The Story I Had to Tell Myself

By Kaitlyn Cunningham Morse

For a long time, I thought the problem with senior care in Maine was just a policy gap. Or a funding issue. Or a bad law that could be fixed if the right people finally listened.

But I was wrong.

The truth is, when older adults start to fall through the cracks, almost no one reaches out a hand. Not the state. Not the system. Not even some of the people closest to you.

That’s what I learned the hard way.

In early 2021, I served on the board of the Plant Home, a 100-year-old assisted living facility in Bath. A housing regulation—well-intended, but poorly designed—put nearly 40 older adults at risk of losing their homes. They weren’t on MaineCare. They weren’t wealthy. They were the middle: people who had just enough to disqualify them from help, and not enough to survive without it.

We needed that rule changed. It wasn’t complicated. And it wasn’t impossible.
But no one would touch it.

There was no clear agency responsible. No coordinated plan. And despite talking with state leaders, housing experts, and nonprofit partners, we couldn’t get traction. Not because they didn’t understand—but because they didn’t prioritize it.

A housing regulation nearly displaced 40 older Mainers, and no one would change it. That’s the real story.

I tried to help people see the bigger picture:

• That this wasn’t a one-time event—it was a preview.

• That the model of aging care in Maine is misaligned from the start.

• And that aging isn’t just a healthcare issue—it’s a housing issue, an economic issue, and a community one.

I brought that story to people I trusted. I brought it to the press.
And then I brought it to my own friends and family.

That’s when I learned the hardest truth of all: most people—no matter how much they love you—don’t want to engage with aging until it hits home.

Not publicly. Not politically. Not even personally.

In my case, it wasn’t about my parents. It was my grandparents.
And when I saw what they went through, I knew I couldn’t look away—even when everyone else did.

I founded Maine Aging Partners because I was done waiting for someone else to care.

Families needed direction.
Communities needed clarity.
And I needed to stop softening the truth to make it easier for people to hear.

Now I work with families and local leaders to connect what’s missing: honest conversations about aging, and the tools to navigate what’s next.

Not everyone will want this story. That’s fine. It’s still true.

I’m not here to win headlines. I’m here because I’ve lived what happens when good people, in good places, get trapped in a bad system.
I’ve seen how easily an older person’s life can unravel because of a rule that someone won’t bother to rewrite.
And I’ve seen what it costs to say, out loud, what others won’t.

So yes—I’m telling the story myself now.
Because what nearly happened at the Plant Home didn’t start there. And it won’t end there.

It will happen again—quietly—unless we stop treating aging like an afterthought.
And I’m not interested in quiet anymore.