Meigs Council on Aging: Embracing, expanding and encouraging wellness in rural Ohio by Marilynn Larkin, MA

Beth Shaver was 33 years old in 1987 when she took a temporary job at the Meigs Council on Aging in Pomeroy, Ohio. "I was offered full time employment when that job ended and the rest is history," she says. She worked as a home health aide and held a number of other positions before being named executive director in 2004. Under her stewardship, the council has grown its multigenerational services, programs and resources despite financial and cultural challenges. It operates in Meigs County, a mostly rural Appalachian county with 23,000+ residents and a high poverty rate. Adults 65 and older account for nearly 20% of the population.