indy, Amherst spends only $45 per senior resident per year, as opposed to $117 per person in South Hadley. The Amherst Senior Center has only 2000 sq. ft of space, compared to 16,000 sq. ft. in South Hadley.

For more information on the elevator situation at the Bangs Center, see Scott Merzbach’s article in the March 22 Daily Hampshire Gazette.