Chatham Issues First ‘Lighthouse Award’

CHATHAM – On April 18, Alexis Weglarz was heading home from her job at the Center for Active Living when she spotted a person walking along Old Queen Anne Road. She recognized the person as a participant in the Center’s new Ryder’s Cove Respite adult supportive day program.

 She immediately called the program’s director, Josephine Fennell, to determine if the person should be out walking along the road alone. The answer was an emphatic no.

 Weglarz guided the person into her car while Fennell returned to the office — she had been grocery shopping — and contacted the caregiver and gave directions to where Weglarz was waiting with the person.

 Weglarz “went above and beyond her duties,” and her actions averted a “potential crisis,” Town Manager Jill Goldsmith said in giving the town’s first “Lighthouse Award” to the Center for Active Living department coordinator at the April 29 select board meeting.

 Weglarz acted quickly and followed her training to ensure that the senior would be safe, Goldsmith said. 

The new Lighthouse Award is designed to recognize staff members for “guiding others with compassion, clarity and service in support of our community,” said Goldsmith.

 “We are grateful to have such a thoughtful member of team Chatham who used her training and acted quickly to save one of our citizens,” she said.